Do I need a notched cross shaft with 4.88 gears in an 8.8 | Ford Explorer Forums

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Do I need a notched cross shaft with 4.88 gears in an 8.8

RockRanger

Elite Ranger
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86 ranger no more
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getting ready to oreder gears and front locker and need to know if I need this. My west coast diff catalog says I need one. Or should I just grind a tooth on the ring gear and slip the cross pin in. I am running a welded rear diff so it wont affect the locker eather way :D
 



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you will need to grind the pin and the tooth some. It will be tight
 






RockRanger said:
getting ready to oreder gears and front locker and need to know if I need this. My west coast diff catalog says I need one. Or should I just grind a tooth on the ring gear and slip the cross pin in. I am running a welded rear diff so it wont affect the locker eather way :D

which brand locker? using detriot? you might not need to...

yes grind the tooth. Knicking the corrner 3/16" of any tooth on the toeside (or the heelside for that matter) will not affect the strength of the gear.

I used 4.56 on a Detriot truetrac and didnt have to modify a thing. It was kinda close... but the way detriot designed their cross pin it made this step pretty much null. It is probably an inch and a half shorter then the stock 8.8 cross pin and detriot uses their "plate and pin style" way of retaining the pin. so it has the ability to slide in and out at enough of an angle to clear the gear.
 






if you take the ring gear off to install the cross pin and spider gears you dont have to notch anything. YOu just have to have your gears set up every time you need to work on the spider gears.
 






Creager said:
which brand locker?

Lincoln :D I welded up the spider gears. Sounds like i will order the notched cross shaft and grind a tooth a bit if I need to.
 






uhhh

nissanboy said:
if you take the ring gear off to install the cross pin and spider gears you dont have to notch anything. YOu just have to have your gears set up every time you need to work on the spider gears.

Nissanman, have you ever set up an 8.8 diffy?

Take the ring gear off to clear the cross pin?

How are you going to get the C-clips on once you get the ring gear on? that made no sense man.
 






i want thinking... only 8.8 i watched get set up had Torino ends on it and hence no c-clips.
 






I had to grind a tooth down a little to get the pin in. This is with a LSD carrier though and 4.56s.

-Drew
 






Creager said:
Nissanman, have you ever set up an 8.8 diffy?

Take the ring gear off to clear the cross pin?

How are you going to get the C-clips on once you get the ring gear on? that made no sense man.

I did this on my front diffy when I installed the NoSlip locker in my 4.88s. I see no reason it wouldn't work on the back 8.8 too.

You do it with everything in place - including the axle (C-clip and all) - so that's not an issue. Once I put the locker in, the ring gear was so thick that it blocked part of the hole that the crosspin slipped in. What I did was unbolt the ring gear from its carrier while it was still installed in the assembly, then slid the entire ring gear all the way to the other side across the locker. It slid far enough over to clear the crosspin hole completely on the ring gear's backside. I put the pin in, then slid the ring gear back over to its place, and rebolted it on the carrier. No grinding required.
 






I have a brand new one in an un opened package that I will sell you for 15.00 total.

Let me know if you would like it. Its been riding around with me since Moab 02. UnOpened.
 






Trckmagik said:
I have a brand new one in an un opened package that I will sell you for 15.00 total.

Let me know if you would like it. Its been riding around with me since Moab 02. UnOpened.


LOL now you tell me. I just ordered one today along with my gears. wish you would have posted that a few days ago.
 






GJarrett said:
I did this on my front diffy when I installed the NoSlip locker in my 4.88s. I see no reason it wouldn't work on the back 8.8 too.

it sounds good, ill see if i can get this method to work when i do my dana35TTB.

Actually when i did my (8.8) gears i had to bake the ring gear so it would be a slip fit onto the carrier. So unbolting the ring gear (to slide it past the cross pin bore) from the carrier in mid assembly almost sounds impossible to me. Not to mention getting those things torqued back down right; imagin fitting a torque wrench behind the carrier in that housing. i dont see it being that easy, unless the gear is an easy tap fit begin with.
 






You can cancel that part of the order if it cost you more.
 






Creager said:
it sounds good, ill see if i can get this method to work when i do my dana35TTB.


If I remember right in the dana 35 its more of a spring clip that holds the inner shaft in so you dont have to worry about the cross shaft in a dana 35TTB axle. You can completely assemble the carrier then put the ring gear on. Once the carrier and ring gear is in then you can put the clip in. That is unless you are putting a locker in the front then you need to put a spring in the slip yoke.
 












I just put 4.56 gears in my 8.8. All I did was slightly gring the teeth of the ring gear and made my own notched pin. Slight grinding on the pin and it just barely slid in. Nice and tight like I like it. :thumbsup:
 






RockRanger said:
If I remember right in the dana 35 its more of a spring clip that holds the inner shaft in so you dont have to worry about the cross shaft in a dana 35TTB axle. You can completely assemble the carrier then put the ring gear on. Once the carrier and ring gear is in then you can put the clip in. That is unless you are putting a locker in the front then you need to put a spring in the slip yoke.

i was thinking about using the Dana Trac-Lok. Since its cheap and im kind of hesitent of putting a locker up front. But yeah if theres a spring in there, that would explain why i can just pull the axle shafts out the pumpkin, i always thought they were supposed to have C-clips in those.
 






I believe with the trac lock you can still run the clip inside the diff and dont have to do the spring mod. I think that is what RangerX used to have up front until we pulled the LS out and put a real locker up font if that tells you anything about LS fronts ;)

Actually he did very wel with LS front and rear. But once you are locked you never go back.
 






I run 4.88's with an ARB in my 8.8 and when I set it up I had to grind most of a tooth off but it has seen nothing but abuse since the install and still no problems.
 



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RockRanger said:
I believe with the trac lock you can still run the clip inside the diff and dont have to do the spring mod. I think that is what RangerX used to have up front until we pulled the LS out and put a real locker up font if that tells you anything about LS fronts ;)

Actually he did very wel with LS front and rear. But once you are locked you never go back.

the only thing holding me back from putting a locker upfront is the roads around here in the winter. I hit the mountains from charlotte (3 hr drive) two or three times a week during the winter and when it snows around here, they dont plow!

id probably be already with a locker upfront in the snow right? hah
 






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