I'm curious to see what others have come up with mounting the leaf springs and shock absorbers to the Explorer 8.8 rear axle. I'm currently sitting too low to suit my fancy, and am considering a flip kit. However, I was wondering if lift shackles would be better than flipping the rear...

What do you think? Do you have pictures of this application?

Thanks dudes....show away:

 

I dont get what your tryign to aim for? I have heard an explorer axle will put you 4 inches lower than stock height in the rear, so its to low for you why do you need a flipkit? I dont get it that will give you 5 inches of drop?

In all honesty slap some 2 inch DJM coils in there and call it a day it would look nice.

 

A flip kit puts the leaf springs on top of the axle for the explorer. So he would gain 3-4 inches. I would say go with adjustable shakles because you can still be lower than factory but have a ride height that suits you.

 

If you look at the pics it looks as if his is already on top of the leafsprings...

 

It is.

 

Indeed I am. A flip kit would reverse that, putting the leaf springs on top of the axle. This would lower the whole axle an additional 4 inches, which would equate to 4 inches of lift in the rear.

 

False. The axle stays in the same place. You put the springs effectively 4" higher, making 4" of lift. Same idea, but I wanted to call you out on the technicality, lol.

 

get some spring perches and weld them on.

 

if you want to keep the springs under the axle, then get yourself a set of Belltech 6400 Chevy shackles.....that will give you about 1.5" of lift...

 

did you save the explorer leafs?

use those, those will give you another 1inch or so

 

Those ARE the Explorer leafs. Notice the 4 leafs, instead of just the 3?

Here are the shackles I'm going to get:

 

yeah, those shackles should help bring the rear up then

personally, id keep it with the Spring Under Axle, its alot better on traction

 

so what direction are you going with this truck? lifted? performance? fast?

 

Performance and fast...no lift or drop. It's going to be "stock looking"...just with some meat on it's bones that'd nobody would expect (until I fire it up, at least!)

Scott...I figured exactly what you're saying - Spring Under Axle is better on traction than Over. That why I made this thread and found those lift shackles.

 

if you are goin for street/fast i would definatley leave it SUA. i would also jus drop the front 2" with a set of coils to even things out.

doesnt look like you need much to be level, but its hard to tell from the pic w/o the bed. 2" is a good gain in performance w/o being to low. and still looks great with stockish diameter tires.

 

 

^ x2 its doesnt look that low, just looks like any old 2wd ranger. so id say just get some coils and save the work. looks great how it is. it will still have the stock look as long as yer not sitn rocker and have flashy wheels

 

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I'm assumin your in the build up stage?

Why did you get an Explorer rearend if you didn't want it lowered?

Just my O2 here:

1. Your pinion angle is too high, you need some pinion angle degree shims, I
believe I used 5* shims on mine to get it to a comfortable angle IMO.

2. When you put the 302 in, it will drop the front down.

Here's a couple pics of mine, 92 Explorer 8.8..............

 

Nice ride you got there! I got an Explorer 8.8 rear because it came with the REST of the Explorer....lol. Also, my open diff 7.5 just didn't seem up to par with so many more ponies pulling it.

Since the shackles I have pictured above are "Adjustable", I'll keep both the stock Ranger shackles and the new "lift" shackles just in case I need to level it out once the motor and tranny is bolted.

 

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THANKS for the compliment on my TOY!

FYI: tonight I picked up a 98 Explorer 8.8 w/3.73 posi that has discs for $100...........so I'll be swappin that in after I get it cleaned up & painted and have offered my Son my current 92 Explorer 8.8 to replace his 7.5 posi..............if he doesn't want it, then I'll hang on to it, just incase my 87 Supercab don't sell & I V8 it later on .......

Send me some more pics of your project PLEASE............ a355ranger@bellsouth.net

THANKS & keep up the good work!!!

 

Here's a couple of pics of my 98 Explorer 8.8 disc braked rearend I picked up Tuesday..................I cleaned it up & painted it all except the rearend cover, as I'm gonna put a 03 Explorer aluminum cover on it............



Still waitin on pics of your buildup....................

 

INSTALLED ..............


Just gotta figure out how I'm gonna rig my E-brake cable, install my new shorter shocks, and put my bed back on..................

 

looks good!

 

How did you rig your e-brake cable? And did you put longer shackles on to raise the rear?

 

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On my Son's we I used adjustable aftermarket shackle extentions as he didn't like the way his sat, but on mine it PURE STOCK components.........
BEFORE:
AFTER:

As far as the E-brake, I went to the boneyard & picked up a couple of different cable connector/adjusters from F150's so I could adjust the tension and still had to do some fabbin with some angle iron.........