Your truck your engine, goal is to fly high. Haha.

Alright, 95 Explorer with OHV 4.0 and 4R55E. The first thing I would do is build the cage and the front and rear suspension. Now for me that means leaf springs in the back because I still want to be able to have a back seat for my girls. Then I'd build the rear bumper with a tire mount and a gas can. Then I'd weigh the truck to see what it weighed at each corner with the engine and trans in the stock position. Once I had that I would pull the engine and trans so I could figure how far back I needed to move it to get 50/50 - 45/55 weight distribution. Now I'm just guessing that somewhere around that would be ideal, I have no experience to go off of.

I posted up a new thread on DR an hour ago to see what they have to say about weight distribution. So far 9 people have viewed it but no responses. Hopefully some of the racers will reply.

Alright, one reply but he just talked around my questions and didn't answer them.

Oh you have the V6? I sort of assumed it was the 8. I would want the 5L, so I could build a 347 when cash allowed.

I would think you would want the motor as far back as possible, like a sand rail. I think it would even be cool to mount it behind the rear axle, like where the spare tire cage is on trucks, and use a Mendeola transaxle just like in a sand rail. But that would be a serious cash sucking project.

Keep that front end as light as possible. Land with the nose up, that's better than nose down.

There was a Ranger on DR a few years ago that ran a V8 and set it back so that most of it was in the cab. I really want to find that post so I can see pics of how he did his front frame.

So the first guy that told you change the springs was the first to answer. He said 75/25 front/rear but is the one who just talked around my questions. Then second person to answer is a guy that invited me out to the races to ride in his truck that I helped him figure out what was wrong with it the day before the race. I know he knows what he's talking about.

He said that you want to be around 50/50 to 49/51. He said that his truck is currently 51/49 and that two of his buddy's trucks are 50/50. He going to be installing a larger, heavier fuel cell and when he does he is shooting for 49/51. His truck is a Ranger with a 302 and I believe a C4 and he mounted the engine in the stock position.

So it looks like what I said before is correct. So once you have the truck set up the way you want weigh it and then set the engine where it will be 50/50 to 49/51.

A truck with a V8 in the stock location is almost 50/50?

75/25, that's retarded.

He has as much mounted behind the rear axle as possible. Here's his truck. Also, it's 51/49 right now.