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What you think?


Kingoverace

Well-Known Member
V8 Engine Swap
Solid Axle Swap
Joined
Jul 13, 2009
Messages
395
City
Jersey
Vehicle Year
1998
Transmission
Automatic
So it finally stopped raining and I was able to crawl under the truck and see what was clunking around every turn....
Firstly, I see a hole the size of a dime on the differe cover....pop here off and here she is,,,
rearI.jpg


rearII.jpg


I'm inexperienced in rebiulding these things so prob a new rear is best. I got a 4x4 and dont want to regear the front end, so if another 4.10 7.5 is my only option plz let me know... but If i can get a 8.8 from a newer Ranger, that'd work?

any recomendations plz....i dont think I want to get anything with rear disc either....more work then I'm ready for.... my DD
 
just get a new rearend, it'd be much easier, less tedious and probably cheaper. a 7.5 would be direct bolt-in replacement (and also cheaper) and an 8.8 would need new spring perches welded on top of the axle housing, plus it would have disc brakes

not sure how common a 4.10 7.5 is tho
 
yup gunna look for junkyards once i see what my options of rears are...

now are you talking about another Ranger axle or the Exploder axle? I know an Expo axle would def have the disc brakes but I didn't know a newer year Ranger would
 
seems like i read somewhere that all 8.8's have disc brakes....could be wrong tho.
just go to the tech library and find the axle identification codes and write them down before you go to the junkyard.

as you probably know, all b2's will have 7.5's and some rangers will. i'm pretty sure all exploders (and some rangers) have 8.8's.

if you wheel your rig, i'd go ahead and spend the money on an 8.8. if you get another 7.5, you could run into the same problem again. plus i think it'd be easier to find 4.10's that way too. the brakes arent too difficult to figure out, plus they're better than drums.
 
Pretty common for a 7.5..

just get a new rearend, it'd be much easier, less tedious and probably cheaper. a 7.5 would be direct bolt-in replacement (and also cheaper) and an 8.8 would need new spring perches welded on top of the axle housing, plus it would have disc brakes
Any ranger 8.8 will bolt into his truck. Only 95+ Explorers 8.8s have disc brakes.
 
yah..thats what i thought bought the disc..its exploders...
and yes...def decided to get the 8.8
just my only concern is will the upgrade to a 8.8 affect the gearing in 4wd with the front axle?
 
You can get the 8.8 with anything from 2.73 up to 5.38's. 4.10 is a standard gear for Ford to use, but as to which vehicles you're going to be looking for, I'm not sure. The 8.8 will not affect the front axle at all, so long as the gear set is a 4.10.

Just an FYI, not all 8.8's have disc brakes. There are the 31 spline exploder axles from 91-94 that have drums, and 95+ have the disc brakes. If you have drums right now, you will need to figure out a way to connect the disc brakes to your system. I've been looking at doing this myself, and I believe that you can just get the rear cables for the exploder axle, and connect them to the front cable in your ranger....but I haven't tried this myself yet. Check the tech section, I'm sure that there is a write-up about this already.
 
seems like i read somewhere that all 8.8's have disc brakes....could be wrong tho.
just go to the tech library and find the axle identification codes and write them down before you go to the junkyard.

as you probably know, all b2's will have 7.5's and some rangers will. i'm pretty sure all exploders (and some rangers) have 8.8's.

if you wheel your rig, i'd go ahead and spend the money on an 8.8. if you get another 7.5, you could run into the same problem again. plus i think it'd be easier to find 4.10's that way too. the brakes arent too difficult to figure out, plus they're better than drums.

not all 8.8s have disk breaks mine doesnt
________
Vaporizers
 
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just swap the spider gears from a junkyard axle, it's seriously a quick job, way easier than swapping axles (and that can be done in a saturday). All you have to do is get where you are in that picture, jack up the whole rear axle with the tires off, take out the cross pin locking pin (it has a 5/16" head, use a 6 point wrench if at all possible, and heat the head with a propane torch for a minute or two and it'll come right out, there's loctite on the threads), slide the cross pin out, push the axles inward until they stop (about 1/4" on each side) then let the C clips pop out then pull the axle shafts out a couple inches, now stick in the side gears then the spider gears one on each side, rotate both to line them up with the cross pin holes, then insert axle shafts until you can put the C clips on the ends of the shafts, pull the shafts back out so you can put in the cross pin, reinstall the lock pin, apply silicone to the diff cover you grabbed from the junkyard and add 2 quarts of oil. No special tools needed, assuming the gears are still tight and the bearing cages are intact the axle could still have a fair amount of life left, I've put 20K or so on my 7.5 that I blew a spider gear on and I damaged a pinion bearing...
 
If the Ring gear and pinion gear are not damaged, as the above said I would just pull some spiders out of another 7.5 from a junk yard.

You do not have to disassemble the rear end to get the spiders out. once the diff cover is off, 1 bolt to release the cross pin. drop it out rotate the rear end and the spiders should come lose.

Its about half a hour to a hours worth of work. And its a heck of alot cheaper and easier then changing the entire rear end.
 
hmm..you guys got me thinking... If I can swing a 8.8 axle I'll try that first...then i'll be set, and I can get a new spider gear and sell my old axle cheap...make a few bucks and have a better setup...kk thnx everyone, of course the money will decide, gunna call some boneyards today....
 
I'd get the bolt in 8.8 with the 4.10 gears. Hard to tell how much damage any loose small metal pieces have done inside there. There is no standard rear end ratio on Rangers. The new 2010 only has the 3.55's in 4x2 with the 4.0L and it is the only Ranger to have disc brakes. Brakes can be in either 9" or 10". I've always used car-part.com to find good low mileage rears in the right ratio and the bigger brakes.
Dave
 
hmm..you guys got me thinking... If I can swing a 8.8 axle I'll try that first...then i'll be set, and I can get a new spider gear and sell my old axle cheap...make a few bucks and have a better setup...kk thnx everyone, of course the money will decide, gunna call some boneyards today....

I have a you pull it junkyard by me and if you want i can go and find out how much for a axle will be..
 
kk, i'm window shopping for my axle tomarrow...what vehicles am I'm looking for?
prefer to just keep drums, but want a 8.8 with 4.10's for my 98 4x4

I'm guessing 92-94 Explorers and any Ranger Fx4's?

And once again, the 8.8 upgrade WONT affect my front axle in 4wd??
 
Any Ranger from '93' up with the 4.0L will have the 8.8. You have to check the tag on the rear end or the door to know what the ratio is. I've always used car-part.com to find mine.
Dave
 

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