I once owned a 89 Xplorer on the Dodge 350 chassis and spent a lot of time trying to improve the handling on that tall vehicle with a relatively short wheelbase. I added a leaf to each of the rear springs, installed air shocks and larger all steel tires in the rear. At the time, 2" rear wheel spacers were also a popular addition so I put them on too. I think, for a while, they were offered as standard equipment on the wide body Pleasure Way camper vans, which I believe were also built on the Dodge chassis. The Dodge van used the rear axle of the Dodge pickup which unfortunately made the track narrower in the rear than the front. The spacers widened the rear track so it was the same as the front, with the idea it would help the handling.
After all this messing around, I didn't seem to really change the handling of the beast. And the spacers put additional load on the rear wheel bearings, so I experienced bearing and axle failure. Out in the middle of Nevada. Fun.
Xplorer eventually solved the handling demons by installing dual rear wheels as standard equipment.
karl
