Rick's Rangerz 3 Link Kit - has anyone used one?

[85_Ranger4x4]

Mustang came with an 8.8 coil spring setup. Could be possible to fit one of those in?

Obviously you would need fully home made mounting on the truck side, but you could buy some cheap off the shelf parts that bolt right on the axel.

View attachment 146425

I thought about that.

Mustang axle is wider.

May impact ability to do truck things. A Supercab Ranger is a fair bit heavier than a Mustang... before you put a stack of plywood in the back.

On the flipside Jeep has used linked rear axles forever and has the right wheel bolt pattern. But being offroad biased may not be a huge improvement over a well set up leaf system.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Mustang came with an 8.8 coil spring setup. Could be possible to fit one of those in?

Obviously you would need fully home made mounting on the truck side, but you could buy some cheap off the shelf parts that bolt right on the axel.

View attachment 146425

Interesting… this looks like it has potential…

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I thought about that.

Mustang axle is wider.

May impact ability to do truck things. A Supercab Ranger is a fair bit heavier than a Mustang... before you put a stack of plywood in the back.

On the flipside Jeep has used linked rear axles forever and has the right wheel bolt pattern. But being offroad biased may not be a huge improvement over a well set up leaf system.

The Jeep D35 rear axles are notoriously weak, you would have to look for something with a stronger rear. A lot of Jeep guys with the D35 rear use the Ranger/Explorer 8.8” as an upgrade replacement

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The Jeep D35 rear axles are notoriously weak, you would have to look for something with a stronger rear. A lot of Jeep guys with the D35 rear use the Ranger/Explorer 8.8” as an upgrade replacement

They also had D44's, mainly in Rubicons but JT's with the two packaged had them too.

I doubt they are on the used market but they actually just introduced a full floating D44 a year or two ago as well.

 

[JoshT]

Mustang came with an 8.8 coil spring setup. Could be possible to fit one of those in?

Obviously you would need fully home made mounting on the truck side, but you could buy some cheap off the shelf parts that bolt right on the axel.

View attachment 146425

It's a factory triangulated 4 link. Same type of suspension that is being discussed here, except that Ford used coil springs instead of coilovers or bags. As for swaping that in, not really feasible. Dimensionally the axle and car is pretty different than a Ranger, at a minimum all of the links ould have to be replaced with custom parts, and it's a fair bit wider as mentioned. By the time you modified everything to fit, you'd have as much work in as building with the stock (or Explorer) axle, and the stock axle fits better from the start.

 

[Roert42]

Mustangs fuel tank is behind the axel as well.

Although I’m genuinely surprised the mustang is wider.

My buddy is borrowing my Mustang, maybe when he brings it back I’ll take some measurements.

If none of the links are in a useful spot I will not be surprised, being unibody and all.

 

[JoshT]

Mustangs fuel tank is behind the axel as well.

Although I’m genuinely surprised the mustang is wider.

My buddy is borrowing my Mustang, maybe when he brings it back I’ll take some measurements.

If none of the links are in a useful spot I will not be surprised, being unibody and all.

The Mustang may not be, but I'm pretty sure it's axle is. That's where that wheel offset stuff comes into play. Axle can be can be wider, but track width stay similar due to different offset pulling the tires in.

I won't mind being wrong. If it can easily work out, that's another potential part/mod that can be used. There's still the issue of it being lighter duty than the Ranger or Explorer stuff, but it you're using it to go around a track instead of hauling loads, that probably isn't going to matter too much.

 

[Roert42]

Ford used 28 splice 8.8s in the mustangs, I would be surprised if they were somehow lighter duty then the 28 spine axels in the Ranger.

Although I would expect the springs to be much lighter.

According to some notes I found on LMR, and to the specs in the tech section, they are ever so slightly wider.

3” wider if using disk brakes. If you keep the drum brakes they are less then an inch wider.

• 1990-1992 Ranger: 56.50″
• 1993-2009 Ranger: 58.50″
• 2010-2011 Ranger w/ discs: 58.50″
• Mustang: 1986-1993 = 59.25″, 1994-2004 = 61.25″

Whenever I get my Mustang back I’ll do some side by side comparisons so see how hard they would be to swap.

I’m expecting the linkage and springs will be in the exact spot you don’t want it to be.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Lincoln town cars have that same setup with a 28 spline 8.8... I know, I had a '91 for a short time and the guy I got it from blew the rear axle up so I had to change it... I think I finally scrapped the axle shafts a few years ago as they were in my way for a long time...