Conflicting answers

[Southern_Trendkill]

I've got an 88 ranger 2.9 with the stock d28 and 7.5 with 3.73 gears. Right now it's got 235's on it, and it handles them fine. I want to put on 31's and a 6 inch lift so I can take it offroading (mud, mostly), but I've heard that it's really easy to break these differentials. Does anyone here still run the stock diffs, and if so, do you have problems with them?

 

[Rangermilitia]

yo, 7.5 is trash....

i have a 87 ranger... i blew threw 3, 7.5 rear ends.. i shattered the limited slip once and chipped teeth the other two. with 31's you might be ok for a year.. also i geared my third one to 4.56 and it blew up in 5 months. i wised up and got a 8.8. compared to the 7.5 its like looking at a telephone pole to a tooth pic.

 

[Rangermilitia]

31's on a 6 inch lift

if you get a 6 inch lift, why put only 31's on it? you can only clear obsticales as high as your diff. trust me, it looks funny too..

 

[BlackBII]

You could run 33's with the 6 in lift, but, the 3.73 gearing will be sluggish. I've been there, trust me.

31's and 3.73 is not bad, and I woud be more concerned with breaking the front Dana 28, than the 7.5.

I have been running 33's with a locker and 4.56 on a 7.5 for 3 years now, no issues. No breakage.

If your concerned about it, you could look into getting a D35 and a 31 spline 8.8 out of a explorer.

 

[holyford86]

the d28 is prone to breakage, the shafts are tiny and the ujoints like to puke their caps off. I was going through d28 shafts like they were going out of style until i welded the caps into the shafts. When the ujoints break they usually take the shaft out as well so it really doesn't harm much, I haven't broken any since i did that but putting 33s on the truck might be a bad idea, I'll find out soon enough though. I will be looking for a d35 soon enough anyway as I want to get away from the 28 all together because regearing it would be a complete waste of my time. with 4.10 gears and 31 inch tires the truck goes down the road pretty well though, has decent power too.