I have had 15 Explorer rims installed for over a year (they do rub the fender once in a while). A couple of months ago, a Ranger fan/owner told me I needed spacers. At that time, I had no idea what spacers were. Then last week, a colleague at work said my front springs need to be replaced due to lack of clearance.

I have a pair of brand new MOOG front coil springs in my parts closet. I am now looking at purchasing a pair of Spacers. The only Spacers I could find on the internet for the Aerostar are SPC Performance 1" Coil Spring Spacers. They also have various Spacers in thickness. Their guide says the Spacer will raise the vehicle 2 1/2-3 times the thickness of the Spacer thickness.

I was wondering, how a 1" Spacer raises the vehicle 2 1/2-3 times the thickness of the Spacer thickness. How is that possible?

 

The springs are usually inboard of the ball joints, so there is some leverage effect. If the centerline of the spring is exactly half way between the control arm pivot and the ball joint (lowers), then the amount the vehicle will be raised will be about 2X the amount that the spring is raised.

Since your old springs are sagging, why don't you try just using the new springs to see if they fix the rubbing problem?

 

Agreed. Spacers are a problem waiting to happen most of the time, they do not fix the issues with worn springs, i.e. reduced suspension travel, so they adversely affect the ride quality. They would also allow the springs themselves to bottom out on hard bumps, instead of letting the body bumps catch it, which can actually break the spring or worse.

 

Also, make sure your dampers (shock absorbers) are working properly. Weak dampers will wear out springs faster.

 

I am not sure if the springs are sagging, or it is because of the 15" Explorer rims, as well as the increased offset outward.

My intention is to install new MOOG springs, KYB Gas-A-Just shock absorbers (dampers), all the ball joint/tie-rod/bushing parts, and the sway bar links/bushings.

It makes sense to do all these things at the same time, right? I just want to do it right the first and last time, in one single operation.

I spoke with the Ranger fan/owner again today. He said I should also add spacers to the rear. But they don't make spacers for the rear! But he also alluded that spacers may screw up your suspension joints!

Maybe do all of the above without the spacers. I just hate the thought of doing all that work, and still needing those nasty spacers!

 

What size tires did you go with, I'm running 15" explorer rims and have no rubbing or clearance issues at all.

 

You can not add the same type of spacers to the rear springs because they have pig tails that are bolted to cups on both ends. If they're sagging, you should replace those as well.

Do like you said, replace the parts, and go without spacers to see how it works.

 

The tires and rims were transferred from my wrecked 97 Aerostar Cargo Van to my current 93 Aerostar Passenger Van.

The 97 Cargo Aerostar has a factory larger tire size than the passenger Aerostar. I am aware of this anomaly.

The tires are a bit too big (P215/70R15) for the passenger version. But not that much bigger to have zero clearance on speed bumps!

 

I jacked up the front end of the Aerostar about 6" yesterday, and then positioned jack stands. I looked at it, and thought, this is how it should be.