rear axle upgrade

[grassman]

I have a 1998 ranger ext cab manual trans. When i bought truck truck in pieces it had 235/15 tires on it. After putting back together, geared to high. Gear changed or update rear end is what i need to do. What would a good update be?

 

[Dirtman]

Well, it would help to know what axle and gear ratio you have now. There will be an axle code on the door jamb sticker, post that and we can decode it. Also 235/75's are not big tires by any means so not sure why it would be geared to high for them.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Wouldn't hurt to know what engine either. I'm on my phone and can't see your side bar info if info is there.

 

[grassman]

2.5 engine replaced with a 2.3. Manual 5 speed trans. Tag on diff. says 3.73 gears. Hard to start out in low gear. If you don't what it you will kill engine. Do not use over drive very much. Is a 4.11 the biggest gear you can put in 7.5 rear end ?

 

[Shran]

What gears did you have before? If you had 3.73s before, I would suspect that the brakes are dragging and either need to be adjusted or repaired.

 

[grassman]

this truck has just about been completely rebuilt. brakes ok The question was is 4.11 gears the largest i can put in my rear end

 

[Dirtman]

4.11 is the lowest factory ratio you will find. But aftermarket gears go up to 5.13 I believe for the 8.8 rear.

 

[sgtsandman]

I’m not sure what the lowest ratio you can go in a 7.5” axle is. There is a link to the store on here that will show what is available. Another place to check is Randy’s Ring and Pinion. 4.11:1 gearing shouldn’t be that bad though. I had 4.10:1 in the 1998 when I sold it and it wasn’t too bad. That was with the stock 2.5L. Granted, it wasn’t going to win any races but it was able to keep up with traffic and not struggle.

 

[Shran]

You can get up to 4.56 gears for a 7.5... I haven't seen any lower ratios than that. Supposedly 4.56 was a factory option for cab & chassis trucks in the 80's or so I have heard but you'd never find it in the wild.

You didn't answer what your original gearing was - I mentioned the brakes simply because you may have a different issue going on. I have 3.73's in my 4 cylinder truck and it is just fine...good ratio for that engine and stock tire size.

 

[Dirtman]

Yukon makes a 5.13 dunno why you'd ever go that low on a 7.5 but it does exist...

 

[09fx4guy]

You can get gears and do a gear swap with your 7.5, but if it were me, I would look for an 8.8 and replace the entire axle. You may be able to find one with 4.10 with a Torsen.

The 8.8 is an upgrade over the 7.5, if you plan on doing anything heavy duty.