You can work harder or you can work smarter, but the latter approach makes way more sense, especially when it comes to developing quality components for off-road adventures. In the early days of our sport, 4x4 equipment was often produced by small shops that custom-fabricated individual components. That may sound quaint, but keeping up with the times demands the latest in computer-aided design and laser-cutting machinery. And that’s where you’ll find Explorer Pro Comp, right at the forefront of this high-tech evolution in off-road suspensions.
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| Explorer Pro Comp designs and laser-cuts its suspension components using the latest in computer software. |
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| All lift-kit components are carefully designed to maintain, if not enhance, the production vehicle's suspension geometry. |
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| You won't find "The Donald" here. A Trumpf laser cutter at Explorer's factory automatically picks up and slices sheet steel as much as 3/4-inches thick. And it never points and says, "You're fired!" |
Don’t get the impression that the company is a bunch of computer geeks, though. It’s staffed by hard-charging 4x4 enthusiasts who understand what off-road adventures are all about. Loren Snyder, the chief executive officer, and John Corrao, vice president of manufacturing and engineering, were both seriously involved in building Baja and California desert-worthy 4x4s and race trucks, which tackle some of the hardest conditions a vehicle will ever encounter. This passion has continued through the 12-year company history of working with race and rock crawling teams and the major off-road race organizations.
Based on that real-world experience, the company knows firsthand that your rig needs heavy-treaded, oversized flotation tires for traction. You also need sufficient lift to accommodate those fat boys. And you want the extra clearance to keep your 4x4’s underbelly from being disemboweled over rock-strewn trails. You also gotta have an improved angle of entry and exit over steep rock steps.
That’s what Explorer Pro Comp does — gives you enough height to make off-roading a real adventure, not some casual walk in the park. While the company is best known for lift kits, it manufactures, distributes and markets a broad range of off-road necessities, from shock absorbers to auxiliary lights to billet grilles.
The key to a good, durable, safe lift kit begins at the design stage. Even a moderate lift impacts the angles, stress points and ride quality of the vehicle. The vehicle manufacturer designs the relationship of all the 4x4’s systems to work well together in the factory configuration. A lift kit changes the relationship of the systems, from the angle of the steering box to the center of gravity.
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| What really sets Explorer's MX6 shock apart is how it's designed and tuned to the specific application. |
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| After being cut from a single sheet of steel, the flat pieces are bent and then checked on a fixture for correct tolerances. |
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| Explorer has more than a dozen certified welders at individual station to keep up with the heavy flow of production. |
Explorer Pro Comp’s lift kits are vehicle specific, from engineering concept to installation. For off-roaders this translates into ride and handling that maintains or even improves the factory ride, says Curt Miller of Explorer Pro Comp’s marketing department.
The process of developing a lift kit starts with CAD drawings and then progresses through state-of-the-art laser cutters and the most modern manufacturing equipment, CNC and robotics. “Our goal,” said Miller, “is to achieve the lowest tolerances possible for an accurate, fast and efficient installation and a finished product that resembles the factory ride as closely as possible.”
We’ve all heard or experienced stories of lift kit handling when that kit was not designed specifically for the vehicle. Sure, the kit elevates the vehicle, and in slow, off-road conditions, may live up to its functional expectations. But get the vehicle back on the pavement and there seems to be a delayed reaction between the steering wheels and the drive train. The feel is similar to the older ATVs — requiring the driver to set up a turn far in advance. That may be a slight exaggeration, but it’s pretty close to the reality of ill-fitted lift kits.
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| Don't get your pinky caught here - a massive hydraulic press bends angles in the flat pieces to create three-dimensional components. |
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| Heavy-duty, over built components are the norm for Explorer Pro Comp |
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| From prototype to production, here's what Explorer's elongated steering knuckles look like for the new 2004 Ford F-150. The rough-welded fabrication is refined until a pattern can be made, which is then used to make a production piece. |
With Explorer Pro Comp’s equal-angle suspension engineering, though, the steering is true and turns don’t require advance planning. In addition, the company uses heavy-duty components and one-piece cross-members designed to handle loading far above what you’ll ever encounter off-road.
“We typically over-build everything,” notes John Corrao, “To the consumer, bigger is better.” All fine and good, but there’s obviously a lot more to building a good lift kit than simply using thick slabs of steel and large-diameter tubing. That’s where working smarter, not harder, really pays off, especially in view of the R&D time involved.
How long does it take to develop a lift kit? From the initial discussion phase (the proverbial “sketch on a napkin” stage) through extensive durability testing to parts actually coming off the production line, the entire project may require as much as five or six months of earnest effort. Included in that time frame are long hours on both the design computer and the shop floor, fine-tuning and testing the components.
Interestingly, even in these days of powerful desktop PCs with computer-aided design, mocking up still requires some of the fabricator’s tried-and-true method of hand-cutting of cardboard as templates for custom-welded wire frames. These initial prototypes aren’t actually made of wire but small-diameter tubing. These shapes help to determine clearances and articulation, and rough out the packaging and fitment.
