Hey, Y'all!

[Curious Hound]

I'm new here - just registered a few minutes ago. I just bought a 1993 4X4 Ranger this weekend. It is the "Splash" stepside model. I plan on using it around the farm, around town and hopefully for trail riding and mild to moderate rock crawling.

The truck has;
3.0L v6, M50D transmission (I think), 1354-13 transfer case, ford 7.5" rear, Dana 35 front, both with 3.73 gears. That's all I know so far.

I will have a ton of questions. But my first big concern is rear brakes. Left and right brake cylinders are leaking and all the pads, linkage, etc is rusty and should be replaced. That's not a big deal. I had it all apart yesterday and cleaned it up as best I could so they are not actually binding on the drums anymore. My question is; " would it be a good idea to convert to disc brakes?" Has anyone out there done that? Is there a cheap easy way? ie; get a same model axle from a newer year vehicle? Which one?

I hope to eventually lift the truck and put 33" tires on it. (4" suspension lift / maybe 1" or 2" body lift?) So, I should probably change gear ratio when I do that. I will also want a locker in the rear, at least. Are these axles adequate for that plan or should I plan on changing axles later? If these axles are a "weak link" and will need to be replaced later, then I should probably just repair the drum brakes at this time to make it safe to drive.

What are your thoughts and experiences?
I haven't found any tech articles on this site yet concerning disc brake conversions.

Thanks.

 

[jeremysdad]

Not a pro at any of your other q's, but here's the brake tech articles from the site, answer's your disc conversion questions: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/index-wheels.shtml

The very top navigation bar has a 'tech articles' link.

Welcome, and good luck with your modifications!

 

[black_demon69]

mustang rear brakes
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/ford_ranger_rear_disc_brake_conversion.shtml

and the benefits of this option is you get a 8.8 31 spline rear axle at the same time

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Explorer8_8.shtml

 

[killj0y]

I'm new here - just registered a few minutes ago. I just bought a 1993 4X4 Ranger this weekend. It is the "Splash" stepside model. I plan on using it around the farm, around town and hopefully for trail riding and mild to moderate rock crawling.

The truck has;
3.0L v6, M50D transmission (I think), 1354-13 transfer case, ford 7.5" rear, Dana 35 front, both with 3.73 gears. That's all I know so far.

I will have a ton of questions. But my first big concern is rear brakes. Left and right brake cylinders are leaking and all the pads, linkage, etc is rusty and should be replaced. That's not a big deal. I had it all apart yesterday and cleaned it up as best I could so they are not actually binding on the drums anymore. My question is; " would it be a good idea to convert to disc brakes?" Has anyone out there done that? Is there a cheap easy way? ie; get a same model axle from a newer year vehicle? Which one?

I hope to eventually lift the truck and put 33" tires on it. (4" suspension lift / maybe 1" or 2" body lift?) So, I should probably change gear ratio when I do that. I will also want a locker in the rear, at least. Are these axles adequate for that plan or should I plan on changing axles later? If these axles are a "weak link" and will need to be replaced later, then I should probably just repair the drum brakes at this time to make it safe to drive.

What are your thoughts and experiences?
I haven't found any tech articles on this site yet concerning disc brake conversions.

Thanks.

As mentioned you can swap the mustang rear for the beefier axle considering what you want to do. I believe you can also grab them off an explorer. Though the spring mounts will be different and I think they mount under rather than over.

For the lift if you want to run those tires you will need to lift or cut your fenders. Going that high means using a kit would likely be easiest and you might need extended brake lines.

Yes the 7.5 is a solid axle but given what you want to do and the other things you're hoping to do an 8.8 swap would be best. Including 4.56 gears preferably, 4.10 minimum. Unless you want it to be a dog.

There are a multitude of writeups or topics on disk brake conversions. Try searching trust me it's been done many times and many ways. But definitely fix the brakes before you drive. [emoji52]

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Depending on what you plan on using the truck for...

I used my Ranger as a work truck, always hauling stuff and working it so I chose to stick with the drum brakes (mine was a 7.5" rear with 10" drums and 3.73 gears, ran 235/75/15 tires in an aggressive AT pattern). It held up well and worked for me. Later I got my hands on an 8.8 with 10" drums, 3.73 gears and a modified limited slip and swapped it in.

My choptop I'm still running around on a 7.5 with a packed trac-lock rear, 9" drums and 4.10 gears, even on 35's. I have an 8.8" rear out of an explorer with disk brakes that I intend to swap in someday once I get gears for it. Been waiting on the swap partly just because I wanted to get the truck dialed in where I wanted it and decide on exactly what gears I want to run (if I want to stay with 4.10 or go to something deeper like 4.56 or 5.13). I've picked up parts for the drum brakes to keep them working for now from Rockauto for cheap. PS, there's a discount code for forum members!

As far as lifting goes... it is possible to lift the rear cheaply. My choptop has roughly 5" of suspension lift, no lift blocks in the rear (your Ranger will likely retain the stock lift blocks unless you make other changes). I got a set of leaf springs out of an older 4-door Explorer, added a long leaf to the pack (by cutting the spring eyes off the main spring from another pack), and used a set of Chevy drop shackles.

