7.5 went Boom.

[eagles350]

My wife drove Her Ranger to church & heard a snap. when I got it home I found the pin that holds the spider gears in had snapped. It broke 1 spider gear & knocked both axle clips off. It didn't hurt the ring or pinion.
My question is can I just replace the spider components in the truck or should I replace the whole assembly. Also any ideas on who to order parts from other than Ford. I just had to buy a clutch rod bushing for my F-350 & I wasn't happy about paying $11 bucks for a 50 cent part.

Thanks, John.

 

[Hahnsb2]

May have had a notched cross-pin (meaning it has 3.73 or 4.10 gears) to break that easy. If the gears are fine buy a new crosspin and spiders, use a full size cross-pin and use a dremel to clearence the ring gear to get the full size pin in.
I managed to break my full sized crosspin in my 7.5 a few weeks ago but I've got big tires, a locker and a 4.0..

 

[Ranger44]

I would go off Hahnsb2's advice.

 

[Evan]

May have had a notched cross-pin (meaning it has 3.73 or 4.10 gears) to break that easy. If the gears are fine buy a new crosspin and spiders, use a full size cross-pin and use a dremel to clearence the ring gear to get the full size pin in.
I managed to break my full sized crosspin in my 7.5 a few weeks ago but I've got big tires, a locker and a 4.0..

+1.

 

[MAKG]

If there is NOTHING AT ALL even slightly wrong with the gears (even the tiniest bit of pitting counts), you've dodged a bullet and can get away with just replacing the cross pin and spiders. I'd suggest testing the ring gear flange for runout given the amount of stress that thing must have been in.

 

[eagles350]

May have had a notched cross-pin (meaning it has 3.73 or 4.10 gears) to break that easy. If the gears are fine buy a new crosspin and spiders, use a full size cross-pin and use a dremel to clearence the ring gear to get the full size pin in.
I managed to break my full sized crosspin in my 7.5 a few weeks ago but I've got big tires, a locker and a 4.0..

Thanks for the help everyone. It is the 3.73 axle & the gears are in great shape. Any idea where I can get the parts & a full sized pin ?

 

[Hahnsb2]

Last time I looked randys ring and pinion had them.

 

[bottledgt]

If there is NOTHING AT ALL even slightly wrong with the gears (even the tiniest bit of pitting counts), you've dodged a bullet and can get away with just replacing the cross pin and spiders. I'd suggest testing the ring gear flange for runout given the amount of stress that thing must have been in.

whatever...its a 7.5. breaking a pin aint gonna make the ring run out. the cross pin drives the whole thing and 7.5's are weak anyway. replace it and roll

 

[Jspafford]

whatever...its a 7.5. breaking a pin aint gonna make the ring run out. the cross pin drives the whole thing and 7.5's are weak anyway. replace it and roll

Weak? Not hardly.

 

[MikeInIdaho]

The 7.5 is what it is, a light duty c-clip axle used under 1/4 ton trucks. Considering this, the 7.5 can put up with a pretty fair amount of abuse with zero issues. On another forum, there's a guy who has been running his welded 7.5 with the stock crosspin and axles for more than a decade (on- and off-road) with no issues whatsoever. This is just my opinion (of course), but that's pretty remarkable.

I love Randy's R&P, but lately I've noticed a lot of their 7.5/d28 stuff is out of stock

 

[bottledgt]

yes compared to other stuff, a 7.5 is weak. put one under a mustang or anything with a v8 and see how that works

 

[Jspafford]

yes compared to other stuff, a 7.5 is weak. put one under a mustang or anything with a v8 and see how that works

That's like saying put a lawn tractor axle under a ranger. The 7.5 holds it's own when used as designed, and then some.

 

[Hahnsb2]

I gave mine hell, it lasted quite a while before it grenaded. Properley welded you eliminate a major weak spot though.

 

[bottledgt]

That's like saying put a lawn tractor axle under a ranger. The 7.5 holds it's own when used as designed, and then some.

guess thats why they decided to change them later in rangers to 8.8's. must of been cause the 7.5's were holding up too well...the 7.5 IS a lawn tractor axle. if you just drive it, itll be fine. if you beat on it, you wont have a happy ending

 

[Jspafford]

guess thats why they decided to change them later in rangers to 8.8's. must of been cause the 7.5's were holding up too well...the 7.5 IS a lawn tractor axle. if you just drive it, itll be fine. if you beat on it, you wont have a happy ending

Your obviously right, so I won't argue. They upgraded the 8.8 in the rangers to handle the 4.0L. Not because they are weak, they still use the 7.5 in 3.0L rangers.

There are a handfull of people running welded 7.5's with no issues.