I am planning on swapping out my puny 7.5 for an 8.8 Exploder rear-end with discs.
Also dropping the truck this summer. Since the Explorer axles are already mounted on top of the spring can I get away with bolting it in using the existing spring perches? I know shock mounts will still need to be modified.
Anyone done this before?

 

get the explorer lower u-bolt plate. it has the shock mount already built in. you will need two of one side so you can rotate one. here is mine. i relocated the passenger shock, so it will look a little different.

 

Thanks for the awesome reply man!!
Especially with the pics, this helps out a lot. Relocating the shock mount looks like the way to go.
I never did understand why the shocks were mounted on opposite sides of the axle anyways.

 

i'm not sure why that is, but i have ran into an issue that may be part of the reason. i'm planning to put a bronco II tank behind my axle. but to do that, i will have to relocate the shock back in front of the axle.

if you plan to relocated the passenger shock to behind, you don't need to get two of one side, but a driver and passenger side plate.