PA 853 vs 883 Differences

[Bronco Guy]

I am just wrapping up putting in a PA 883 kit on my 97 Explorer. Yes, I realize now that I was supposed to get the 853 kit for the 97 rather than the 883 kit. All of my initial searches on this forum seemed to be talking about using the 883 kit and I mistakenly thought that all of the 95-01 Explorers were the same regarding the kit, but apparently there are some differences.

So out of curiosity, what are the primary differences between the 853 and 883 kits. In reading some of people's install notes, it seems that the bumper brackets don't work in either kit. A 3" block is a 3" block and 8 of the 10 bolt lengths were okay.

I had a couple other problems that may or may not have been solved by using the 853 kit. The first was the steering shaft coupler was just slightly too small. The 97 shaft was slightly too large for the female opening on the coupler. It was also slightly too long. The 2nd problem that required some vehicle mod was the radiator lowering bracket. There was some extra sheet metal on the body that prevented the extension bracket holes from lining up. I ended up trimming the sheet metal away, but the holes were still a little bit off.

The last problem I had was with the rear 2 body mounts, but I don't think this problem was unique to using the wrong kit. The last 2 bolts weren't long enough. I needed to get some 9" long ones.

BTW, I am new to this forum and Explorer ownership, but am a fairly experienced garage wrencher. I have been working on my own cars and modifying 4x4's for about 25 years. I am a long time early Bronco owner but got this Explorer as a hand me down recently and decided to mod it a bit for the heck of it.

 

[35's on mine]

I am just wrapping up putting in a PA 883 kit on my 97 Explorer. Yes, I realize now that I was supposed to get the 853 kit for the 97 rather than the 883 kit. All of my initial searches on this forum seemed to be talking about using the 883 kit and I mistakenly thought that all of the 95-01 Explorers were the same regarding the kit, but apparently there are some differences.

So out of curiosity, what are the primary differences between the 853 and 883 kits. In reading some of people's install notes, it seems that the bumper brackets don't work in either kit. A 3" block is a 3" block and 8 of the 10 bolt lengths were okay.

I had a couple other problems that may or may not have been solved by using the 853 kit. The first was the steering shaft coupler was just slightly too small. The 97 shaft was slightly too large for the female opening on the coupler. It was also slightly too long. The 2nd problem that required some vehicle mod was the radiator lowering bracket. There was some extra sheet metal on the body that prevented the extension bracket holes from lining up. I ended up trimming the sheet metal away, but the holes were still a little bit off.

The last problem I had was with the rear 2 body mounts, but I don't think this problem was unique to using the wrong kit. The last 2 bolts weren't long enough. I needed to get some 9" long ones.

BTW, I am new to this forum and Explorer ownership, but am a fairly experienced garage wrencher. I have been working on my own cars and modifying 4x4's for about 25 years. I am a long time early Bronco owner but got this Explorer as a hand me down recently and decided to mod it a bit for the heck of it.

radiator brackets, is it only two in the kit? can you post pictures of the of this part of install?!?

 

[gavin]

I believe the only difference between the 883 and 853 are 2 of the bumper brackets and the steering extension.

as for the radiator brackets; was it sheetmetal in the way, or was it the "tab" that holds the a/c condensor(?) to the radiator?