axle swap to drop interchangability question

[pontiacfieroguy]

that looks great josh. thanks for yhe rep dg, says I must spread rep.

 

[JoshT]

Sorry for the hijack, didn't leave a reply at first because I thought they had covered it pretty well. Did you have any other questions about the swapping in the Explorer axle, or or any other lowering for that matter?

 

[pontiacfieroguy]

No worries about the jacking, I started it. my only real concern is about if my driveshaft will bolt up to the 8.8. I can't afford to start the swap just to findout I don't have everything I need to do it. so far from what I understand I just need the axle and an extra passenger side mounting plate. I plan to use his springs too to minimize the amount of work needed. that sould also cut the drop by about an inch and from I've heard the spring under conversion gets you about 5inches of drop wich is pushing it with out notching the frame wich I don't want to do.

 

[JoshT]

I can't say for certain, but I believe you will need to use the drive shaft flange from the Explorer, I believe that it has a larger bolt pattern than yours does. I know that the flange on my 98 Explorer 8.8 had a larger bolt pattern than the one on my 86 Ranger 7.5. Not sure if you can just swap the flange or not, I'm swapping in the entire 5.0 drive train so I just took the complete drive shaft.

As for the drop. Yes, the Explorer axle should get you about a 5" drop. I can understand this being too much, I think it would be for me as well. Installing the explorer springs to bring it back up the results will vary. There were 2 different heights of leaf packs installed on Explorers one was the same as the stock Ranger, the other was approximately 2" taller. From what I've heard the shorter could be found on any Explorer, the taller pack was most commonly found on the 4 door Explorers. If he has the taller pack you'll end up with about a 3" drop, if he has the highest spring rate of the shorter version I suppose you could possibly end up with about a 4" drop. So you may or may not get the lift you want from the Explorer springs, if you don't the next best option is the Chevy shackles, they will get you around a 1 or 2 inch lift depending on the mounting hole you use.

When I stuck the explorer axle under my frame, I took the springs as well. At that time I didn't know about the potential lift, so I also put in the Chevy shackles. It wasn't until a few months later when I was researching springs to replace my nearly flat ones on my 99 Ranger that I found out about the additional height, sure enough after swapping out to the 4 door springs I was able to get rid of the factory lift block and stay same height. Now I think I'm going to have to go back and remove the Chevy shackle and possibly swap the springs out on the 86 to get it the height I want. First I got to get the truck put back together to see how it sits with weight on it.

 

[kryptonitecb]

A friend of mine did the spring under on his Ranger and found out you can put nissan air shocks in it. I don't know part numbers but if search I'm sure the info is out there.

Sent from the road while ignoring traffic

 

[pontiacfieroguy]

this sucks, I replaced my front shocks with what were supposed to be factory replacements but they were damn near an inch and a half longer than the ones that were on it. I called autozone back and they said its the right part number and didn't want to exchange them for a shorter shock. since one had already been installed and I cut the wire off the other. I only want to drop the front about two inches so I figured factory shocks would be OK but now I ain't so sure. the donor is 2dr. are there any factory replacement shocks that would work well in the rear? if not what is the cheapest shock I could use with that much drop?

 

[JoshT]

I believe I've read that stock shocks will work for up to a 3" drop on the rear. On the rear once you go past that most people will use Nissan Hardbody shocks (standard or air shocks). On the front I know that stock shocks will work with 3" dream beams, but I don't know if they will work with drop springs. I think they would work okay with no more than 2" but I'm really not sure, and I can't help you with the new shocks being longer. If you don't mind my asking what was the brand and part number on them (if you still have the info)?

 

[pontiacfieroguy]

gabriel guardian 81490. any certain year and model hard body shocks preferable?

 

[pontiacfieroguy]

will I need pinion shims or will my driveline angle be acceptable?

 

[JoshT]

Sorry dude been a little out of it last few days. Woke up at 8 AM Sunday morning and didn't get any sleep that night (literally), worked through a 10 hour shift at work and had school last night so I was running on empty, and was finally able to get some sleep after 10 PM yesterday. Then I had to be back up a 3am this morning to put in another 12 hour shift at work, so I'm still a tired ass.

My understanding is that all the Hardbody shocks are the same. Apparently the also have the same valving as the Ranger, biggest difference is just that they are a little shorter.

Do you have a 1 piece or 2 piece driveshaft? Either way with the 3" it sounds like you are aiming for you should be fine on pinion angle.

 

[pontiacfieroguy]

I know the feeling, I was working 12 hour days 7 days a week, I went three months straight without a day off plus I was playing in a dart league three nights a week so I rarely got to bed before 1 and got up at 4:30. hell I got up about eight friday morning, worked in the yard and on the ranger all day, took my trazadone to go to sleep about 2 am then my buddy called me and ask if I wanted to go steal some cars so we went and worked til about 7pm Saturday got home wanting to watch the ut/florida game and passed out during the first quarter, its a miracle I didn't go to sleep at the wheel. gotta love ephedrine and redbull.


1 piece shaft. I think all reg cabs did.

 

[JoshT]

No ephedrine or energy drinks for me. The only energy booster I took was a Men's One-A-Day Multivitamin "Energy formula" with breakfast. They actually work pretty well for me, biggest problem is on a normal work day if I take one I can't sleep for shit that night not a problem with these 12 hours shifts though. Okay, 2 biggest problems, once or twice I've taken one on a normal day and it made me feel strange. Kinda detached feeling from everything, and seemed to raise my heart rate a bit, just didn't feel right. Maybe on those couple of instances there was another cause, but the only thing I know of different on those days is I took one of those multivitamins. I almost threw them in the trash when I got home the second time, but held on to them to use on these long days.