Explorer starter upgrades ver. search is down

[NWDub]

Search is down so you guys get a repeter.

it's gonna be the old 91-92 style (i dont have one yet, I'm about a month and a half out) and I know it's IFS but my friends never break things with their explorers and all my XJ friends do.

First thing is first, Tires:
I'm thinking Yoko Geolander M/T+ prolly in 31x10.5. Isn't that the biggest I can go on a stock 'ploder without problems? Can I go bigger? Are there better tires for the money?

Front and rear lockers are next, for under 500 I can get actually have 4WD! It's not a daily, so not worried about that.

What else? I'm not making it into anything hardcore yet, just a weekend warrior I dont have to plug a bunch of time and money into to have fun.

[theydontstop]

Hacking the fenders will get the 31's to fit and I've actually cut a stock explorer pretty bad and got 32's to fit(it's easier to do when it's a friend's rig!). As for the lockers, alot of the older explorers has the limited slip in them, and I'm not sure of availability of lockers for this carrier or you'll have to swap in an open carrier. The rear axle is definitely strong enough for abuse. The push-button 4x4 if your's will have this goes bad easily and if it breaks try to find a cable actuator or something. If you're gonna lock the front end, you're gonna break the crappy auto hubs on it in a second. So cough up the $250 for the spindle nut conversion and some manual hubs. Of course, this is only if you can keep the 4.0 V6 valves from coming apart.

[Brian1]

91-92 are not IFS they are TTB. 96+ are IFS. 31s fit on some stock 91-94s and others wont for some reason. I run 31" BFG MTs with a 2" suspension lift and 1" body lift although the front springs have sagged down to stock height. Im not familiar with the Yokos but my BFGs have been good. Maybe even look into Pro Comp MTs. Buy a lifetime alignment at firestone, it is worth the cost because the TTBs like to go out of alignment easy.

To lift it on the cheap you can buy F150 coil spacers and buy/build rear shackles for about 1.5" lift. I run a Quick Loc up front and the stock L/S out back and it works well. If it has auto hubs upgrade immediately to Warn manuals, not Mile Markers.

Rock sliders are a good idea if you start going on rocky trails. If you are good at fabbing stuff take off the rear u-bolt plates, fab a skid and cut the shock mounts off and flip them up. This is one of the best mods I have done. Those stupid shock mounts would hit everything and now they rarely scrape. You can take the rear swaybar off without much effects but leave the front one on. You can use some tractor pins or bolts as quick disconnects for the front swaybar.

Check out www.explorerforum.com which is part of www.explorer4x4.com if you have not seen them already.

[4x4junkie]

TTB IS IFS. It's not to be confused with the later SLA version of IFS on the '95-'01 Explorers though. The TTB is very much like a straightaxle in many aspects, and similarly strong. Alignment can sometimes be a bear, although this is far more common on lifted trucks who's steering geometry has been thrown off-kilter by the lift.

Yeah, I would just do a coilspacer mod and stuff some 32s under there with a bit of trimming if this is to be on the cheap. Hope that it has 3.73 gears though, as anything less is gonna be a bit doggish with the bigger tires (4.10 or 4.56 would be the ideal ratio for those tires)

Another site to check is www.therangerstation.com for Exploder info. ;)

[Indyguy]

The search isn't down... you just have to be a paying (red or yellow star) member to access it.

Weld the rear, put a regular locker up front, rock sliders and some aggressive tires and you're good to go for a relatively cheap amount.

Its hard to recommend a certain tire when you give us no idea what kind of terrain you will be 'wheelin. I've never been a fan of the Geolanders around here from what I've seen out of them; but I've never owned them to gain 1st-hand experience either. MT/R's are great in the rocks and on-road and 'okay' in the mud; TSL's are going to be much better in the mud but not as good for driving around. Since its not your DD, I don't know how important streetability of a tire is to you.

[NWDub]

The search isn't down... you just have to be a paying (red or yellow star) member to access it.

Weld the rear, put a regular locker up front, rock sliders and some aggressive tires and you're good to go for a relatively cheap amount.

Its hard to recommend a certain tire when you give us no idea what kind of terrain you will be 'wheelin. I've never been a fan of the Geolanders around here from what I've seen out of them; but I've never owned them to gain 1st-hand experience either. MT/R's are great in the rocks and on-road and 'okay' in the mud; TSL's are going to be much better in the mud but not as good for driving around. Since its not your DD, I don't know how important streetability of a tire is to you.


I live in oregon, so it's mostly forests and rain where I come from. I dont want to weld the gears in the rear, if it has a limited, I dont see why I need to care. Did ALL of them come with a LSD?

[NWDub]

. If it has auto hubs upgrade immediately to Warn manuals, not Mile Markers.

.

What all do I need to replace and what's the usual cost on that?

[theydontstop]

I described this in my post. It's about $250 total for the warn manual hubs and spindle nut conversion kit. The spindle nut bolt on and the manual hubs just kinda slip on the hub and the wheel holds them in place.

[Code]

There use to be a conversion kit by warn but i'm not sure they still make it, I THINK they have them on ebay though. Not all 1st gen exploeres had autohubs, some do have warn hubs from the factory (probably not as strong as the others though). If you geta limited slip in them it will most likely be ragged out, you can rebuild them with new clutchs, but it's still an ls. If you have a open though you could put a lunchbox in them i beleive. You can get a bit better flex from them by removing the sway bars...i have done that on mine but body sway is deffinitly noticable with out them. The 8.8 in the rear is a really good axle, and the d35ttb isn't terrible...it's just a ttb and has all the normal problems associated with them (bump steer, camber change etc.)

I've wheeled mine fairly good and it does well though for just being on 31"s. The 1st gens are nice to since an sas is pretty straight forward with them :)