Rear diff swap/ rebuild

[paramedic927]

Hi all I have a 02 ford explorer with 82000 miles, I have the famous 3.73 rear diff that of course is wining.... yeah me lol

1, I was wondering how hard it is to swap the rear diff out with a rebuilt or new one?

2, Is there a better gear I can have it rebuilt with, I dont want to put the same one back in if its going to give me all kinds of problems.

3, How long can I expect before it blowes up? I am a fulltime college student and dont have alot of money right now.

Thanks Justin

 

[Burns]

#1 is as easy as swapping all the stuff. The easiest thing to do here.

#2 you have a 4wheel drive. If you change the ratio in the back then you have to change it in the front. Also its not the ratio that cause these problems.

#3 If the rebuild is done right you shouldnt have another problem out of it

 

[ExploringNC]

What are the differences in rear gears from year to year? What years are swapable with the '02? I have the same issue but don't have the money for a rebuild so I need a donor.

 

[jrford]

agreed with above,
1-two person job, but its not really that heavy.
2-Both front and rear have to change on a re-gear.
3-providing the case isn't shot to begin with i'd guess another 150k mi.

Other options, i see you live in Southfield, MI thats close . . . i had a '04 LS 3.73 in my hands at a local junkyard, not sure if its still there or how much or if your interested in that route.
Re-Build great guy in RO, redid my transmission, and a couple of xfr cases for my heeps. Reasonable and great warranty search for RC Trans in the yellow pages.

you'd have to double check on what will cross over but i wouldn't be surprised if it was something like '02-'05 for sure, but you might get lucky and find it to be '02 and up. . .

 

[Rudolph]

I would like to swap out my 02 sport trac solid rear end with one that will interchange.I would guess maybe a ranger or 150 solid. Mine has a sway bar so it doesn' show up in the interchange book. Any help would be appreciated (3.73) gears