gears

[lycan91]

my "father-in-law" is scrapping out cars that are dead on peoples land and selling them for scrap metal and i told him to watch for explorers and to bring them to my house if he finds some because i would like to find one with 3.73's are these comon in stock xplorers? i know this sounds like a nooby question but theres other parts that i want to nab off a dead-x so i figured why not regear if i can find what i want for free! thanks guys

 

[lycan91]

bump?

 

[Maniak]

I can't saw how common they really are but from the 4 explorers I've looked at, only one had 3.73. All the others had 3.27 gears.

~Mark

 

[carlover]

I went to a few Jy's yesterday and found 8 explorers. 5 had 3.73's with LS, 1 had 4.10's with LS, one had 4.10's open, and one 3.55 open. These were all second gen's, ive never really checked on first gens.

 

[lycan91]

cant use second gen in first can you?

 

[carlover]

Yes you can, and you get the added bonus of having discs instead of drums in the rear.

 

[lycan91]

oh i see your talking swapping the whole axle... i see how much work is that

 

[carlover]

Pretty easy actually. Remove driveshaft, brake plumbing, shocks and leaf springs and it drops right out. Its a heavy sucker so more than one person is best, but ive done it by myself.

 

[Maniak]

Is the rear ABS read the same way on the 1st gen and 2nd gen? 1st gen is read from an ABS sensor on the top of the housing...

~Mark

 

[carlover]

Is the rear ABS read the same way on the 1st gen and 2nd gen? 1st gen is read from an ABS sensor on the top of the housing...

~Mark

Yep its the same.

 

[lycan91]

very interesting

 

[carlover]

i do believe you need to swap brake Master cylinders from a second gen to run the discs. I could be wrong but i think thats what ive heard.

 

[lycan91]

is changing gears hard?

 

[carlover]

Setting up gears requires a few special tools and is very time consuming. I wanna learn how to do it myself, but just dont have the time. Its far easier to swap rear ends than the actual gears inside.

 

[lycan91]

what about the front? same thing?

 

[little x]

Honestly, the easiest and cheapest way would be to search until you find a 1st gen with 4.10's and then swap the entire axles, front and rear. It's expensive for the specialized tools, or to have someone else gear your axles for you, $500-$600. But swapping axles isn't all that difficult.
Or you could get the front axle from a 1st gen, and the rear from a second. As long as they are the same gear ratio.

 

[Jeffbethandkidz]

Actually, I don't think they made a first gen w/ 4.10 gears. I ended up buying new gears front and rear and setting them up after I couldn't find any in the junk/salvage yards.

Also, it's a pretty big job to swap out the front axle on a first gen. I had to take mine out to set it up and it was pretty labor intensive, definatly not as simple as swapping out the rear axle.

A second gen front axle will not work in a first gen explorer as they are not the same (independent vs. ttb)

Second gen front gears will not work in a first gen housing as they are a standard rotation and the first gen used a reverse rotation (high pinion) cut gear. I also made that mistake and picked up a 4.10 from a second gen to swap into my first gen. I discovered the mistake before disassembly, and after I could not find a 4.10 donor (like I stated above, I don't think that they produced a 4.10 first gen, prove me wrong I went searching online.

I chose to swap in new gears front and rear into my existing housings, and I recommend Jeff's Bronco Graveyard for the front 4.10 gears as they were one of the cheapest and you get genuine dana/spicer gears instead of some cheap junk. I purchased FoMoCo oem gears for the rear, not the cheapest, but I have inside connections that allow me a better deal.

That all said, good luck on your quest, I wouldn't trade my 4.10 swap for anything as it really made a difference in how mine performs on/off the trail.

 

[lycan91]

thanxx jeff and lil-x im not to worried about labor intensive as when i do find what im after me and my dad can do the axle swaps and i have a second car. but i dont think i will go above the 30-9.50's so i think the 3.73's will be fine for my wants and needs. jeff thanks for all that info i dont know much about gears all i know is i need lower gears maybe its just want lol. so hopefully the f.i.l will find something for me.

 

[little x]

Actually, I don't think they made a first gen w/ 4.10 gears.

I could not find a 4.10 donor (like I stated above, I don't think that they produced a 4.10 first gen, prove me wrong.

I guess it's not 100% proof, but

Yea, I had a 91 EB 4x4 w/ 4:10s

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=104049
Same conversation 4 years ago. They were just super rare, kind of like the front bench seat, something that had to be ordered from the factory.