swap ranger and mountaineer Rear end GEARS?

[tradar]

Can I put the rear end gears from my 99 mountaineer AWD (373LS) in to my Ranger?
All I want to do is make the Ranger have a 373LS rear end? so can I swap the spider gears?
What do I look for? before undertaking this?

 

[my pos mounty]

Short answer is no, I don't think so.
A) The axle assembly in the ranger (i assume) is a non-LSD unit? If so, I am pretty sure that the LSD carrier will not fit the non-LSD housing
B) The ring gear and the pinion are a matched set and must be changed together. You will have to remove them both from the Mountaineer housing and the ranger housing, then set up the tolerances/clearances.
C) It would be best, if you are going to do all of that to replace all the bearings, spider/side gears and rebuild the Limited slip clutch pack.
You would be basically be building a whole new axle assembly from scratch with the exception of the ring/pinion set. Why not use your whole rear axle assembly from the Mountaineer and have the spring perches you need welded on?

 

[Dan Whitaker]

Also your Ranger most likely has 28 spline axles whereas the Mountaineer has 31 spline axles.

 

[nelsona19]

also the mountaineer has disc brakes

 

[Tbars4]

..It would probably be as easy if not easier to swap the whole rear end under your Ranger...

...That's what I did but I didn't get one that had the highly sought after rear disc brakes...

 

[tradar]

Short answer is no, I don't think so.
A) The axle assembly in the ranger (i assume) is a non-LSD unit? If so, I am pretty sure that the LSD carrier will not fit the non-LSD housing
B) The ring gear and the pinion are a matched set and must be changed together. You will have to remove them both from the Mountaineer housing and the ranger housing, then set up the tolerances/clearances.
C) It would be best, if you are going to do all of that to replace all the bearings, spider/side gears and rebuild the Limited slip clutch pack.
You would be basically be building a whole new axle assembly from scratch with the exception of the ring/pinion set. Why not use your whole rear axle assembly from the Mountaineer and have the spring perches you need welded on?

Sorry for the stupid quetion,, but What is a LSD?

The axle from the mountaineer has a bend in it.. acorrding to Firestone.
the told me the drivers tire is pointing toward the yellow line, (toed OUT), while the passager side is straight. How this can be I do not know. But tire wear and handling tells me they are right.?

So I thought I could use the LS out of the bad axle for something...? I guess I will just buy one fro the ranger..
Thanks

 

[my pos mounty]

Sorry for the stupid question,, but What is a LSD

LSD = Limited Slip Differential.

I guess you could have somehow tweaked the tube on one side, but that would have been a heck of a hit I would think.

 

[nelsona19]

sorry to say this about other techs, but usually firestone guys dont know thier &^% hole from a hole in the ground, especially when it comes to alignments, some difference is normal, less than 0.30 deg total diference is considered normal on a solid axle rearend, you should have gotten an alignment sheet showing the alignment specs and actual measurements, what is the rear thrust angle and rear toe readings, this will tell you if it is actually bent, if there is more than a degree of toe difference from side to side they are probably right, but if the difference is less and the toe is positive on one side and negative on the otherit means the rear axle has shifted and needs to just be moved on the springs to be adjusted, but it would be helpful to know why it was being aligned, rear toe being off can cause a pull if severe enough or cause the steering wheel to be off

 

[tillbilly69]

the disc brake rear end and the drum brake rear end are both 8.8 rear ends you can change the ring nd spider gear will fit right in. the only differance is one has limited slip the other does not the easyist way to do this is to take every thing from one rear end and swap to the other just dont mix up your spacers.

 

[dropdtop]

OK done this a few time now and lemme say YES its possible BUT "always a but"...

The ring and pinion will be a direct swap into you housing but when you remove them from the junkyard or whereever. just remember the shims on each side of the carrier and keep them in the same side as where they came out.. REASON BEING:

Ford machines all there housing to almost the same exact spec.. do you think ford has a guy setting up backlash on every car??? NO they machines all the housings the same and then simply get the Cast iron shims that match the carrier and gears being installed. Since the pinion also has a shim pressed on the pinion it will also be correct. However I recommend using a new Crush Sleeve upon install.

The ranger 28 Spline axles will need to be updated to 31spline. Only way todo this is to call up a company like MOSER engineering and have them make you a set of ranger axles in 31 spline... cost around $250 I believe. they can even make you a custom set that will bolt up the explorer disc brakes without haveing to use the wider explorer axle.

Hope this helps,
Brad