Ranger front axle questions

[dbcooper99]

I have a 2000 Ranger without the PVH hubs. I would like to swap in a new front axle that allows me to unlock the hubs for better fuel economy and less wear and tear on moving parts. What parts am I going to need? I would prefer a manual locking hub.

 

[99RangerOffRoad]

Avm/rugged ridge makes manual hubs that just replace the automatic hubs. Which would require replacing the non pvh system to a pvh system. There is a thread on either here or explorer forums about it.

 

[gribly]

Don't even bother. A proper running 2001+ 4.0 4x4 will get 20mpg, even with 31's. You'll gain half a mpg at best. There is no bolt-on setup to do this, either - you would have to find an older truck in a junkyard or what have you, and swap over the front hub assemblies, axles, and everything else that is different I would imagine.

 

[dbcooper99]

Ok. Thanks for the info. The front diff in my ranger is howling bad. I am DEAD SET on replacing it with a front end that I can unlock the hubs. I understand that I will need to buy the manual hubs. Could somebody please tell me what vehicle to get the new front end from?

 

[gribly]

A ranger a year or so older, 98 or newer.

My recommendation is to rebuild your front end and make sure you use the correct synthetic fluid, not the cheap stuff. After that, you should be fine, it's uncommon for a front diff to die just from freewheeling all the time.

If you're gonna go through the trouble of swapping the front end, why not SAS it? If you're not wheeling it, though, I'm gonna stick with saying rebuild the stock diff.

 

[exbass94]

Here is a complete step-by-step how-to convert to manual locking hubs:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284136

 

[gribly]

+1 rep for link

 

[dbcooper99]

Thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for.