4.0 Ranger or 4.0 Explorer - best donor truck???

[Surrey]

So I have been doing some thinking about the next stage of my build, and I have decided it will definitely be a 4.0 swap, manual tranny, 8.8 explorer rear end, aussie lockered, and d35, also aussie-lockered.

My understanding is at some point the axles got wider... I wanna say 1992?

So this leaves me with the question of the best choice for donor truck. It seems the obvious option is a 1993-94 4.0 Explorer with a 5 speed, but explorers with 5speeds seem to be pretty rare?
I say 93-94 'cause they have wider axles right???

Would I better trying to find a 5-speed 4.0l ranger and getting the explorer axle elsewhere, or....?

 

[adsm08]

Personally, I would grab an early 90s Ranger, like 90-93, and then get a 95+ Exlorer rear axle.

The Ranger would get you everything you want but the rear end. The 95+ Explorer axle opens up the option of disc brakes. And they will still fit under your fenders. I have 95 axles in my 87 and the tires don't stick out.

 

[kunar]

i agree with adsm. there really isnt one ideal donor for everything, you kinda gotta hunt to get the best of the best. if you want a 4.10 d35, you wont find it in the same truck as your 5 speed. you wont find it in an explorer at all. if you want disc brake rear, you wont find it in an explorer thats got a ttb. the best wiring donor for the engine swap is a 2nd gen ranger, explorers are waayyy different as far as the wiring goes. the supposedly better engine computer comes from a 91-92 explorer. ive done the research already, and ive done the majority of the same things you want to do!

 

[Surrey]

I am not concerned with disc brakes, I was planning on going with an earlier explorer axle with the drums.

4.10 gears would be nice to find, but I will probably end up having to buy gears and regear the axles to 4.56 or 4.88 probably...

I assume 4.10s are pretty damn rare in a 4.0 Ranger?

Sounds like a Ranger is the winner (Which is the direction I was leaning towards) because then all I need is the rear axle from an explorer.

 

[Surrey]

What makes an explorer computer better? I would think an finding a manual explorer computer is no easy task?