31 Spline 8.8 Sway Bar

[85_Ranger4x4]

9 years after I cut the factory sway bar brackets off my axle before I swapped it in I am finding myself wanting to add a rear sway bar for my new to me slide in camper.

It is proving easier said than done. Factory Ranger axle mounting won't fit because the axle tubes and center housing are bigger. So I grabbed brackets off of a OBS F-150:





And I end up with this:



So I went and tried the factory Ranger stuff on my pickup box trailer to see if the brackets lock into anything like the F-150 brackets do. I scratched lines where the bracket sits, I don't see anything:





Installed pics from the tech library:

So does it even need to be located to the axle like the F-150 one or is just clamping it good enough? I thought the PS 7.5 bracket locked on to something on the axle but I don't see where it does?

 

[Shran]

Every RBV rear sway bar I've seen is just clamped. I'd hook up the little pieces to the frame, loosely clamp the axle brackets and move it around so that it's in a happy location, tighten the clamps and call it a day.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

In case somebody else comes across this later:

So I cut the locator bits off the clamps to make a king size version of the Ranger hardware:



And I think it is going to work!



I need to enlarge the one radius where the clamp goes over the center section, clean and paint and check that off the list.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Fits perfect!



Didn't do my articulation any favors but it massively improved the trucks road manners.

 

[gw33gp]

Those clamps are so close to the center of the axle that it seems they would not provide much stiffness to anti-sway. But then again, the anti-sway bar on the front has the attachment farther apart on the axle and closer together on the frame. I guess that is kind of similar and works. The important thing is doing what you want it to and you indicated it does, so it must work.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Those clamps are so close to the center of the axle that it seems they would not provide much stiffness to anti-sway. But then again, the anti-sway bar on the front has the attachment farther apart on the axle and closer together on the frame. I guess that is kind of similar and works. The important thing is doing what you want it to and you indicated it does, so it must work.

Yeah, the way it fits on the axle looks like some cheesy JC Whitney POS. I like the "oh crap there is a shock here" swoop in the passenger side coming off the diff lol.

Here is a pic of the same sway bar mounted on the axle before I pulled it. They basically ran this design (bar itself got thinner in '93) from 83-11 and OBS fullsizes ran basically the same idea but scaled up.

 

[Highway101]

When I swapped the Explorer 8.8 disc brake rear into my 99 Ranger l set the threaded clamp blocks on the floor and hit the back side with a hammer. This caused the bolts to splay out a bit and clear the larger axle tube. I ground the tips of the other side so it fit the tube and bolted it together with the original parts.

I bought 1/2" ubolts and spring pads from summit racing and then cut the shock mounts off the Explorer ubolt plates and drilled the holes to fit larger ubolts. I cut off the sway bar mounts and torque arm mounts. I left the original spring pads on the bottom of the axle because this left a place to mount the brake hoses to.

I set the original 7.5 rear end on jack stands and leveled the spring pads. This turned out to set the pinion degree angle at 7° up. I set the 8.8 rear on jack stands and set the pinion to the same 7° angle and welded the spring pads level.

I swapped out the original Ranger springs for the Explorer springs and bolted the rear end in with the new ubolts. The drive shaft bolted right up and I used the Explorer brake hose. The parking brake cables hooked up ok. I replaced the brake line on the rear end because it was a bit rusty. I recommend getting S.U.R.&R. brake line kit from summit racing and if you are going to make lots of brake lines I recommend a turret type flare tool.

Is am very happy with the results of the swap and the back of my truck is no longer a tail dragger as the Explorer springs raised it up about 3" higher. I cranked up the torsion bars about a turn and a half but only got about an inch of lift in the front. I plan to swap the heavier Explorer bars into the front because I want to mount a bumper and winch. Hopefully this will raise the front up a bit more or I will have to do torsion keys. Hopefully this explains the swap fairly well.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

If I had it to do again I would have left the Explorer sway bar brackets on the axle and just used the Explorer sway bar.

10 years ago when I did the axle swap getting a slide in camper was nowhere close to being on my radar though.

 

[Highway101]

If I had it to do again I would have left the Explorer sway bar brackets on the axle and just used the Explorer sway bar.

10 years ago when I did the axle swap getting a slide in camper was nowhere close to being on my radar though.

I looked at that and it is better to use the Ranger sway bar because it mounts to the frame completely different than the Explorer one does. I did have to do a bit of grinding on the mount and the center of the rear end had a cast lug that I ground down.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Yeah, I did a fair amount of grinding on the clamp half. I didn't do anything to the axle itself though.

One kind of nice thing about the later Ranger bar for a 4x4, it is the wimpiest of anything so you can sacrifice some handling (which honestly we will never really be that awesome anyway) to get a little more articulation.

 

[sgtsandman]

Yours looks to sit about the same as mine does on the 2011. It looks cheesy but it works.

 

[ericbphoto]

Yeah, I did a fair amount of grinding on the clamp half. I didn't do anything to the axle itself though.

One kind of nice thing about the later Ranger bar for a 4x4, it is the wimpiest of anything so you can sacrifice some handling (which honestly we will never really be that awesome anyway) to get a little more articulation.

I did some similar grinding to put my original antisway bar on my 8.8" axle. Took it off a few months later. It's taking up too much space in the shed even as we speak.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I did some similar grinding to put my original antisway bar on my 8.8" axle. Took it off a few months later. It's taking up too much space in the shed even as we speak.

Yeah, I never really thought I needed one either until I turned with the Skamper in the back.

When Ford says you need that for a slide in camper it wasn't the marketing guys blowing smoke.

 

[fixizin]

STUDLY job!

I like the "oh crap there is a shock here" swoop in the passenger side coming off the diff lol.

LOL indeed... I'm sure the engineers weren't happy about that lame workaround for a not-in-the-original-spec issue.

I'm still looking for the coveted Eddie Bauer Bronco-II rear sway bar, to replace the wimpy-thin factory one that came on my '99 4x4 "Sport"... I'm told that aside from new bushings (due anyway) to accommodate the larger diameter, that it's a bolt-in proposition... hmmm...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I think it was only the 2wd BII that got the 1" bar.

No idea why only they got it, I have never even seen a 2wd BII.