Axles

demonranger101 · Sep 12, 2011

Hey there, just outta curiosity, im thinking about doing an axle swap on my 91 ranger, after i start getting some other parts, now im not all that familiar with axles...never messed with them, ive done a little research but im wondering what is the better, dana 35, dana 44, 8.8 ford out of an explorer...or any other suggestions? I appreciate any input

06RangerXLT · Sep 12, 2011

8.8 is about as strong as a dana 44. id go for an explorer axle. Remember though, its gonna be an inch wider on each side.

but this belongs in the axles section.

maybe a mod can move it.

demonranger101 · Sep 12, 2011

Oops sorry, still getting used to the forums

but thank you none the less, and will that inch extra hurt anything?

pjtoledo · Sep 12, 2011

demonranger101 said:
Oops sorry, still getting used to the forums but thank you none the less, and will that inch extra hurt anything?

stock wheels and tires, no.
larger? Maybe, depends on how much larger. :icon_welder:

Perry

Bennybooster · Sep 12, 2011

I think you are a little confused. the 8.8 is a rear axle. And a D44 and D35 are front axles.

They are totally different, the D35 is a direct swap and it is a TTB axle. The D44 is not a direct swap and it is a solid axle and the only real upgrades from a D35 is bigger brakes.
An explorer 8.8 has 31spline axle shafts and can handle some pretty big tires.

AllanD · Sep 12, 2011

Actually an 8.8" axle is slightly stronger than a 9"

The 9"rear's advantage for trucks is the captive axle shafts
(for race cars is the ability to swap out third members for gearing changes)

The bearings in a Ford 9" are actually smaller than those in a 7.5" axle.

a Dana 44 is very slightly stronger than a 7.5" axle

The advantage to the explorer rear is the stronger axle shafts.

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06RangerXLT said:
8.8 is about as strong as a dana 44. id go for an explorer axle. Remember though, its gonna be an inch wider on each side.

but this belongs in the axles section.

maybe a mod can move it.

scotts90ranger · Sep 12, 2011

Bennybooster said:
I think you are a little confused. the 8.8 is a rear axle. And a D44 and D35 are front axles.

They are totally different, the D35 is a direct swap and it is a TTB axle. The D44 is not a direct swap and it is a solid axle and the only real upgrades from a D35 is bigger brakes.
An explorer 8.8 has 31spline axle shafts and can handle some pretty big tires.

actually the D44 and 35 are most definetely used on both! Jeep's use them as well as several others, wranglers have Dana 35 rear axles and cheroke's usually had Dana 44 rear axles. I believe the Honda passport's had D44's in the back too...

on a '91 ranger with a 4.0 he has a D35 up front and an 8.8 in back even though it's not the 31 spline 8.8 like in an explorer axle

Bennybooster · Sep 12, 2011

But we are talking RBV axles, I realize that there are rear 35's and 44's. But to keep this less complicted I only brought up Ranger axles

scotts90ranger · Sep 12, 2011

fair enough

To sum it up, you have about as good as you are going to get with a '91 4.0L ranger other than the smaller axle shafts in your rear axle, what you have will hold up to a fair amount of abuse.

demonranger101 · Sep 13, 2011

Well im wanting to upgrade the rear axle to the 8.8 explorer at the very least, im just starting on this truck so....sooner or later im going to want to upgrade and take it up to the 31 spline, because i am going to lift it and thinking about 35x12.50, either 15 or 16s, dont really want to go any bigger than that, i had a 88 b2 with a 7in lift and 35x12.50r 15's and it looked pretty decent, origional axles and gears, i kept snapping the rear drive shaft though, it had that centrifical force type setup sorta like the cv axle shafts in cars

scotts90ranger · Sep 14, 2011

That's a good plan, do that along with the little tweaks people talk about for the Dana 35 and you should have a good all around setup. The key elements for making a Dana 35 work well are:

-Good steering angles, for a 6" lift at least get the Skyjacker FA600 drop pitman arm or another steering upgrade
-Full circlips on U joint caps instead of the partial ones used stock (look in the tech library for a walk through)
-Clearance the center joint for more travel without binding
-Open the window in the passenger side beam so the shaft doesn't hit it
-remove the lower radius arm bolt on the passenger side and remove 3-4 threads then put it back in, at full droop the bolt threads sticking on the inside will bind on the shaft
-Don't use a cheap drop plate lift, make sure the lift uses a new bracket for the passenger beam pivot.

Do that and keep on top of the wheel bearings and the axle is as strong as a Dana 44 and will last fine for 35's as long as extreme offset wheels aren't used.

demonranger101 · Sep 14, 2011

Alright, Thank you, Ill keep it in mind

jd4242 · Sep 14, 2011

Get a 95+ explorer rear axle with disc brakes and swap your master cylinder with a 95 with No proportioning valve and no abs and swap some jeep u joints into the d35

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