Once the basic pickup points (the X, Y and Z dimensions) have been identified, the fabricators weld up parts out of 1/4-inch steel stock. They’re checked to make sure there’s no interference with other components such as the steering, and then actually driven on the road for some initial durability testing.
Only after this initial phase do the engineers transfer these solid models into their computers, which run a sophisticated SolidWorks solid geometry modeling software. Explorer’s engineers actually draw the part on screen. In some cases, the three-dimensional rendering might be derived from a flat surface defined by a series of lines based on measurements of the prototype. In other cases, it’s actually sculptured on screen. They create a solid shape on the computer screen, and then take material away from it to define contours. Or it’s a combination of the two approaches.
This computer sculpturing and/or drafting may take as much as two to three weeks for just one part. During this time, the engineers can rotate the digital part in cyberspace, viewing it from all angles, and check its functionality and range of motion as well. Not only that, the SolidWorks program has in its memory a digital “toolbox” full of hardware (nuts, bolts, washers, fasteners) that the engineer can pick from and insert into the computer model with just a click of his mouse. The toolbox function greatly improves the accuracy of the 3D modeling, making the final product more accurate as well.
Once the 3D model has been refined to the engineers’s satisfaction, they “flatten” it on screen, creating the draftsman’s traditional two-dimensional views of the part (top, side, and front), along with precise measurements. This stage is necessary in order to export the file to a computer-driven laser cutter. That machine then slices and dices about a half-dozen prototypes. These are now getting much closer to the final part, but they still need to be double-checked to make sure the computer modeling was done correctly.
A kit’s components and features vary with each application on a broad range of domestic and imported trucks and SUVs. As noted earlier, they all share one important trait — bulletproof construction. This includes cross-members constructed from a single piece of steel plate as much as 3/4-inches thick, bent to the exact shape in hydraulic presses, and then secured with Grade 8 hardware. Rear coils that are hot-wound and pre-stressed. Heavy-duty front track bar relocation brackets and drop pitman arms which help to ensure precise steering. Add-a-leafs plus billet aluminum lift blocks to improve level load capacity. Nodular iron steering knuckles CNC machined to exacting tolerances. Chromolly lower control arms with reverse-hourglass urethane bushings. And the list goes on...
That all sounds good on paper, but how about in the dirt? “Here is where Explorer is really tough on prototype and pre-production parts,” says Loren Snyder. “We drop-test them for strength and durability during thousands of miles of driving on both street and off-road surfaces to make sure they’ll hold up to all sorts of off-road use and abuse.” The technicians check for stress fractures and metal fatigue, and if the components don’t meet the required specs, or display some weak areas, additional computer time is required to make changes
Some Explorer Pro Comp lift kits include the company’s own shock absorbers. The ES1000 twin-tube hydraulic shock features a multi-lip, spring tensioned rod seal for the S924 high temperature shock fluid, a 5/8-inch chrome hardened piston rod protected by a poly-vinyl boot, and a 1-3/8-inch, nylon-banded full-displacement shock head and double-welded shock mounts.
The ES3000 cellular twin-tube shock self-adjusts to road conditions with 10-stage velocity-sensitive valving. The chrome hardened piston rod and Teflon rebound stop deliver a comfortable highway ride, plus the ability to tackle the toughest off-road conditions.
Then there’s the ES9000 nitrogen-charged, twin-tube shock designed for heavy load capacities, comfortable highway ride quality, plus the rigors of demanding off-road situations.
The benchmark of the Explorer Pro Comp line-up of 4x4 shocks is the MX6 monotube adjustable unit. It’s as versatile as the name it carries — the Robby Gordon Signature Series. Gordon has excelled in NASCAR, the Baja 100 and in Indy car racing. The MX6 features six-position adjustability for compression and rebound so the driver can dial in the degree of stiffness required by the driving conditions — from a stiffer setting for the highway or heavy-duty towing to more compliant to absorb the bumps and grinds of hard-core off-roading. The MX6 monotube construction results in improved spring control and fade-resistance.
What really sets the MX6 apart from the competition is the engineering. The MX6 is designed and tuned to the specific application. For example, take two vehicles, a Jeep Wrangler and mid-sized Toyota 4x4. They each have their own weight distribution and handling characteristics, and though the size of the shock may be similar, the two vehicles have their own requirements for optimum performance. With the MX6, the shock is custom-valved at the factory specifically for the Jeep and the Toyota to fit their distinctly different traits. You just won’t get that with a one-size-fits all shock.
That fine-tuned approach takes a lot more time, but it’s a lot smarter way to go. Which is what Explorer Pro Comp always strives to keep in mind in all its off-road components.
*Source: Explorer Pro Comp • 2360 Boswell Road • Chula Vista, CA 91914 • 619-216-1444 • www.explorerprocomp.com
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