is the 2.9 to 4.0 swap worth it

[oopssorry13]

i have an 88 ranger super cab with a 5 speed and 35 inch tires. im running 4.10 gears in it now, because i cant find 5.13s for the 8.8. i already have the 5.13s for the front,but that is another story. lol the 2.9 runs perfect but it bogs a very little bit on take off and it does not have enough power to use 5th gear. this is a daily driver. my question is would the 4.0 have enough power to use 5th gear. right now im turning about 1900 rpm in 4th gear at 55 mph. i know a bigger motor will lower the rpm even more. but im thinking it should have enough power and torque to make up for it.

my other vehicle is a 1995 ford explorer. this was my daily driver for the last 2 years. but i decided to use the ranger for this purpose now. my 95 is obd1 so the swap should be fairly simple if i decide to do this. thanks for any input

 

[broncobuckinaround]

Well from what I'm being told it is. Its direct bolt in and wire it up. They also say the 91-94 years were the best. But your 95 shouldn't be any harder. You would just have to swap everything. All the wiring and fuse boxes and instrument cluster.

I have a 94 donor explorer that I'm going to swap in to my 86. I already did my 5 speed swap. Now it time for the motor.

 

[tcbaklash]

Short answer: Not worth it for your situation

Long answer: I've done the swap myself, but many others know much more than I do. The easiest method is to find a similar donor truck. The more differences there are in year, transmission, and truck itself, the more progressively difficult the swap gets, the more things that don't exactly come together just right. I swapped a 4.0 into my 1990 manual Ranger that came out of a 1994 automatic Explorer, and I only did it because my 2.9L blew up. It works, but things like the hazard lights, temp gauge, tachometer, and windshield spray nozzles don't because of the difference of the two complete wire harnesses and components in each truck. In fact, wiring harnesses were combined to get it running... I would hate to imagine swapping something in with an even larger difference in years. It's possible, but it'll cost you MUCH more money and effort that putting in new gears. My buddy does fine in his 2.9L Ranger crawler with 5.13s

 

[AllanD]

I did my 4.0 Swap on an '87 from a'93 Explorer donor and I would not recommend doing it that way for anyone else...
It took a solid three weeks (80hour weeks) to combine the two harnesses to make everything work correctly.

But I once was a professional prototype wireman, I worked for 20 years for military contractors and once was accused (correctly) of walking around with the complete wiring
diagram of several military aircraft (F/A-18C A6-C and the "stores management" system of the F-15C) in my head... (Yeah, I have that kind of memory)

But I should note that at the same time I wired in both dual fuel tanks and cruise control to my ranger and added in a new audio system.... it was a lot of wiring...

The ONLY thing I've never gotten working correctly is the WOT-A/C cut-out relay.

I will also say I'm ABOUT to do another 4.0 swap, but this time it will be a 1993 Ranger 3.0 as the patient using a 1993 Ranger wiring harness, and a 1993 explorer engine.

This swap is a basic engine replacement and factory wiring harness at the same time.

There is NO EASY WAY to swap any year 4.0 into a Gen1 Ranger.
a gen2 is "child's play" provided your donor is a Gen1 Explorer or a Gen2 Ranger.

A swap into a gen3 Ranger is EASY if you use the wiring harness from another Gen3 Ranger that has the engine you are intending to swap to...

AllanD

 

[oopssorry13]

thanks for the replies everyone. sounds like it might not be worth it. as i mentioned earlier. i have 5.13s for the front.using them only and not the rear end. the truck had the correct amount of power in my opinion. my problem is, all of the websites say they have 5.13s for the rear end, in stock. but when you order them they call 2 days later and say sorry they are discontinued. i went through this 5 times. ugh. maybe ill just deal with it for the time being and eventually do the 5.0 swap

 

[holyford86]

I did the 4.0 swap 5 years ago, best thing I ever did. Used a 93 explorer wiring harness and engine with a 94 federsl emissions ranger EEC. Put it in my 86 in 9 hours and drove it home. Of course i spent a couple evenings beforehand looking at wiring schematics and labeling what needed to go where when i soldered all the wires so all i needed to do when i actually installed it was play connect the dots. 60k miles later and not a single regret. Getting 6mpg better than I was before, 5th gear is usable and towing a trailer is easy. If you are having issues with turn signals and wipers you went too far into the wiring, if it doesnt connect to the engine you dont need to mess with it.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

 

[4x4junkie]

A 4.0L swap isn't going to make up for the rather large lack of gearing the OP mentions though...

I see dozens of vendors listing 5.13 8.8" gears on Ebay... I can't imagine each & every one of them is listing out-of-stock items...

 

[Shran]

Having had 35's, 4.10 gears and a 2.9/5 speed in my truck at the same time years ago... I can totally understand your dilemma. It was painful to drive, to say the least.

I opted for a V8 swap, should you? I don't know. I would do another V8 swap before a 4.0 in a 1st gen but that's just me. It was certainly a ton of work and very expensive, probably much more so than a 4.0 would have been. And even though it's been like 4-5 years, I am still working out bugs. It was horrendously unreliable for about a year.

I guess it just comes down to your budget, my advice would be to get on Summit Racing right now and order the 5.13's... they show in stock right now!

 

[oopssorry13]

thats the problem i had, everyone showed they were in stock. i even called to verify. at the time i had a 7.5 in the rear. i ordered and was called later and said they didnt have them for the 7.5 but they did for the 8.8. so i swapped rear ends to the 8.8 and the same thing happened. the best answer i got was from tom at 4wd hardware. i still have him saved in my phone lol. he said they are temporarily discontinued. but i could preorder and when they start making them again they would ship them to me. this was last summer. maybe things have changed now

 

[trail B2]

I put in a 4 liter about 5 years ago I really like the motor size combo in my b2.When I changed it I changed the tranny, dash,steering column and the heater unit in the firewall.I ran 33's with 4:10's for years liked it a lot. I have 35's and 4:88's in it now which is real good. If you had a 4.0 4:10 and 35's it would be better but still hi geared.

 

[Dirtyranger89]

Ok I have a question I have a 1990 ford 5speed ranger that I am using to race on a dirt track would I need to swap computers if I was to swap it out with a 4.0 since I am using after market gauges anyways

 

[snoranger]

Ok I have a question I have a 1990 ford 5speed ranger that I am using to race on a dirt track would I need to swap computers if I was to swap it out with a 4.0 since I am using after market gauges anyways

If your truck currently has a 4.0l... No.
If your truck currently has any other engine... Yes.

 

[Shran]

The gauges are really not connected to the engine computer in any way, so yes, you absolutely need the 4.0 computer and the wiring harness from your donor truck. The 2.9 computer is almost certainly set up for speed density and the 4.0 uses mass air and has different sensors so a 2.9 computer would not be in any way compatible with a 4.0.

Fortunately your '90 is just about the easiest truck ever to 4.0 swap.

 

[Dirtyranger89]

Ok thank yall cause I cracked a head in the 2.9 last race of the year here what year model 4.0 are the best to swap out with

 

[Shran]

That's debatable. Supposedly 93 and newer have better heads. 93 and newer could potentially also have a cam position sensor which is not a deterrent in any way but if you use a 93 or newer harness you would need to either find a 93+ engine or add that sensor to an older engine. '93 and up also has EGR, older 4.0's do not. '93? up Explorers also have ABS. There are a bunch of variants of donors as well if you're comparing Ranger donors to Explorers. Personally, I would prefer 92 and older for simplicity sake, but that said, the first 4.0 swap I did involved a 1994 Explorer engine and harness that went into an '89 Ranger. So anything is doable.