Coilover lift for 1st Gen ST?

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Jerry Gerner 2

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Hey guys I'm looking for a Coilover Conversion Kit for the front of a 1st Gen. I'm looking for anyone that still make/ sells them or someone that would sell their's. If anybody knows of and kits or parts to put a kit together that would be awesome !!!

 
I know for mine I got ahold of RCD... I know that they dont carry the kits any more but they still had the parts and brackets that I needed. Mine was sort of pieced together... I got the spring i need used, brackets and hardwere from RCD, and got a hold of Down South Motorsports for my Fox shocks. They did a great job valving them to fit what I was doing. I do belive that they have springs that will work too, but I already had mine so I'm not to sure.
 
so what all does a coil over lift entail? do you need to use different cv axles? what do you need to do in the rear?
 
Basically you need to find Chad551 either here or on Explorerforum.com. In a nutshell he combined Superlift drop brackets and knuckles with RCD shock mounts and Fox coil-overs that he sourced on his own.



http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=186393&highlight=coil



http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189639&highlight=coil



Or just SAS the thing: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=254382&highlight=coil
 
For the money you will spend on doing the coilover conversion you might as well do the SAS. I probably spent about 1500.00 for the coilover conversion, maybe more or less honestly dont remember but it was expensive, so says my wife. Basically all you do is bolt on the new coilover shock mounts, weld some gussets to the stock shock tower, and mount the new shocks. And you will need to cut the stock dump stops off. Then take all the torsion bar garbage off and toss into the nearest dumpster. I think there is a guy on the ranger station website that is making the coilover mounts. RCD no longer makes them and their customer service is basically worthless.



There is some pics of my C/O setup somewhere at the explorerforum site. The whole project took me about 2 hrs to complete.



Personally if you have the skills to weld and knowledge of solid axles (I had zero knowledge of my Dana 44 axle, but learned quick) do the SAS instead. The performance is not even comparable, and is 1,000,000,000,000 times stronger than the stock front diff that came in the ST. Your issues of wheel alignments are gone forever so no more tires wearing funny, and never have the worry of grenading a CV joint in the middle of nowhere.
 
I'd love to do the SAS right now but don't have the money or time to take the truck off the road while under construction. I wasn't sure how much the Coilover swap costs but if it's that much than "F"orget that!!! Just need more lift up front because my tires are rubbing on the rear when turned out left(driverside), right(passenger side. I just need to get the longer torsion bolts from Todd Z for right now until I can do the SAS. I can't wait 'til I can get the ST in the garage and do it. Would you be able to email me all the specs/ part #'s that you used for you're SAS??? Thanks Chad. I need to sign up for the explorer site, I think I'm already signed up in Rangerstation site.:driving::supercool::banana:
 
Thanks for weighing in Chad.

A coil-over conversion won't cost a lot as long as you don't want to lift it. :grin:

It's when you want to go higher with this suspension design that it gets pricey. No matter how you slice it, travel and geometry is travel and geometry so you've got to drop the diff somehow and use Superlift knuckles or out-of-production Rough Country ball joint spacers. I could be wrong, never having installed a Superlift myself, but I've seen enough of them that I can't come up with another way to do it.
 
I think my Fox shocks were 750.00 for the shocks and 150.00 for the springs. The RCD kit was about 200.00 for all the mounts, etc.



The coilover might get you an inch if you rally crank up the preload, but your ride will be very rough. The main thing that I was suprised to see was that the ST and all Explorers only have about 6" of travel.



I was in the same boat as you, I did not want to cut up my ST or have to park it for a long time to do the work. I finally had enough of destroying my tires every year that gets expensive real quick replacing 33's annually. The alignment sucked no matter who did it, and I was always scared that the front diff or CV axle would break in the middle of nowhere. So I finally said that's it and started collecting parts for my SAS.



First was a junkyard Dana 44 from a grand Wagoneer, that was about 150.00 then I just started getting everything together, to completely rebuild the axle from rotor to rotor ( the list is very long). I used alot of high end lifetime warranty parts ( ARB air lockers, CTM u-joints, USA made Superior chromo axles, all MOOG parts, Blue Torch fab, and Ruufstuff metal parts), Wife was pissed and she still does not understand what I did to my truck, but I know and others who see it and then do a double take and lean over to look under know. I always get a thumbs up, and a shit load of questions and comments.





Here are some links to my build thread and SAS registry: You will see I asked ALOT OF questions from those who done this.



http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=237526

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=254382
 
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I'm not wasting my time with the coilover swap now that I'm more informed on prices, etc.. I'll purchase the longer torsion bolts from Todd Z and recrank my truck back up to the 2" lift I had when I lifted it the first time. The factory bolts are maxxed can't do anymore. I'd apprecriate any help and info on how you did your SAS because when I can do it, I'm taking the time and doing it !!! I'm just like you, spend the money the first time around and not have to worry about halfass parts/ supplies. Thanks again for the heads up on the coilover swap guys. Johnny, were you on McKnight Rd. in the North Hills today?, I could swear I saw you in your ST.

:banana::driving::haveabeer::supercool:
 
Johnny, were you on McKnight Rd. in the North Hills today?, I could swear I saw you in your ST.
Click to expand...

Nope, not me. I was in New Castle and then Sewickley. We'll have to do another Sport Trac Breakfast Club though. :haveabeer:
 
Coleman is another member from Greensburg, I'm know he said he'd be up for the next meet. See if we can get more members next time. Probably won't be until May or June though so more people can come out.
 

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