For the front, I had picked up a used James Duff 3" kit, coils and axle pivot drops. I added F-150 spring perches (there's a tech article on that), and welded up my own extended radius arms.

For brake lines, I replaced the front lines with ones mentioned in the tech article on extending lines and I used a rear brake line from a 1988 Bronco II, it's plenty long.

 

[Curious Hound]

Those are some good ideas. Don't know how I missed the tech article about brakes. Thanks for the link.

I need to find out what's in the local junk yards. Is the Mustang axle the right length? It would be great to find one with limited slip or locker already installed.

Is the Dana 35 on the front ok if I just get the right gears in it? I will probably shoot for 4.56 or 4.10 gears both ends.

Thanks for the info about the coupon code. That will be handy.

 

[Curious Hound]

I just skimmed through the mustang brake article. I like that plan.

 

[Mark_88]

Yeah, unless you are racing or otherwise doing high speed stuff the drums are fine for bopping around the farm...disks are easier by far to change when needed but I've driven five years with one set of rear shoes and only changed them because I had to do the brake cylinder...

The 3.0 won't get you going fast enough to need rear disks anyway...so unless you drop a bigger engine you can put that rear disk conversion money into something like a lift and bigger tires...which you may need some day on the farm anyway...

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

The Dana 35 is plenty strong. When I built the extended radius arms, I welded in some extra strength to the axle beams, but realistically, the D-35 front is good even if you want to run 35's and a locker. To get anything stronger, the easiest solution is to go to a straight axle D-44 or D-60, but that sounds like more than you're looking to get into right now and isn't needed to run 33's or 35's.

The coupon code is in the Rockauto section of the forums, they usually keep it updated.

Forgot to mention about shocks... I took the cheap route and found shocks that would meet my compressed and extended lengths for my choptop. Don't know what trucks I sourced them from, but I got them from the local Autozone. Lifetime warranty and the original cost to me was just over $100 to get all four for a middle of the road ride quality.

 

[4x4junkie]

I will probably shoot for 4.56 or 4.10 gears both ends.

If the plan is 33" tires, go with 4.88:1 gears. The 3.0L likes a little RPM, and gas mileage should be about the same as well. 4.10 on the other hand will leave your truck a gas-guzzling slug with those tires (hardly better than not regearing at all).

4.56:1 would be the gear of choice if your truck had the 4.0L.




×2 on the D35 front, I've been running mine with 35s and a locker for over a decade. Though I do try to treat it with a little respect (I will always try finesse first before assaulting a trail obstacle at full-throttle), it's yet to let me down, even crawling over the huge rocks of California's Sierra-Nevada mountain range.

The 7.5" rear also isn't a bad axle, but it can't hold a candle to the Explorer 8.8" (and last I checked, 4.88:1 wasn't available for the 7.5"). So indeed the swap to the 8.8" from an Explorer would be a good move.


Welcome to the forum

 

[81Pilot]

Yeah, unless you are racing or otherwise doing high speed stuff the drums are fine for bopping around the farm...disks are easier by far to change when needed but I've driven five years with one set of rear shoes and only changed them because I had to do the brake cylinder...

The 3.0 won't get you going fast enough to need rear disks anyway...so unless you drop a bigger engine you can put that rear disk conversion money into something like a lift and bigger tires...which you may need some day on the farm anyway...

That's a stupid comment. A 3.0 will get you going, you act like its a go cart. I get sick of the 3.0 bashers.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[ridgerunner]

That's a stupid comment. A 3.0 will get you going, you act like its a go cart. I get sick of the 3.0 bashers.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

Lookout, I think that was a "trigger warning" or a "micro-aggression"

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

That's a stupid comment. A 3.0 will get you going, you act like its a go cart. I get sick of the 3.0 bashers.

It isn't performancy enough maybe to really require drum brakes.

I never had a problem with my 2.8 overtaxing my drum brakes... but then my 302 never did either for the few months they shared a truck.

The only reason it has disk brakes on it now is they were attached to an axle that had the right gearing and limited slip.

 

[Mark_88]

That's a stupid comment. A 3.0 will get you going, you act like its a go cart. I get sick of the 3.0 bashers.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

OK, maybe you're right...it's a bit faster than a go-kart...and maybe even faster than 2.3 or 2.5...and definitely faster than a tractor...providing it isn't stuck in the field...

Bottom line is...he said he will be using it on the farm so I doubt he will get it going fast enough to warrant disk brakes on the rear...

I drove a 2.3 for 14 years and spent all kinds of money trying to make it go faster...test drove a 3.0 thinking it would be much better but quickly learned why some people call it the 3.slow.

With a bit of work and maybe better gears they can be faster...but...again, better off spending the money on a lift or bigger tires and gears

For a farm vehicle...

 

[Andy D]

Why would you want to lift a truck that you load? Lil Blue described his solution. 2 trucks. A worker and a toy The more off road capable you mod a rig for, the less road worthy it becomes. Even if the road is just a 2 track or a field. A toy is something you can have lotsa fun with and not worry about driving it to work on Monday morning .