More upgrades to the Explorer!!

[mjonesjr]

Looks good.

What coils are you going to be using in the front?

 

[Evan]

Got it pretty much all done. It looks bad ass. Front end is sitting about 1.5" higher than before. I think it's around 6.5" total lift, right where I wanted to be. The beams and steering linkage are nice and level. I'll get some pics posted tomorrow.

For now I went with my F-150 coils with 1.5" spacers up front, as I had too much trouble getting the Jeep coils to drive well on the road. I need a Skyjacker extreme drop pitman arm, even longer brake lines, and custom shock hoops and I think I will be able to run the Jeep coils.

With the extended radius arms and 150 coils, I have enough flex to fully cycle the Skyjacker 8" shocks.

 

[milje]

Were you having the same type of problems that Todd was having at first, front end jacking up when you go forward?



Looking forward to the pics!

 

[Evan]

Were you having the same type of problems that Todd was having at first, front end jacking up when you go forward?



Looking forward to the pics!

Yup. Wheels where jacking up and down in an unpredictable manner. I read through Todd's old thread, and PM'd Junkie to verify that I need an extreme drop for the coils to work.

It's amazing how well even stiff 150 coils flex, once you ditch those stubby stock radius arms and drop the beam pivots down a bit.

 

[milje]

I'll get some pics posted tomorrow.

Hi it's tomorrow and I want pictures.

 

[Evan]

Hi it's tomorrow and I want pictures.

Will post pics soon. The truck has been in the garage for awhile. I'm tweaking various things on the front end. I am also installing a 20 gallon RCI foam-filled fuel cell with an MSD in-line pump:

 

[Evan]

Man, I really wanna go wheelin and try this stuff out!

 

[mjonesjr]

Those are the same radius arms I have. i really like them a lot.

 

[dogboy]

Looks good! I bet it does really well offroad.

I didn't see anything in your posts, but what was the reason for going with a fuel cell? Did the regular tank get in the way of something?

I see you have the Pro-Comp M/T's as well. Do you like them at all? I got mine with about half tread from a swap meet, and I personally, the FireStone ATX's (235's, stock size) that I had before, except for thier size, I think preformed better than the ProComps... They seem to do somewhat decent on rocks, but nothing else, especially bad in snow.
I don't know if that is becuase they were half worn out, and either no siping, or the siping wasn't deep enough and is now gone, or what.

Just curius what somebody else thinks about them.

 

[Hahnsb2]

If I wheeled a sploder I'd fuel cell it too. I hate how far the tank hangs down and how its so close to the t-case and axle.

 

[dogboy]

I've never really look at the tank on an Explorer...

 

[Hahnsb2]

I'll take some pics of mine tomorrow for ya

 

[Evan]

Looks good! I bet it does really well offroad.

I didn't see anything in your posts, but what was the reason for going with a fuel cell? Did the regular tank get in the way of something?

I see you have the Pro-Comp M/T's as well. Do you like them at all? I got mine with about half tread from a swap meet, and I personally, the FireStone ATX's (235's, stock size) that I had before, except for thier size, I think preformed better than the ProComps... They seem to do somewhat decent on rocks, but nothing else, especially bad in snow.
I don't know if that is becuase they were half worn out, and either no siping, or the siping wasn't deep enough and is now gone, or what.

Just curius what somebody else thinks about them.

The old tank hung down too far, and I had several close calls with trail obstacles, even with skidplate. Then when I installed the doubler the tank had to go for clearance reasons. I put a 13-gallon cell back there with an in-tank pump, but the tank wasn't quite big enough. The pump was noisy and started to go out recently, so I figured I'd upgrade the whole system.

As far as the tires, they do horrible on slippery roads. They do alright in deep snow. They do well on rocks, not not too good in mud, though I haven't aired them down yet. If I make it up to Houghton for some wheelin this spring I'll have Todd help me take out every other outside lug with the tire groover, or else I might take a sawzall to it. The tires do ride very well on the road.

 

[cbc24]

hey what could i do im gettign a 92 exploder 5spd 4dr and im thinkign of buying offset rims i dono whats the biggest i can lift the front with out fckin with anything

 

[Evan]

5.5" is about the max you can lift these trucks before you run into steering issues. If you lift 5.5, you'll want to install extended arms and a drop pitman arm.

You can lift the body 3" on top of that, for a 8.5" total lift. That's high enough (with a little fender trimming) to fit 38s, which are about the most a Dana 35 (or 44 for that matter) can practically handle.

I run 35x12.5 tires on a 10" rim with 4.75 BS. That taxes the Dana 35 wheel bearings quite a bit, so you need to be sure they're set up perfectly. Then torque the outer locknut to 250 ft. lbs. And I added some material to my lock ring notch with a welder.