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Member
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2009
- Messages
- 8
- Vehicle Year
- 2005
- Transmission
- Automatic
I just finished this installation and thought I would share a few things that I learned while doing it.
1) I reused the Explorer spring mounts. I carefully cut them off with an angle grinder and cutting wheel, and although the wheel did cut into the axle tube, I just welded those cuts back up when I welded the mounts back to the top of the axle. I also welded the axle tubes to the differential housing to keep them from spinning. I don't do a lot of heavy four-wheeling, but it's good insurance to do this anyway.
2) I also used the cutting wheel to cut the shock mount tabs off of the Explorer U-bolt plates and used those as my shock mounts for the axle tubes. I ground the mounting side from flat to slightly round to fit against the axle tube. They are welded four inches inside the spring perch mounts, and at approximately 30* angles from vertical. Driver's side is on the back side of the tube, passenger's side is on the front side. I had to grind the tabs between the tube and the bolt holes to clear the bottom of the shocks. You'll have to cut the vertical mounting plates off the Explorer axle, at least on the driver's side to make room for the shock mount tabs.
3) Everyone says get the Explorer U-bolts and reuse them on the Ranger, and that will work for a non-4x4 or Edge truck. For those that have the 3" spacer between the axle and leaf springs, the Explorer U-bolts are too short. I couldn't find any local sources for U-bolts that would fit around the 3.25" axle tube of the Explorer 31-spline rear. F150 4x4 8.8 bolts and plates will work (make sure the springs are 2.5" wide instead of 3", and grab the mounting plates, as they are M14 and won't fit into the M12 Explorer spring plates), but my local salvage yard doesn't keep theirs. I eventually ended up at a heavy duty truck shop that made them out of 1/2" bar stock for $4.40 each plus a little extra for the hardened nuts and washers. These fit through the stock bolt holes in the Explorer plates perfectly.
4) I've owned my truck for four years, and I've never once used the emergency brake. I saved myself the trouble of installing the E-brake hardware and cables on the Explorer axle. I wouldn't recommend doing this, especially if you have a manual transmission, but it worked for me since I have an automatic. I'll have to remember not to park up or down on steep inclines.
5) I rebuilt the traction lock differential using the alternate method that allows an extra clutch plate to be used in place of a steel plate on each side. I've done this before with Mustangs for drag racing and have never had a problem. I wish that I had reused the friction plates that were closest to the side gears, because those are always worn on the area that contacts the gear, and using a new one in that location will just wear down and loosen up the whole pack on both sides. Instead, I just picked the best of the used friction plates and installed that one as the extra in place of the steel plates. I soaked the plates in Ford friction modifier and gear oil overnight. I used synthetic 75W-140 gear oil, and only used about an ounce of friction modifier. I have no popping or harshness from the trac-loc.
6) In rebuilding the trac-loc, I realized that the easiest way to reinstall the S-spring is to build a tool from a couple of strips of steel and a piece of allthread. I drilled a hole in the center of both 2"x4"x1/8" steel plates, threaded a couple of nuts jammed together on one end, and installed one of the plates against those nuts. I then ran the allthread through the center of the differential, through the S-spring, and then through the other plate, and threaded a nut on the other side. Once I got the assembly tightened together by hand, I held the allthread with a wrench on the jam nuts, and tightened the nut closest to the spring with another one. This pulled the spring down into the differential, and once it got past the shoulders of the side gears, I loosened the nuts, removed the allthread tool, and tapped it the rest of the way into the differential with a hammer and punch.
7) Before I disassembled the ring gear and differential, I checked the backlash, which was at .015" on the 160k mile Explorer rear. The bearing spacer on the right side was .275" and the left side spacer was .265". I had another one from a previous rebuild that was .260", so I used that one on the left side along with a .007" spacer from a rebuild kit for a total of .267" on the right, moving the ring gear closer to the pinion by .008". This resulted in a backlash of .011", which was still loose, but within specification. I also used the .275" spacer on the left to tighten up the preload on the well-used bearings a little. I used red Loctite on the ring gear bolts and the bearing cap bolts, and torqued them to 70-75 ft. lbs. Let the Loctite and silicone used to seal the differential cover sit overnight before filling with gear oil.
8) I knocked out the axle studs to clean up the front and back of the facings with a wire brush on my angle grinder. I reinstalled the studs with an old lug nut and a stack of washers. Use some oil on the threads to make it easier to tighten. I smeared a light coating of anti-seize compound on the axle face to keep the new rotor from sticking to it through the rusting process.
9) I used the existing hard lines that run from the junction block on top of the Ranger axle to the calipers and had to cut and re-flare them to get them to fit. I could have probably just looped them after disconnecting from the drum brakes, but I had the re-flare kit, so I went that route to make it neater. One thing of note is that the nuts that fit into the wheel cylinders on the drum brakes didn't fit into the soft lines that run to the calipers on the disk brakes. I used the nuts from the old brake lines from the Explorer on my re-flared lines.
That's about all the things I can think of that I thought might help someone else doing this swap on a later model 4x4 or Edge. I wanted to take pics along the way, but it's so nasty working on a rear axle that I didn't bother cleaning up every time I needed to snap a picture. I've got an old 28 spline trac-loc differential laying around, so I think I'll rebuild it, pull the Ranger axle apart and install it in there along with some Mustang disk brakes as well. Maybe I can document that process in pictures when I get it done.
