Swapping out the Dana 28’s

[Shran]

90-97 Ranger, V6 trucks are safest, some mid 90's 4 cylinder trucks have a hybrid axle you don't want, 95-97 have dual piston calipers
91-92 Explorers are non ABS
93-94 Explorers have front ABS (not that it matters, just a piece to remove on your end.)
91-01 Explorers for the 8.8, 95+ have disc brakes
Rangers with 4.0 engines have 8.8s but the axle shafts are only 28 spline so they're not much of an upgrade from what you have now
Seems like Sport Tracs had usable 8.8s as well up to like 06?

You do want matching gear ratios in both axles. If you do go to 33s or 35s you will want something deeper than 3.73s. 4.56 at minimum, I personally would go to 4.88s with 33's or 5.13 if you're going straight to 35's. Figure out what size tire you ultimately want and gear it for those - otherwise you'll be wasting a lot of money regearing a second time when you go to bigger tires.

I think 35s are a really good all around tire size. They're still light and small enough to be streetable and are plenty big enough for moderately hard trails. Past that point is where you should be thinking about axles much larger than a D35 and probably a dedicated offroad rig too.

 

[4x4prepper]

Well, with p235/75r15 tires I managed to blow out an OEM hub last year, now I have WARN, (see how those last) and in the past in deep snow with 235s I have managed to twist the ears off the pass. side drive shaft. The first one, I was pulling about 3000# of trailer off road, so, that did not help at all.

Personally I would not run anything over 31" in mild stuff and nothing over a 29" in extreme stuff, the axles just will not hold up and that is behind a weak 2.8L with open 3.45 gears. I will let you know how the Dana 28 holds up with 5.13 gears and lincoln locked with 31-32s in a few weeks ...