Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and dbrutherford
Active Member
I know this has been covered a million times already but I thought I would put in my two cents. I swapped a 97 Xploder rear end under my 95 Ranger 4x4, 4.0L ext cab. I ran into a few snags so I wanted to point them out.
Here are the parts I needed and tasks I did to make it all work:
- New U-Bolts (Explorer axle tubes are 3.25" dia rather than the Ranger 3.0" dia) make sure you get ones long enough. The ones I bought from Curries were an inch short because of my factory rear 2.5" tall blocks. I had to go to a local drive shaft/truck shop and have them bend me new ones.
- Shock mounts. I bought some from Currie and they look just like the OEMs I still have to weld them to the axle once I get the wheels back on to get propper placement and ground clearance.
- Spring perches. I bought ones from Jeggs some time back and they were Mopar brand for a 3" axle. A little grinder work made them fit the Explorer tubes fine. I put the axle on jack stands and angled the pinion up 6 degrees. Then I made the perches level on top of the axle. My uncle welded them on for me. I left the spacing the same as the original Explorer. It was almost the same as my stock Rangers and others have claimed it to be. I left the stock Explorers on for now because they have the mounting point for the brake lines.
- Spring plate. I squeezed the u-bolts in slightly to make them fit the OEM Ranger plates. There didn't seem to be much of a fitment issue there.
If i had ot do it over again I would have just boughtthe complete install kit for an 8.8 Explorer rear end from Ruff Stuff Specialities. I thought it was a bit pricey compared to some of the other items I pieced together and went the cheap route. But the time i would have saved and the downtime of havign my truck out of commission for a few days would have made up for it. Plus it is one stop shopping and one shipping and handeling charge.
- Brake hoses/lines. I used two Explorer passenger side hoses. When using one on the driver's side it kind of twists the hose some and the mount is reversed upside down. I bent up new hard lines and flared them. So this wasn't too big a deal as I had bent the lines myself to make it all work. Bending brake lines and making them look nice is a PITA! I even bought a fancy bender... waste of money... They don't leak, that si all that matters.
- ebrake cables. I am using Lokar ebrake cables. I am using their rear Explorer cables and front foot brake cable. The front cable is a combination of Lokar and OEM. I am using the Lokar housing and connector only. I placed the OEM inner front cable (the wire) inside the Lokar housing and I placed the OEM cable stop on the Lokar housing as well. I had to cut off the cable housing stop on the Lokar cable. The cable housing stop that goes into the foot pedal on the OEM cable pulled right off the OEM housing. Then I connected the three cables up together using the Lokar conenctor. It seems to look like it will work quite well but I am not finished hooking them up. Only downside is they are more expensive than OEM and I have to buy two front cables just to make one cable.
- Sway bar. I cut the mounts off the Explorer axle and used my OEM Ranger sway bar mounts. The Explorer mounts are welded to the axle tubes. The Ranger ones just clamp on. If I had it to do over again I may just check to see if I could swap in the whole Explorer sway bar. The Ranger mounts are close to the pumpkin and may bind it up slightly. Only time will tell.
ABS - The ABS sensor just plugs right as the one on the Ranger does. No big deal there.
I am using my stock two piece driveshaft. I plan on swapping it out to a one piece unit when I replace all of my u-joints.
As far as brake componets go I am just using the pieces that came with the rear end. They look to be in good shape so I saved some cost there. If the calipers were stuck and the pads & ebrake shoes were wore out, then I would have had to replace them.
The ebrake shoes are a pita to change if the axles are in the tubes. Take the time to replace your axle seals and replace the ebrake shoes. You will have your axles out of course to change the seals. The ebrake shoes are just like regular drum brakes. I cleaned everything and put a dab of neverseize here and ther during reassembly. I just used a wire wheel on a angle grinder to clean all the rust off the braking surfaces.
Eventually I would like to replace the whole brake assemblies with some performance cross driller rotors and performance compound pads. I would also like to replace the axles with new aftermarket ones with a 5 on 5.5 inch bolt pattern. then I can do the Danna 44 knuckle swap and have matching bolt patterns. I need front an rear lockers as well plus new rims, bigger tires, taller lift, ect...
All in all it wasn't that hard of a swap. I will finish it up tonight and also add some pictures. It was a necessary evil for me as my ebrake cables were corroded and sticking. Plus I had a leaking wheel cylinder that was going through a botttle of brake fluid a week. So it needed to be done. I am anxious to see how well my braking is improved. Any questions just ask.