Hope this helps someone else!
1) I reused the Explorer spring mounts. I carefully cut them off with an angle grinder and cutting wheel, and although the wheel did cut into the axle tube, I just welded those cuts back up when I welded the mounts back to the top of the axle. I also welded the axle tubes to the differential housing to keep them from spinning. I don't do a lot of heavy four-wheeling, but it's good insurance to do this anyway.
2) I also used the cutting wheel to cut the shock mount tabs off of the Explorer U-bolt plates and used those as my shock mounts for the axle tubes. I ground the mounting side from flat to slightly round to fit against the axle tube. They are welded four inches inside the spring perch mounts, and at approximately 30* angles from vertical. Driver's side is on the back side of the tube, passenger's side is on the front side. I had to grind the tabs between the tube and the bolt holes to clear the bottom of the shocks. You'll have to cut the vertical mounting plates off the Explorer axle, at least on the driver's side to make room for the shock mount tabs.
3) Everyone says get the Explorer U-bolts and reuse them on the Ranger, and that will work for a non-4x4 or Edge truck. For those that have the 3" spacer between the axle and leaf springs, the Explorer U-bolts are too short. I couldn't find any local sources for U-bolts that would fit around the 3.25" axle tube of the Explorer 31-spline rear. F150 4x4 8.8 bolts and plates will work (make sure the springs are 2.5" wide instead of 3", and grab the mounting plates, as they are M14 and won't fit into the M12 Explorer spring plates), but my local salvage yard doesn't keep theirs. I eventually ended up at a heavy duty truck shop that made them out of 1/2" bar stock for $4.40 each plus a little extra for the hardened nuts and washers. These fit through the stock bolt holes in the Explorer plates perfectly.
4) I've owned my truck for four years, and I've never once used the emergency brake. I saved myself the trouble of installing the E-brake hardware and cables on the Explorer axle. I wouldn't recommend doing this, especially if you have a manual transmission, but it worked for me since I have an automatic. I'll have to remember not to park up or down on steep inclines.
5) I rebuilt the traction lock differential using the alternate method that allows an extra clutch plate to be used in place of a steel plate on each side. I've done this before with Mustangs for drag racing and have never had a problem. I wish that I had reused the friction plates that were closest to the side gears, because those are always worn on the area that contacts the gear, and using a new one in that location will just wear down and loosen up the whole pack on both sides. Instead, I just picked the best of the used friction plates and installed that one as the extra in place of the steel plates. I soaked the plates in Ford friction modifier and gear oil overnight. I used synthetic 75W-140 gear oil, and only used about an ounce of friction modifier. I have no popping or harshness from the trac-loc.
6) In rebuilding the trac-loc, I realized that the easiest way to reinstall the S-spring is to build a tool from a couple of strips of steel and a piece of allthread. I drilled a hole in the center of both 2"x4"x1/8" steel plates, threaded a couple of nuts jammed together on one end, and installed one of the plates against those nuts. I then ran the allthread through the center of the differential, through the S-spring, and then through the other plate, and threaded a nut on the other side. Once I got the assembly tightened together by hand, I held the allthread with a wrench on the jam nuts, and tightened the nut closest to the spring with another one. This pulled the spring down into the differential, and once it got past the shoulders of the side gears, I loosened the nuts, removed the allthread tool, and tapped it the rest of the way into the differential with a hammer and punch.
7) Before I disassembled the ring gear and differential, I checked the backlash, which was at .015" on the 160k mile Explorer rear. The bearing spacer on the right side was .275" and the left side spacer was .265". I had another one from a previous rebuild that was .260", so I used that one on the left side along with a .007" spacer from a rebuild kit for a total of .267" on the right, moving the ring gear closer to the pinion by .008". This resulted in a backlash of .011", which was still loose, but within specification. I also used the .275" spacer on the left to tighten up the preload on the well-used bearings a little. I used red Loctite on the ring gear bolts and the bearing cap bolts, and torqued them to 70-75 ft. lbs. Let the Loctite and silicone used to seal the differential cover sit overnight before filling with gear oil.
8) I knocked out the axle studs to clean up the front and back of the facings with a wire brush on my angle grinder. I reinstalled the studs with an old lug nut and a stack of washers. Use some oil on the threads to make it easier to tighten. I smeared a light coating of anti-seize compound on the axle face to keep the new rotor from sticking to it through the rusting process.
9) I used the existing hard lines that run from the junction block on top of the Ranger axle to the calipers and had to cut and re-flare them to get them to fit. I could have probably just looped them after disconnecting from the drum brakes, but I had the re-flare kit, so I went that route to make it neater. One thing of note is that the nuts that fit into the wheel cylinders on the drum brakes didn't fit into the soft lines that run to the calipers on the disk brakes. I used the nuts from the old brake lines from the Explorer on my re-flared lines.
That's about all the things I can think of that I thought might help someone else doing this swap on a later model 4x4 or Edge. I wanted to take pics along the way, but it's so nasty working on a rear axle that I didn't bother cleaning up every time I needed to snap a picture. I've got an old 28 spline trac-loc differential laying around, so I think I'll rebuild it, pull the Ranger axle apart and install it in there along with some Mustang disk brakes as well. Maybe I can document that process in pictures when I get it done.
Hope this helps someone else!
