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new gears and rear dif

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BMXunleashed

my 4x4 rig is also my DD.
so i chose to go with a Detroit Tru Trac limited slip rear diff and ive only heard good things about the tru tracs for street and offroad use.

I am going to 4.10 gears but im not to sure which company to go with any suggestions?

I am leaving the front end alone but i am going to re-gear to 4.10.... is the front dif an open dif? or is it a centrificul (spelling?) force limited slip? I have the Automatic locking hubs that come stock on the X's how does all that work?

Im trying to build an all around offroad rig but more desert orriented than anything...


I wish i could try and do this work myself but i have NO IDEA how dif gears are supposed to mesh up hahaha
 



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you'll like the trutrac i loved mine when i had it. if i went with a limited slip that would have to be it. what size tires u going to run with the 4.10's? i wouldn't go any bigger than 31's with that ratio
 






The front will be open (all explorers are). The auto hubs break easy, go ahead and replace those with a set of warn manual hubs...much better! If you're going in the direction of a pre-runner you may also want to start looking into a nice set of deaver leaves for the rear and some cut and turned beams for your front. Put some early bronco coils in for a softer /more flexy front end, some good shocks, good bump stops and go runnin :)
 






True Tracs work awesome for an exploder. I run them front and rear, 4.10's w/33's. gearing is decent, could be better, but great on the highway. The only place you will ever feel the need for anyhthing else is when you start extreme crawling, with LOTS of tire lifting. Guess what? Explorers are a poor choice for that in the first place. for everything else, the Trutracs are awesome. I've yet to be denied by an obstacle that my clearance and the bloated body work would let me try.
 






with the 4.10's im running 31's for now..... my plan with the truck is: deaver leafs with some shackles for the rear and maybe the camburge performance 4x4 kit, eventually i would like to switch to a manual transfer case, the truck is getting caged, fuel tank and 2 spares in the cargo area....and of course lights, skid plate, bumpers......


My DREAM would be to do the 302 and tranny out of a v8 and run some 33's

I like the explorer instead of a ranger or other pick ups because its closed SUV so i can keep a lot more tools n junk inside and good if i want to go camping or something and i can scoot around town with more than one other person in my truck

SO my main question still stands....who should i go to for gears? and how do you guys like 33's on 4.56 with the 4.0 OHV engine? because if thats a good combo it would save me the engine swap work.... how do the locking hubs work as aposed to a locked dif or limited slip?....kinda confused on that subject
 






CodePoet said:
The front will be open (all explorers are). The auto hubs break easy, go ahead and replace those with a set of warn manual hubs...much better! If you're going in the direction of a pre-runner you may also want to start looking into a nice set of deaver leaves for the rear and some cut and turned beams for your front. Put some early bronco coils in for a softer /more flexy front end, some good shocks, good bump stops and go runnin :)

The Deaver leaf springs are great. Take a pounding, and no sag. Ride is good too. They told me I could get 14-16" travel from them, and that the stock shackles would be fine. Well, I got about 13" metal to metal travel with stock shackles. I found soon that the stockers would bind on compression tho, which is bad. I made some 2.5" longer shackles, and they have freed up a ton of wheel travel (unfortunately they also raised it more than 1.5") Even with a 2" bumpstop spacer to keep the 33's out of the body, I have more than 14" vertical travel still. Good stuff.
Softer/flexier coils is NOT the way to go for a 'prerunner'. The problem with conventional coils, is that to get a reasonable spring rate, you end up with either limited wheel travel, or a stupidly tall truck. Coilovers solve that problem, and give you a huge choice of rates. Ya, they are not cheap, but the performance is such that once you've been there, you will have a hard time ever using conventional stuff again. Pricing out a pair of springs and some good shocks, its really not that far off. Right now I'm running an initial rate of 265lb, with 650 final, and air bumps after that. It flexes well on the trails, yet has enough rate to soak up good landing when I air it out, with 16-17" travel. ride height is about 4-5" over stock to level out the rear, but is easy to change, from about 3-6" lift.
The Explorer IS a good all around choice. 4 people and their gear camping, or trail running, grocery getting, or a trip to the dunes, it does pretty much everything except what others use purpose built trailer queens for.

Are you looking to just buy gears, or take it somewhere for the purchase/install? Supporting your local 4x4 shop is a good idea if they are decent.
The locking hubs just allow the front to not turn when in 2wd, by disconnecting the wheel hub from the axle shaft. THe stock automatic hubs are generally problematic, and failure prone.

33's and 4.56 sounds good for all around use. I find the 4.10's a little on the weak side, but great for highway, which I used to do a lot of. The 4.10/31's felt REALLY good. The OHV motor has damn good bottom end torque, and zero top end horsepower, so its OK to use it that way.The auto trans will suck power no matter what ratio you go for, but its very weak, so help it out by using the deepest gearing you can live with, IE 4.56 or 4.88 with 33's.

For locker/Limited slip info, do a search, I bet its been covered 100 times. IMO a limited slip is a total waste of money unless its a trutrac. Standard clutch type LS is basically locked by clutches ALL THE TIME until the going gets tough, then it lets go. A total waste. If going around a paved corner will 'open' it, then its not going to be much use anywere else. If its built 'tight' to prevent that, you've basically got all the downsides of running a spool or welded diff, except that again, wehn the going gets tough, it goes home. A truetrac is pretty much throttle activated. when the wheels are turning about the same speed, its open, for good handling. The more torque you input, or the more wheelspeed discrepancy there is from side to side, the tighter it locks. If you have a tire in the air spinning, a touch of the brakes will lock it up. Its a pretty slick design. Superb for street/trail and snow/ice driving, good but no where near optimal for hard core rock crawling. Kind of like an Explorer ;)

Have fun, and don't be afraid to beat on the Exploder. THey take a real pounding. THe frames are considerably beefier than the Rangers too, being double walled through all the critical areas.
Wow, thats long. :eek:
 






well right now im on some 31x10.5 BFG AT's on some 15x9 steel wheels with stock 3.27 ratio.... so ill just go to 4.56 since im gunna upgrade later to 33's

As far as gears...a company like "genuine gear" is good for gears?

If i get manual hubs and a limited slip does it act like a locker when the hubs are locked or just like the limited slip..... i guess my understanding or the locking hubs is when they are unlocked its just like 2wd because the hubs wont spin the axels or driveshaft, correct?
 






BMXunleashed said:
well right now im on some 31x10.5 BFG AT's on some 15x9 steel wheels with stock 3.27 ratio.... so ill just go to 4.56 since im gunna upgrade later to 33's

As far as gears...a company like "genuine gear" is good for gears?

If i get manual hubs and a limited slip does it act like a locker when the hubs are locked or just like the limited slip..... i guess my understanding or the locking hubs is when they are unlocked its just like 2wd because the hubs wont spin the axels or driveshaft, correct?

Right. The hubs just connect the wheels to the axle shafts. A LS is an LS. Doesn't matter WHAT you have in the front diff if the hubs are unlocked.
 






damn after that video i want a limited slip up front too because open difs are useless and i want to climb some stuff like Captain did haha... WOW


that guy is enjoying EVERY single penny he has put into that explorer, hahaha
 












4.10 will be really snappy, 4.56 will be almost too low, but definitely gives you room to grow, should you decide to go to 33's in future. If you do a lot of highway, 3.73 or 4.10 and 31's is a good choice. If you drive mostly city, and rarely long highway trips, you could get away with 4.56 and 31's, no problem. It will turning some high revs @ 80mph+, if you do that, but 65 will be no big deal.
 






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