Help

[ford-raider]

Looking for some advice! I have a 87 King cab with a 7.5 rear that i am installing a 347 stoker motor in. I would like to put a T-5 tranny in it if anybody has done this i would appreciate your input. And will my rear and drive shaft be strong enough for this motor.

 

[dangerranger83]

Welcome to TRS.

Its not the driveshaft that you should be as worried about as it is the rear end and your ujoint sizes too.

The 7.5 is a great axle, but the one problem with them is the weak point in them. The spider gears are made from a powered metal that is compressed then heated up, making them weaker then your normal spider gears. I have alone blown up a set of these when my truck was all stock. A few options to this is to get an 8.8 out a a ranger. Its axles arent any stronger, but the ring and pinion gears are plus gets rid of the spider issue. The better upgrade, but will take more to put in, is the explorer axle. They come with 31 spline axles vs the 7.7 and ranger 8.8 that have 28 spline. The down side to it is the shock mounts and leaf perches have to be taken off and new shock mounts put on and the leaf perches just have to be moved to the top of the axle since the explorer axle has a leaf under setup. The explorer axle pre 1995 came with drum brakes and 95+ they put disk brakes, which is said to be a better way to go.

Also when it came to the later years of the 7.5 and 8.8, they upgraded from a 2.5 inch flange with the small 1210 joint, to the 3 inch flange with the 1310 joint and I think in the later years the 3 inch flange also has the 1330 joints, not sure if those were put on rangers or not, I know the sport track does though.

I do see guys with 351W under there hoods running the 7.5 and Im told by them it will be fine as long as you arent beating on it. The only thing I would look into upgrading are your ujoints on your driveshaft to I want to say at least 1310. There arent any conversion joints for the 1210 ones.

And seeing you have an extended cab, I would look into a single piece driveshaft if you dont already have it. Ford did put them under some of the rangers, but be sure to get the steel shaft and not the aluminum one.

We also have a tech library on here to that has a wealth of information to help you out a bit too.

 

[Tominator]

Good advice!

A 28 spline Ranger rearend will be plenty for your application just don't plan on slicks or drag radials. I bought hardened shafts for my 28 spline and am pushing 450HP and even use the two piece but again, no power shifts or drag rubber.

 

[baddad457]

The one problem I ran into in converting to a one piece shaft in a supercab Ranger was the shaft bumping the rear of the cab when more than one person was in the cab. Or you loaded too much freight in the bed.

 

[ford-raider]

Thank for the advice guys!

 

[Tominator]

The one problem I ran into in converting to a one piece shaft in a supercab Ranger was the shaft bumping the rear of the cab when more than one person was in the cab. Or you loaded too much freight in the bed.

Yes, you need to make a 'tunnel' for the cab and weld it in. It's not a hard mod but requires removal of the interior.

Someone had a pic of this process in their build thread.

 

[Teddyzee]

To make a tunnel, just pull the carpet. I only needed the tunnel when swapping to the one piece shaft because the truck is lowered 8". But it was easy enough to do.

Here we go:

Cut a hole in the floor, in the back seat, to fit the one piece driveshaft. This is to replace a driveline vibration that I cannot get rid of.
Trimmed a couple crossmembers- one on the frame, one on the cab. Fits well, and no vibration yet. None on take off, and took it up to about 75mph with zero vibration.

looking rearward from inside the cab

Need to patch the hole, but so far so good.

More progress on the floor.

So, as I had not cut the Ranger floor out entirely, I just folded it back down, but bent it enough to give about 2" of clearance.

Then did what my bro just finished doing on his cowl hood; Filled in the sides.

The fillers, all made and flanged:

And here they are sitting in place. I'll weld them next time:

Cool thing is, the red pieces came from the hood Phil cut out from his RX7.

Floor is done, next time I'm out I'll seem seal it and put the interor back together.

Gone, lol! Some of you may have never seen the claw for the Explorer console... there it is...

BTW, that's as clean as carpet gets when you have dogs!