Swapping a 99" ranger 8.8" with a 00" explorer 8.8"

[Mrnicks]

I have an opportunity to obtain a explorer axle. My current axle on the ranger needs some serious love, seals, gears, and bearings. Would it be worth to get this axle and do the rebuild on it and rather than my current ranger axle. I do know that if i do the swap I'll gain rear disc brakes and larger axles. The few questions I have is, how close to a direct bolt on is this and what mods needs to be done to the brake system to use these disc brakes? What do you guys think?




99" ford ranger (off-road) w/4.0L ,auto tranny
4X4 with 3"body and 2.5 add a leafs with torsion crank
33X12.5 bfg's and 33X10.5 TSL's
and a whole bunch of other goodies like on board air and such.


http://www.cardomain.com/ride/448072

 

[Earl43P]

You will have to cut off the shock perches and weld new ones onto the Exp axle to fit a Ranger. I'm not sure how much effect it will have on the brakes. The 99 brake bias may be accomplished by the 4WABS Controller. You will also have to make the parking brake work, which involves using the cable bracket from the Explorer.

In short, all of this is doable, and has been done by quite a few people. Search and see if this is a job you want to tackle.

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Explorer8_8.html
http://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2/f6/f43/11725-how-explorer-axle-swap.html

 

[Mrnicks]

Hmm, from the one post on the other ranger website it looks pretty easy. I don't think it's anything I can't handle, just looking for details. What do you guys think is a good price for a funtioning 00" 8.8" axle from a explorer? Would you say it's worth $100?

 

[2001FORDRANGER]

its pretty straight forward. you would need the rear end and the master cylinder since the ranger cylinder is not built to take on the disk brake conversion and a few other small things. im doing the same thing and will post pics and a write-up when complete.