Here are the parts I needed and tasks I did to make it all work:
- New U-Bolts (Explorer axle tubes are 3.25" dia rather than the Ranger 3.0" dia) make sure you get ones long enough. The ones I bought from Curries were an inch short because of my factory rear 2.5" tall blocks. I had to go to a local drive shaft/truck shop and have them bend me new ones.
- Shock mounts. I bought some from Currie and they look just like the OEMs I still have to weld them to the axle once I get the wheels back on to get propper placement and ground clearance.
- Spring perches. I bought ones from Jeggs some time back and they were Mopar brand for a 3" axle. A little grinder work made them fit the Explorer tubes fine. I put the axle on jack stands and angled the pinion up 6 degrees. Then I made the perches level on top of the axle. My uncle welded them on for me. I left the spacing the same as the original Explorer. It was almost the same as my stock Rangers and others have claimed it to be. I left the stock Explorers on for now because they have the mounting point for the brake lines.
- Spring plate. I squeezed the u-bolts in slightly to make them fit the OEM Ranger plates. There didn't seem to be much of a fitment issue there.
If i had ot do it over again I would have just boughtthe complete install kit for an 8.8 Explorer rear end from Ruff Stuff Specialities. I thought it was a bit pricey compared to some of the other items I pieced together and went the cheap route. But the time i would have saved and the downtime of havign my truck out of commission for a few days would have made up for it. Plus it is one stop shopping and one shipping and handeling charge.
- Brake hoses/lines. I used two Explorer passenger side hoses. When using one on the driver's side it kind of twists the hose some and the mount is reversed upside down. I bent up new hard lines and flared them. So this wasn't too big a deal as I had bent the lines myself to make it all work. Bending brake lines and making them look nice is a PITA! I even bought a fancy bender... waste of money... They don't leak, that si all that matters.
- ebrake cables. I am using Lokar ebrake cables. I am using their rear Explorer cables and front foot brake cable. The front cable is a combination of Lokar and OEM. I am using the Lokar housing and connector only. I placed the OEM inner front cable (the wire) inside the Lokar housing and I placed the OEM cable stop on the Lokar housing as well. I had to cut off the cable housing stop on the Lokar cable. The cable housing stop that goes into the foot pedal on the OEM cable pulled right off the OEM housing. Then I connected the three cables up together using the Lokar conenctor. It seems to look like it will work quite well but I am not finished hooking them up. Only downside is they are more expensive than OEM and I have to buy two front cables just to make one cable.
- Sway bar. I cut the mounts off the Explorer axle and used my OEM Ranger sway bar mounts. The Explorer mounts are welded to the axle tubes. The Ranger ones just clamp on. If I had it to do over again I may just check to see if I could swap in the whole Explorer sway bar. The Ranger mounts are close to the pumpkin and may bind it up slightly. Only time will tell.
ABS - The ABS sensor just plugs right as the one on the Ranger does. No big deal there.
I am using my stock two piece driveshaft. I plan on swapping it out to a one piece unit when I replace all of my u-joints.
As far as brake componets go I am just using the pieces that came with the rear end. They look to be in good shape so I saved some cost there. If the calipers were stuck and the pads & ebrake shoes were wore out, then I would have had to replace them.
The ebrake shoes are a pita to change if the axles are in the tubes. Take the time to replace your axle seals and replace the ebrake shoes. You will have your axles out of course to change the seals. The ebrake shoes are just like regular drum brakes. I cleaned everything and put a dab of neverseize here and ther during reassembly. I just used a wire wheel on a angle grinder to clean all the rust off the braking surfaces.
Eventually I would like to replace the whole brake assemblies with some performance cross driller rotors and performance compound pads. I would also like to replace the axles with new aftermarket ones with a 5 on 5.5 inch bolt pattern. then I can do the Danna 44 knuckle swap and have matching bolt patterns. I need front an rear lockers as well plus new rims, bigger tires, taller lift, ect...
All in all it wasn't that hard of a swap. I will finish it up tonight and also add some pictures. It was a necessary evil for me as my ebrake cables were corroded and sticking. Plus I had a leaking wheel cylinder that was going through a botttle of brake fluid a week. So it needed to be done. I am anxious to see how well my braking is improved. Any questions just ask.
