Explorer rear axle lowering?

[Redneckryder]

I am putting a 5.0 in my Ranger, and I have been told that the 7.5 rear is going to explode behind it. I have an 8.8 out of an explorer, which is spring under as you all know. I want to just throw it under my truck, as I want to lower it anyways, and keep it spring under. Is there any reason this may be a bad idea?

 

[stmitch]

It will work fine for lowering the rear. It's a very common way to get about 5 inches of drop.

There are two things that may or may not be a big deal though.
1. The Explorer axle is a bit wider than the stock Ranger unit, so it may cause rubbing issues if you've got wide tires in the rear. This depends on tire size and wheel offset, but it's not really common.
2. The Explorer axles don't have shock mounts like the ranger axle. You can weld shock tabs onto the axle and keep using your shocks just as they are, or you can grab the Explorer shock mounting plates (I think you'll need two passenger side plates instead of 1 from each side, but my memory could be wrong.) the plates bolt to the leaf spring perches, and by flipping the second passenger side plate 180 degrees, you can bolt it all together. Or the third option here, is to take the shock cross member and both shock plates from an Explorer, weld the shock crossmember into your Ranger frame, and run the shocks in the same configuration that you'd see on an Explorer with both shocks being on the same side of the axle.