8.8 diff ramp

[RockRanger]

I need some opinions on this before I go any farther.

have a 93 explorer 8.8 in my ranger. On the bottom of the diff they have a big lip that likes to hang up on rocks. A shave of the diff like the 14 bolts would be nice but a bit extreme for me right now. So this is what I came up with.

Here is the lip on the bottom of the diff.

I cut a few plats out of 1/4" on my plasma table and then welded them together like so.

Then I did a quick tack to see how I liked it.

This is where I am at right now. I am trying to decide if it is worth it to weld it on? What is the best way to weld it to the diff? Anyone else interested in this?

 

[Maniak]

Now that I have done the SOA, I think this is my next spot to start getting hung up on.

I'd be interested in some way to ramp it (maybe also protect the pinion) but from what I see so far, your not getting rid of the lip, just making 2 smaller lips instead of the single big one. That is unless your thinking of a couple plates and grinding them into a taper.

~Mark

 

[RockRanger]

Yes lots of grinding to make it more tapered into a ramp. Even a shorter step should be easier to pull off of instead of a large step.

 

[DB_1]

Get it Hammers approved first and let us know how it does

Nth Degree (when they were in business) made a plate/ramp thing that bolted (U-bolt) to the pinion snout.

 

[james t]

I think it should work fine.

Mig should hold it with plenty of preheat and post-heat. It's going to be hard to get that part of the diff clean while it's still under the truck but doable. Grind the crap out of it.

 

[Randall]

I can't remember what the other side of an 8.8 looks like, but couldn't you just grind that lip off?

 

[RockRanger]

You can grind a bit. Maybe an 1/8" to a 1/4" Not enough to get rid of the lip. I plan on doing a bit of grinding to it even with the plates welded on.

 

[RockRanger]

I made Version 2 today. I like it much better. Gets rid of some of the issues the first one had. When I get a chance I am going to pull the housing out of the truck so I can flip it upside down and hopefully get better welds. Might see if I can find a local friend to stick weld it for me. Other wise I will just mig it on at home.

Untitled by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

Untitled by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

Untitled by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

 

[RockRanger]

Guess I never up dated this. I mig welded on the pieces above after a bit of grinding to get to fit better to the axle housing.

Before:

Untitled by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

After:

Untitled by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Untitled by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

How does it work? Awesome. A great cheap modification. On rocks that before the lip would catch on the diff now slides over a lot of them. On our trip to the Dusy I decided to see how much of a difference it made. Many times i steered to try to hang the rear diff just see how it did. See in the picture how many times I drug it.

20150830_154124 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20150830_154140 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr


My friend who followed me in his toyota even commented on how many times he thought I would get hung up but the rear would slide over the rock. I give this mod a :biggthump and 5 out of 5 stars.