lol.. Well I had been on the fence about what to do ever since I drained the oil and saw the metal. I did a lot of talking to racing guys at work and research on the internet. Then I called and talked to Moser Engineering and they were not helpful. So I found a post from a mustang forum that Strange Engineering had much better customer service. I was on the phone with the guy for 40 mins! He walked me through all the possibilities and pricing for making a 9" for the explorer. The only real cridical part is that I measure the pinion angle from the spring perches perfectly so that they can weld the perches on for me. After that I will just have to make and weld on the sway bar mounts. I will also do away with the stock traction bars since they are redundent at this point anyhow (I have a set of Cal Trac bars on it now). I talked at length with him about the strength and weaknesses of the Ford 8.8 and its limitations.
Here's what it boils down too; and forgive me if I step on toes or have very different information than what all of you have heard & know. At some point I do plan on adding boost to this engine and I want to plan for the future so that I don't end up pinching a penny here and blowing a dollar later. I've been told that if bulit right, with a locker, racing ring & pinion, carrier bearing girdel, axle tube bracing, weld the axle tubes, and if you can install c-clip eliminators. In thinking about it and talking to Strange, I realized that the c-clip eliminators push your wheel offset out about 0.9" on each side and I can't figure out how they will work with rear disc brakes. Further, if you already have rear discs, why would you even need the c-clip eliminators - the brake calipers will hold the wheel assembly in if the axle were to break.
With all that said, I can't find anywhere that someone will claim exactly how much power the 8.8 can hold. From what I gather, the more torque and weight you apply to the axle, the more you are stressing it. Strange asked me how much power I plan to put out and I said at some point around 550 and he said if I do all the upgrades to the 8.8 it would probably be ok but I would be pushing it's upper limits.
As most of you may know, the failure points on the 8.8 aren't just the diff and the axle tubes spinning in the pig housing. The other issue is the axle tubes actually bending forward due to the tubes being thin and the torque of the wheeling always tring to move forward. With all that said, you can basically put as much power to the 8.8 as you want as long as you don't hook up! Once you start hooking right off the line (like with slicks) you begin to break things.
I don't feel like gambling on this one (nor do I want to break down in Carlise again!). The current plan is to order a 9" from Strange loaded with 3.73 gears and a Truetrac diff. At that point I can upgrade the rear brakes to Wilwood 12" rotors and 4 piston calipers, purchased through Strange and pre-installed.
Now I want to upgrade the front brakes but haven't been able to find a performance upgrade kit or anything. So far I've found that I can adapt Lincoln Aviator front rotors and calipers on but I would rather get performance ones vs using more stock parts. Input on that would be helpful!
Sorry for being long winded and jumping around on these projects. Moved straight from air inake to axles to brakes! I need to slow down... lol
