Regear my axles?

[RaveDigger]

I've got a 2000 Sport 4wd with the M5OD manual transmission. The sticker on my door jamb says axle code "D2" which from what I've read on the forums means that I have 4.10 axle gears with the LSD.

I see a lot of people posting stuff about regearing to 4.10 axle gears when they put on bigger (33"+) tires. If my stock Explorer already has 4.10 gears, it probably means I need to upgrade to an even higher ratio, correct?

My next question is this, what are the chances of finding both the Ford 88 rear end and the Dana 35 IFS with gears higher than 4.10? I'd like to try to avoid the cost of regearing and instead just reaxle.

Or if I can just run 33s with my current stock setup, that'd be even better, but that doesn't seem like a good idea.

 

[techieman33]

Is your goal to run bigger tires? If you want 33's or smaller then you'll be fine with the 4.10's. Are you asking about finding 4.56 or 5.13 gears? If so your chances are really slim, they were not a factory option so you would have to find someone who installed them and is now parting out their explorer.