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School me on Explorers


superdave1984

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OK, I am selling the Ranger. I just don't have the heart for that project anymore. Besides, I want another 4x4. But I need 4 doors. That leaves me with few options. Explorer or Cherokee. I had a Cherokee and loved it. Parts were plentiful and reasonable. But I'm having difficulty finding one with a few mods already done that isn't beat to hell. So I'm looking at Explorers. How do they do off road? How expensive are they to mod? How reliable are they? I am looking at a 98 or older. What should I look for/want/avoid?
 


adsm08

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For ease of mods and and quality off road, you want a 91-94. 95 is almost impossible to lift and from 95 up they are independent front end. The 1st gen explorers are basically a Ranger with an upside down rear axle as far as suspension is concerned.
 

RangerSVT

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Agreed, 91-94 explorers, and there is more than a plethora of parts. Mods?? V8, sas, fw, exo, sliders, custom bumpers, etc. Options are long and endless. Not expensive to mod or upgrade either. A plus with explorers are you have the 35 up front and 31 Spline 8.8 stock...
SVT
 

greasemonkey6886

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Thing is you already know the suspention on the 91-94's. It's the same as your Ranger except for the spring under the axle out back. They do really well off-road but have more space for family,gear,etc. than the Ranger. As far as mods, like RangerSVT said options are almost endless.
I bought a 91 about two years ago for parts for a 4.0 swap in my BII. After driving it about 3 weeks-checking for problems before swapping them-I hated to pull it apart. I drove really nice and did great off-road.
 

adsm08

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They do really well off-road but have more space for family,gear,etc. than the Ranger.
If anything ever happens to my Ranger's cab, I'm gonna get a B2 body that was hit in the rear, take everything in front of the rear wheel wells, and graft it onto the Ranger frame. Should be the best of both worlds.
 

greasemonkey6886

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I'd love to see that! That would look cool as heck if done right. I thought about something like that a while back.
 

89chevsj

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Explorers do not ever die. I had one that I absolutely destroyed buried to the windows regularly beat the hell outta it. For five years transmission finnaly went boom. But it is back on the road now. (new owner)
 

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