Questions regarding 8.8 rear axle swap

[battmrowning]

Hello, I just created an account to make this post, and hardly know anything technical about trucks. I have a 2.3 liter 4 cylinder engine in my 1995 ford ranger. my friend told me I should look into a rear axle swap to an 8.8 out of a ford explorer. I currently have stock tires, but would like to go up to 31s or 32s all terrains. I don't know my gearing, but I believe that the 8.8 axle would be geared lower and be better suited for larger tires. My main question is will my 4cyl engine be able to handle the axle swap and larger tires without significantly decreasing the speed, and if so would it be better to jump up to a v6.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Those are somewhat loaded questions and some more information would be useful.

First since you are mentioning installing bigger tires I'm going to take a guess and say your Ranger is 4 wheel drive, and if so it will already have 4.10 gears and a manual transmission (I think that's the only way to get a 4 cylinder 4x4...).

Finding an Explorer 8.8 with 4.10 gears isn't too hard in junk yards, they're apparently most common in the '96 up 2 wheel drive versions I think which also have disc brakes, but that isn't the most common of ratios...

As far as installing the axle, it's fairly simple, either get the F150 flip kit meant to lower F150's which will get the leaf springs on top of the Explorer axle (they're meant to put the leaf springs below the F150 axle) and get new U bolts or get some weld on spring perches, then make some shock mounts out of steel strap or cut the mounts off of your old axle since the Explorer shock mounts are on the U bolt plates and won't work with the Ranger shock locations.

As far as is this swap needed and if your engine will handle it, the answer is not really and yes . I ran a 4.10 geared 7.5" axle for a fair amount of time with my Ranger back when it was on 31" tires and even with the turbo engine and the only time I broke anything it was when I was pulling over a garage in first gear low range and the rope broke lurching things forward, and it just broke a spider gear which is a cheap and easy fix. The engine won't really notice a difference, but anything over 31" tires and you will be wishing you had lower gears which weren't even offered from the factory. There are lower gear options available but that takes some special setup to do.

 

[battmrowning]

Those are somewhat loaded questions and some more information would be useful.

First since you are mentioning installing bigger tires I'm going to take a guess and say your Ranger is 4 wheel drive, and if so it will already have 4.10 gears and a manual transmission (I think that's the only way to get a 4 cylinder 4x4...).

Finding an Explorer 8.8 with 4.10 gears isn't too hard in junk yards, they're apparently most common in the '96 up 2 wheel drive versions I think which also have disc brakes, but that isn't the most common of ratios...

As far as installing the axle, it's fairly simple, either get the F150 flip kit meant to lower F150's which will get the leaf springs on top of the Explorer axle (they're meant to put the leaf springs below the F150 axle) and get new U bolts or get some weld on spring perches, then make some shock mounts out of steel strap or cut the mounts off of your old axle since the Explorer shock mounts are on the U bolt plates and won't work with the Ranger shock locations.

As far as is this swap needed and if your engine will handle it, the answer is not really and yes . I ran a 4.10 geared 7.5" axle for a fair amount of time with my Ranger back when it was on 31" tires and even with the turbo engine and the only time I broke anything it was when I was pulling over a garage in first gear low range and the rope broke lurching things forward, and it just broke a spider gear which is a cheap and easy fix. The engine won't really notice a difference, but anything over 31" tires and you will be wishing you had lower gears which weren't even offered from the factory. There are lower gear options available but that takes some special setup to do.

My ranger is not a 4x4 so I think the gearing in not suitable for larger tires, which is why I wanted to do the axle swap because then I wouldn't need to regear since the 8.8 axle will have lower gearing, but Im not sure so please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[pjtoledo]

I'm all for a guy moddin' and upgrading things, but lets do a reality check and start with where and how you intend to drive this truck.
what gear do you have now? what size are the tires now?
regular cab or extended cab? manual or automatic?

also consider larger tires will decrease your braking the same as they will acceleration.

friendly FYI, I have 311,000 miles on the stock 7.5 rear in my 2005. for about 275,000 of those miles I had 500+ lbs in the bed for my work stuff. for on-hiway use they are quite durable.
stock tires were 225-70-15, I ran 235-75-15 and 245-70-16 at various times.

 

[don4331]

Welcome to the forum:

Can you take a look at your door/door frame and there will be a Federal sticker. On the Federal sticker will be your axle code. With the axle code, you can go to the tech pages and be able to tell us what axle you currently have. From there, we can make some recommendations.

 

[Dprocks100]

All of this is good advise. Just thought I'd share my experience. I have a 2001 explorer 8.8 in my 91 2.3l 2wd with 4.10 gears. Ive had both 30" and 31" tires on it and have never had a issue. I like the 31" tires better for highway, I can sit at 70mph at around 2500 rpm. I love the disk brakes on it, much better than the drums. If you can weld the perches on it and find one with 4.10 gears, go for it.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

 

[scrapper]

I had a 7.5 with 4.10 gears it worked great with 31" tires, if you keep tire size around 235/75/15 you will get a bit better low end power. If you go up to 31" tires or bigger you may want 4.56. Some rangers had 4.56 gears in them but they may be hard to find. This is a link to a place that sells flip kits for a 8.8 rearend. The spring perches are longer to help prevent spring wrap. I got one and it is real heavy duty.
http://www.wfoconcepts.com