Where to start?

[4x4Zach]

Hey, I'm not 100% sure if this is the right place for this, but I'm new.
I just got a '97 4x4 Explorer and want to do a little offroading in the future. I'm totally new to offroading, so here it goes...

The questions:

1. How much lift is needed to fit 35" tires?
2. What is a quality company that makes lift kits?
3. Should I avoid body lifts all together?
4. And finially, what is a ballpark figure of how much it will cost for the lift and 35" tires? I will do all of the work myself.

Thanks, -Zach

 

[94 Crawler]

Zach you have opened a can of worms my friend. First off some one is going to chime in and tell you to search. Also I'm not shure exactly where the break is for suspension weather you have ttb or ifs. For ttb (twin traction beam) I would recomend Skyjacker soft ride system and a Super lift Super runner steering. Trust me spend the money now, one time, up grades will nickel and dime you later. I have a sneaky suspision your truck is ifs and if so I'm not shure what to tell you. Personaly most of my suspension is fabricated and pieced together if I had it to do again I would buy everything designed to work together. Keep in mind more tire requires a taller gear with 35's I would go no less than 4.56:1. Do some looking spend some time in the solid axle swap section you will forget all abought bolt on lifts. Oh I run a body lift 3" with around 6" of suspension lift and 35's but I also had 33's on stock rims with no lift at all. Remember the higher your center of gravity the more tippy you will be in off camber situations. Good luck and have fun.

 

[4x4Zach]

Zach you have opened a can of worms my friend. First off some one is going to chime in and tell you to search. Also I'm not shure exactly where the break is for suspension weather you have ttb or ifs. For ttb (twin traction beam) I would recomend Skyjacker soft ride system and a Super lift Super runner steering. Trust me spend the money now, one time, up grades will nickel and dime you later. I have a sneaky suspision your truck is ifs and if so I'm not shure what to tell you. Personaly most of my suspension is fabricated and pieced together if I had it to do again I would buy everything designed to work together. Keep in mind more tire requires a taller gear with 35's I would go no less than 4.56:1. Do some looking spend some time in the solid axle swap section you will forget all abought bolt on lifts. Oh I run a body lift 3" with around 6" of suspension lift and 35's but I also had 33's on stock rims with no lift at all. Remember the higher your center of gravity the more tippy you will be in off camber situations. Good luck and have fun.

Thanks, I know I have a lot of research to do. I'm just trying to get an idea of what I'm in for. I just found the search button, I'll see what I can find!

 

[4x4junkie]

Yeah, '95+ Explorers have the SLA IFS.

35" is a lot of tire for that axle & suspension, I would suggest keeping it to 33s max. A 4" suspension lift from Superlift would allow you to clear 33s fine.
To run 35s effectively on that vehicle you'll probably want to do a straight axle swap (SAS) on it (the search button will be your best friend here ).

Hope that helps

 

[4x4Zach]

I checked the tag and found out that I'm running 3.27s, do you think that will that be enough for 33" tires?

 

[RangerX]

If you have an auto trans, that tire/gear combo will kill your tranny.

 

[4x4Zach]

If you have an auto trans, that tire/gear combo will kill your tranny.

That's good to know! Would 3.73s be good enough for "33 tires? Also, will the lower gears fit the carrier I have?

 

[steventadams]

The make gears as low as 5.xx (.71?) for your axles i believe. If you're going to get into the offroading thing you're going to be better off with 4.10s or 4.56s because lots of guys kick themselves for having to shell out the cash for another regear when they get even bigger tires the second time around.

 

[4x4Zach]

I don't want to go too low even with the OD, because I'll be on the interstate. I know for a fact I'll never go bigger than 33"s, I'm mainly looking for something to do street duty/minor off roading.

I measured the tires yesterday, they're 27.5"s.
I used this calculator and it suggested 3.92's. With 3.92's and
33" tires it says I should be doing 2,235 RPM at 80 mph. That's with an auto trans and OD. Does sound right?

http://www.tucsondifferential.com/tech/calculator.asp

Thanks for your help!

 

[4x4junkie]

3.27s are absolutely the worst stock gears you could have. They do absolutely nothing for your fuel economy vs. 3.73 gears except take all your power away (and shortening the life of the auto transmissions). Someone at Ford definitely wasn't thinking properly on that one

For 33" tires, 4.56 is the ratio you want. This will put the engine in the best part of it's powerband for both fuel economy, and power (you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much more pickup it'll have). Your transmission will stay much happier with that ratio as well.

 

[4x4Zach]

Thanks man!

 

[MustangAndy]

Welcome to the site!

Your lift options for a '97:

Only two companies have spent the time&money in R&D to built lift kits for us 2nd gen owners ('95-'01)
Superlift: http://www.superlift.com/Catalog.asp?P=K494
Trailmaster: http://www.trailmastersuspension.com/suspension/fordchart.htm

For the body side (if you want) you have to kinda play a bit with a BL from and older Explorer or a newer Ranger. Most people go with Performance Accessories it's about $150 for a 3" body through them. I'm sure you can find it cheaper somewhere else.
http://www.performanceaccessories.com/

This is a sticky over in the tires section detailing just what your asking;
http://explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67200

Good luck!

-Der Netzhauptmann