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i want to even out the bulldog stance of my ranger on the rear end, front sits wide and looks awesome but rear is still slim like stock


stamina

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2021
Messages
227
City
Wilmington, NC
Vehicle Year
1990
Engine
4.0 V6
Transmission
Manual
Total Lift
4” suspension
Tire Size
265/75/r16
My credo
built her in a storage unit
i have 5/16 spacers on the front axle of my 1990 ranger and it has somewhat of a bulldog stance, will putting 5/16 spacers on the rear axle make it to where the stance is evened out or do i need larger/smaller spacers on the rear (kind of seems like i do) it has a DANA 35 TTB front and a 7.5 rear end
 
70376
70377

i think you can see the difference in the stance between front/rear from these photos, i guess i’m asking if the 35TTB and 7.5 rear end are the same width from the factory
 
its perfect.....


but....and explorer rear would throw you your goal....and 31 splines...and a later unit....disk brakes too.


winnie win win.
 
or no spacers front.
 
Your front wheelbearings will like you a LOT more if you just take the spacers out of the front... don't know if you've ever done the wheel bearings on that but there's about 1/8" between the two bearing races in the rotor, not the best setup for that situation...

I'm with Bobby though, Explorer 8.8 is the best way to go, but is some work, I don't regret doing it to mine...

That said the rear axle could take spacers, it'd be happier with them than the D35 is... I think the D35 is about 1-1.5" wider than the stock rear axle, maybe just move the spacers to the back...

Here's a picture of mine after I broke/twisted the rear driveshaft (and bent a leaf spring, pierced the radiator, twisted an axle tube at the plug weld and broke the transfer case output bearing snap ring groove...) doing a tractor pull without a traction bar... but it has a good shadow showing mine with the neutral backspacing wheels (I think, I don't remember, got them used over 10 years ago...) and 35x12.50 tires with a D35 up front and an Explorer 8.8 out back...

Tractor Pull 016.jpg
 
Your front wheelbearings will like you a LOT more if you just take the spacers out of the front... don't know if you've ever done the wheel bearings on that but there's about 1/8" between the two bearing races in the rotor, not the best setup for that situation...

I'm with Bobby though, Explorer 8.8 is the best way to go, but is some work, I don't regret doing it to mine...

That said the rear axle could take spacers, it'd be happier with them than the D35 is... I think the D35 is about 1-1.5" wider than the stock rear axle, maybe just move the spacers to the back...

Here's a picture of mine after I broke/twisted the rear driveshaft (and bent a leaf spring, pierced the radiator, twisted an axle tube at the plug weld and broke the transfer case output bearing snap ring groove...) doing a tractor pull without a traction bar... but it has a good shadow showing mine with the neutral backspacing wheels (I think, I don't remember, got them used over 10 years ago...) and 35x12.50 tires with a D35 up front and an Explorer 8.8 out back...

View attachment 70383
alright, i think i’ll take your advice and move them to the back, they were ordered and put on by a blacks tire shop, i didn’t request they do this, i just didn’t know what i was doing at the time and just wanted the truck to roll on all 4 wheels, any idea why they would have done this?
 
Unless there's a clearance issue between the wheels and rotors I don't know why anyone runs wheel spacers... that said I have a set of 5mm spacers on my '00 Explorer to fit Jeep wheels without scraping the lower A arms and I did order a set of bolt pattern adapters for the Explorer before I got the axles I have now for it...

Probably because that's what everyone does now, everyone's about the "stance life" anymore, I imagine you see more of it over in NC than I do over here... I don't understand it myself but I'm more for function over form...
 
I need spacers....to clear my radius arms. But I just live with limited steering and tire rub.
 
Your front wheelbearings will like you a LOT more if you just take the spacers out of the front... don't know if you've ever done the wheel bearings on that but there's about 1/8" between the two bearing races in the rotor, not the best setup for that situation...

I'm with Bobby though, Explorer 8.8 is the best way to go, but is some work, I don't regret doing it to mine...

That said the rear axle could take spacers, it'd be happier with them than the D35 is... I think the D35 is about 1-1.5" wider than the stock rear axle, maybe just move the spacers to the back...

Here's a picture of mine after I broke/twisted the rear driveshaft (and bent a leaf spring, pierced the radiator, twisted an axle tube at the plug weld and broke the transfer case output bearing snap ring groove...) doing a tractor pull without a traction bar... but it has a good shadow showing mine with the neutral backspacing wheels (I think, I don't remember, got them used over 10 years ago...) and 35x12.50 tires with a D35 up front and an Explorer 8.8 out back...

View attachment 70383
You got any video of that? Id like to see it.

i also didnt realize you converted to 4wd.

Really think its cool how far that truck has come over the years.

I pulled my 89 F250 i had with a 460 and 35s...it snapped the rear u joint pretty fast once things started hopping. I pulled my 78 dually once too but being 2wd i didnt get very far. I think i just broke 100ft but atleast it stayed glued togther. Looking back i shoulda tried 3rd instead of 2nd (4speed) but was worried about the clutch lol.

Not hijacking here....carry on.
 
It seems like about every vehicle has a wider front track width than the rear. A lot of the newer vehicles also have wider axles overall (wheel mounting flange to wheel mounting flange) which means having positive offset wheels, I can put a normal 4.75” backspaced 15x8 on my ranger with no problems but try to put the same wheel on the escape and half the tire is outside the body, and try to put the escape wheel on the ranger its very far inside the wheel well. (thats on the rear of course, a 15” wont fit over a escape front brake caliper & the center bore of a escape wheel wont fit over a ranger bearing hub on the front. You could use escape wheels with 1-1/2” spacers but it just doesnt look right. I only tried it because I had bought 1-1/2” spacers for my wheel horse to use jd wheels with ag tires) If you really want the wider look, just go with a wider rim. Spacers just create more of a load on bearings & ball joints.
 
You got any video of that? Id like to see it.

i also didnt realize you converted to 4wd.

Really think its cool how far that truck has come over the years.

I pulled my 89 F250 i had with a 460 and 35s...it snapped the rear u joint pretty fast once things started hopping. I pulled my 78 dually once too but being 2wd i didnt get very far. I think i just broke 100ft but atleast it stayed glued togther. Looking back i shoulda tried 3rd instead of 2nd (4speed) but was worried about the clutch lol.

Not hijacking here....carry on.

I don't think there's any video of that, it was very uneventful until the last 5 feet, about 4 violent axle wraps and she was done... drove it home in front wheel drive on the back roads... Yeah, the thing has changed a bit over the years, grandpa mobile I got in November of '99, got a 4x4 frame in '05 to swap to 4x4, turbo engine in '09, lift in early '11 I think...
 
I don't think there's any video of that, it was very uneventful until the last 5 feet, about 4 violent axle wraps and she was done... drove it home in front wheel drive on the back roads... Yeah, the thing has changed a bit over the years, grandpa mobile I got in November of '99, got a 4x4 frame in '05 to swap to 4x4, turbo engine in '09, lift in early '11 I think...
Oh so you did a frame swap? Just curious what was the reason rather then just swapping in an axle and T case?
 
The engine crossmembers are different between 4x2 and 4x4 so it's way more complicated than just throwing in an axle
 

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