will dana 35 hold a 4.6 and beefing suspesion

[59flatbedford]

so i think i might be getting a free 4.6l to build for my ranger. Its an 89 ext cab 4x4. Im also gunna be swapping in the axles out of my dads 94 explorer. my question is will my dana 35 hold the power of a 4.6l off road or do i want to just get a dana 44 and cut, turn, and narrow it. Another question is what can i do to beef up the suspension. mine is all sagged out and sinks if i haul a cooler and i dont want that. i was thinking of switching to f150 coils up front and i was planning on 64 inch leaf springs in the back with flipped shackles. any other ideals?

 

[4x4junkie]

A D44 isn't a whole lot stronger than a D35 having the Jeep hubs on it... I would say go ahead and use the D35. The D44 would get you bigger brakes however.

As for the suspension, are you planning on running it stock height or are you lifting it? (and if so, how much?)

 

[TRX501RYAN]

If your already stealing parts from the explorer of dads, and it is being parted out, if its a 4x4 4 door it will have leafs in it that will net you 1.5-2'' of lift, and if you are lifting it, add some belltech shackles for more lift out back and then you only need to worry about the front, the explo leafs hold a load a little better then the stockers, and ride slightly rougher

 

[59flatbedford]

well the explorer has had a pretty rough life so a lot of the suspension is shot but the axles are still good. I think now im going to do the dana 35/44 hybrid to get bigger brakes and all those goodies. still got to look into what is all involved. Now im even playing with the ideal of changing it to 8 lug wheels which the front is easy enough, but did the 8.8 ever come in anything with 8 lugs.

I am planning on lifting it 3-4 inches, maybe a little more maybe a little less. right now im thinking maybe using f150 or f250 coil springs (possibly lift springs) and the chevy leaf springs out back i think im basically going to build this as a heavy half ton in a ranger body. any opinions are welcome.

 

[4x4junkie]

I think the Skyjacker 6" coil springs (pt#136) would come out pretty dang close to 4" of lift with that V8 over them.