Need some info on a lift swap

[footee]

I have a 92 Ranger, as seen in the pic, that is donating its whole drivetrain to a 92 Explorer Sport that I just purchased. I've been told the motor/tranny/t-case swap should work flawlessly. However, I noticed the rear axle set up is a spring under, whereas the Ranger is spring over. I want to run the Explorer axle for the 31 spline axles but I'm guessing that I am going to have to cut the perches off the axle and weld new ones on top. Correct me if I'm wrong. Another option would be to remove the guts and install them in my Ranger axle as it already has the perches on the top side. Are they located in the same place as the sploder? I thought I once heard that the sploder axle is wider as a whole, is that correct? What suggestions do you all have? I'm assuming the front end will bolt right up also. I was running a 6 inch lift in front on the Ranger and basically a 4 inch on the back (2 inch add-a-leaves, +2 shackles, stock 3 inch block). The spring over will probably add, what, almost 4 inches in itself, won't it? Suggestions?

 

[mkpecor]

the 8.8 axle out of the explorer is 1.5 inches longer than the rangers 7.5, when you do the spring over i think its 4+ inches of lift you will get, i think its 6" or just under. and the front running gear will bolt right up.

 

[footee]

My rear axle is not a 7.5, it is an 8.8, just the 28 spline version.

 

[mkpecor]

ya you should beable to switch the guts ask todd or jim oaks.

 

[JohnnyU]

The explorer 8.8 is wider than that of the Ranger. You'd be best off by rewelding the perches on top of the axle. Buy or make a new set of perches, I hate trying to reuse old brackets, things usually end u p messy.

The differential carrier and gears would work to swap over, but like I said, I would keep the explorer axle as the shafts are larger and is overall a more robust axle.

Everything else should be a bolt-in swap. The front axle in the Explorer should be a D35 just like your Ranger, so they'll swap out easily enough.

Ballistic Fabrication.com or RuffStuffSpeacialties are a good place to start looking for inexpensive spring perches and other brackets (shock mounts) Make sure you purchas them for the larger 3.25"dia axle tubes that the Explorer 8.8 uses.