e21pilot
Member
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2013
- Messages
- 170
- Reaction score
- 6
- Points
- 18
- Vehicle Year
- 1992
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Transmission
- Manual
The 3.08 open diff on a 4.0 v6 1992 Ranger I am thinking about buying needs rebuilding. My local shop suggested the cheapest fix would be to swap in a used axle and then I could go even change the ratio or possibly get disc brakes.
I read the tech page on the Ranger Rear Axles. The build sticker on the 92 says it came with a "92" axle: 8.8 28 spline 3.08 open diff. I imagine I could easily swap to a "R5" axle: 8.8 28 spline 3.55 LS diff if I could find one. This would increase my towing capacity and it should just hook up directly although I'm not sure if the transmission computer would need resetting?
Alternatively I could go with an Explorer 8.8" 31 spline 3.55 LS axle that is supposed to be stronger than the Ranger axle and comes with disc brakes. I wonder what is involved with making this axle work and is it worth the effort? The axle is stronger which is good and there seem to be more of them around however the disc brakes seem like some customization work would be involved and I wonder how much better are the disc brakes when the back half of the truck is much lighter than the front half?
I could just go with an early 90s Explorer axle with 10" drum brakes to get the improved strength, Wonder if anyone has done such a swap and if it is as straight forward as I imagine?
I read the tech page on the Ranger Rear Axles. The build sticker on the 92 says it came with a "92" axle: 8.8 28 spline 3.08 open diff. I imagine I could easily swap to a "R5" axle: 8.8 28 spline 3.55 LS diff if I could find one. This would increase my towing capacity and it should just hook up directly although I'm not sure if the transmission computer would need resetting?
Alternatively I could go with an Explorer 8.8" 31 spline 3.55 LS axle that is supposed to be stronger than the Ranger axle and comes with disc brakes. I wonder what is involved with making this axle work and is it worth the effort? The axle is stronger which is good and there seem to be more of them around however the disc brakes seem like some customization work would be involved and I wonder how much better are the disc brakes when the back half of the truck is much lighter than the front half?
I could just go with an early 90s Explorer axle with 10" drum brakes to get the improved strength, Wonder if anyone has done such a swap and if it is as straight forward as I imagine?