At the time I had no intentions of turning my Explorer into a trail machine, as a matter of fact the thought never crossed my mind. A few months went by and I started searching for something new to add to my Explorer. That's when I stumbled upon Rick’s "Serious Explorations" website. Rick's site has a plethora of information on any and every mod you could ever want to do to an Explorer. I had been interested in off-roading before, but Rick's site really sparked my interest. I joined the site and gathered as much info I could to make myself an offroad machine that could hold it’s own. This was difficult at first due to the fact that it had a new body style. After a few months of investigating and asking many questions on the site, I found that the 2001 has the same framework as the 98-00 Explorers so I used that platform as a reference. I bought my first mod which was a pair of add-a-leafs and the famous torsion twist. The mods did produce some lift, but it was not nearly enough. I then began to research the new, at the time, rear shackles made by Warrior Products. I decided to get those and chuck the add-a-leafs. Again, it wasn’t much more lift than when I started and still not enough. At the time there weren’t any lift kits available for late model explorers and I wanted more! In the mean time, I purchased my first set of tires, 31" BFG Mud Terrains on American Racing Baja rims.

A few members who I met on Rick’s site decided to make a run down to the Badlands in Attica, Indiana. It was my first trip and I was excited to see how my truck would perform. The first day I took it easy, we had fun and I tested out the capabilities of the Explorer. It did fairly well and I was impressed, but I needed more lift. After discussing available options, I decided I needed more rubber and a bodylift. Since the Explorer is fairly similar to the Ranger and reading posts from other Serious Explorations members that used Ranger lifts for their trucks, I decided to get one. I bought a Performance Accessories 3" Bodylift for a 98-00 Ranger. It installed without a hitch and with minor modifications.

Now I was getting close to where I wanted to be. It was time to decide on a new, larger tire. Before all of this was going to happen, I needed to make sure I had enough room under the front wheel wells for at least a 33. I bought a safari style push bar from a local club member and decided to chop up the front end. I modified the front fascia for two reasons, one was to give a better angel of entry and second to give plenty of room for the new tires. After installing the push bar I need to protect the exposed radiator. With 1/8" diamond plate I made a skid plate for protection. When that was done I installed a set of 33" Super Swamper TSL radials. A little loud, but excellent on the trail.

After all these changes I ended up with a total lift of 4.5". This all resulted in a machine that did everything I wanted when I wanted. Although I have not installed a rear locker, I'm impressed with my purchase so far. We went back to Attica for the 2001 Superlift 4xAdventure Series and there we met up with Rick, Matt Adams and many other Explorer enthusiasts both from the site and local. All the obstacles that were in the way the last time were a cakewalk and for a daily driver, that’s not too shabby.

Moab, here I come!

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