I've got a 3.73 Ranger axle I'll trade you for whatever Ranger axle you have, if you come down and get it. We'll need to take it out of my pickup trailer. I can't gaurentee the condition of the brake cables so you'll need to tkae that type of stuff out of your own axle, but the axle itself is good.
I'd be interested in that, when I get the time. I'm guessing it would be about a 600 mile round trip; and I'm sure the junkyards around the Chicago area would have a 3.73 if I looked hard enough. I don't plan another axle swap for a while though. I think i'll be alright with my 3.45. I guess it would be which is cheaper, roughly $200 a junkyard would charge for a 3.73, or 600 miles of gas. I suppose if I can haul the axles on my hitch-rack thing behind my Buick Century and get 34 mpg at 65 mph, it would be worth the trip. I have a friend in Indianapolis anyway.
The axle I took out was given to me by the local junkyard back in 04, and I TOLD THEM 4 OR 5 TIMES, .. AXLE CODE 84!! But they gave me this "mystery axle" with no tag on it and it's WAY off. It's also an 8.8" while the OEM axle is a 7.5".
I was looking at 63-64 mph actual speed on GPS when the speedometer said 55, with no other variables. Same trans, same tires, etc.
Other than the unknown ratio, (with no other variables, the math works out to roughly 3.00 ??
) the axle I removed has nothing wrong with it, unless it's supposed to be a limited slip. I'm pretty sure it's functioning as an open diff. I lost track of how many times I had to fire up the farm tractor last winter when the stupid thing got stuck in the driveway. The truck was driven once in floodwater about halfway up the diff, but when I got home I changed the oil and there was no evidence of water in there. Oil came out black, not creamy. The new oil I put in said "limited slip" on the jug.
Right now there's no brake hardware on it, (I'll put the junkyard drums on just for sliding around in storage as soon as I get them off the 3.45) and I put a plastic bag over the nipple for the rubber vent hose to keep crap from getting in there, even though it looks like there already is some crap inside the nipple. The plastic bag is secured with baling wire wrapped around like a hose clamp. I also put anti-seize on the threads for the little bolt on top that holds the brake line tee-fitting, and on the threads for the bolts that hold the U-joint thing on. (You know those 4 bolts that require a 12 mm, 12 point box end wrench to remove.)
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but for now it's going in the barn.
The parts store just called, .. my U-bolts are in a day early.