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Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
Im considering regearing the 8.8 in my 97 myself. Ive read up on it alot and i THINK i can do it. Im wondering if any one else has experiences with doing it. Im going from 3.27s to 4.10s and i beleive i wont need a new carrier but i will have to modify the crosspin. Is really doable by some one who hasnt done it themselves or is it best left to a professional?
I highly recommend taking this to someone. You can really mess one up if you don't know what your doing not to mention set up a gear noise and totally ruin a set of $200 gears. Now you must understand, they are 4:10's and they'll have a little noise to them. Its nearly impossible to get a set of gears that low not to.
There are measurements like backlash and pinion depth that really need to be checked on a gear swap that are very important. Sometimes the same shims can be used but with a step that high and a different carrier its probably gonna have to have some new side shims and maybe a new pinion shim. Always use a new crush sleeve.
Man, this thread makes me think of my grandfather, who used to change out axle ratios himself, years ago. I wish I had learned from him then, before he passed away
I swapped from a 3.27 to a 4.10 a few months ago, and to me it was worth the money to have someone do the work. Since all I had to worry about was the 8.8, I found a shop that had a good reputation among the local Mustang crowd, and he did the swap for $150 (I supplied the gears).
I called a shop today and they said that it would be $250 for labor and $150 for ring and pinion.
You guys even think that going from 3.73's to 4.10's would be very noticable? This is not for 4x4 i'm 2wd and just want to pick up a bit. You think 4.56's would be better?
Thanks
4.10s should be plenty. I went from 3.27s to 3.73s on my 2x4 and it was quite noticable. I kind of wanted to go to 4.10s but I'm glad I didn't since my hwy RPMs are quite a bit higher than I was expecting and would be even more so with the 4.10s. What tire size, engine, tranny do you have?
Right now i've got stock tires (235/75/r15's). Hopefully soon i'll have some 255/55/18 or something along those lines.
Engine-302
Transmission-can't remember. Something like 4r75w or something like that. Lol shows that i care...
Ok, well you're Overdrive gear is .70:1 if you have the 4R70W, with the final drive being a 3.73 right now plus the 29" tires, at 75 MPH you will be running 2269 RPM, with a 4.10 you'll be running 2494 RPM, which should be fine. If you go with 4.56's you'll be hitting 2773.7, which on your 5.0 seems a bit high for highway driving. So if I were going for the upgrade I go with the 4.10s. The price that shop quoted you seems pretty good, although look into what brand gears you'll be getting, Yukon are my favorites right now, simply because that's what Randy's Ring'n'Pinion recomends (www.ring-pinion.com). Do you already have a limited slip carrier in there right now or is it an open diff? If it's open, I would def recomend putting a LS carrier in there since that alone made such a difference in my white truck And if you're going to have your diff open and being regeard, you might as well throw one in since it won't cost any more in labor (since you have to take your old carrier out anyhow). (yeah burn outs become harder, but my launches improved soo much).
I totally rebuilt my 8.8 myself. Replaced all the races, seals, shims and so on. Went from 3.27's to 4.56's with a Detroit. It can be done, but you need to be VERY PATIENT and ask a lot of questions. You will also need about $200 in tools to do it right (not including a shop press). I took my time and put about 14 hours into the axle. Had to assemble, tear down and re-assemble about 5 times to get them backspacing and pinion depth right. 1 piece of advice - by a 2nd main pinion bearing and hollow it out a little so it can be used as a test bearing. You will never get the pinion depth set right the 1st try. Preload is extremely important and has a very small window of tolerance (app 5+/- in/lbs). Do a lot of research.
what kind of tools did you need other than the standard set of sockets, wrenches and possibly air tools. I know you need a dail caliper, a pinion depth gauge. a ft lbs and inch lbs torque wrenches and a dial caliper with a magnetic base for checking backlash. If im gonna be spending 200 bucks in tools which i may or may not use again im probably better off taking it to a shop. Though I have access to all the tools i just listed so i guess i have to decide if its worth the effort.
The one tool I was looking at aside from lose listed is a shim pusher. It is a Ford Rotunda tools, which cost $15 and aids in pushing the shims in place. Which can be important when you do the final install with the 0.006" interference on both sides!
I plan to swap out the open carrier for a Torsen I picked up from and FX4 Ranger. I will not be touching the pinion bearings, but will replace the pinion seal, which also requires a special tool (a $45 pinion flange setter).
FMExplorer, please let us know what else we may need, and if the two tools I listed are "really" necessary.
Dial guage with magnetic base (A must for checking backlash)
Calipers - for measuring shim thickness
Brass punches - for removing old bearing races. NEVER re-use the old race - you run too much risk of throwing out a bearing. You will also need the punches for installing the new races.
A 3-pronged gear puller was helpful as well.
Shop press would be nice to press on carrier bearings, but you could slip a shop a few bucks to press them on for you.
ft/lb and in/lb torque wrenches
Impact wrench or one hell of a breaker bar. It takes about 400 ft/lbs of torque to properly set the crush sleeve. On that note - you need to check and recheck the pinion preload when setting the crush sleeve. Too much torque on the pinion nut, the sleeve will crush too much and you will have too much preload on the bearings. This is not reversible - if you go too far you need a new crush sleeve.
I found it much easier having the axle on a bench on jack stands - much easier to work.
also - as mentioned above, get a spare main pinion bearing and use a dremel to hollow it out a little. This way you can slip it on and off to set the pinion depth. Otherwise you need to press on and pull of the bearing - a huge pain.
Here is a link to some pics of the install - notice the pattern of the grease when double checking the backlash... Dead Link Removed
here is a write-up of the install as well... Dead Link Removed
hey....can somebody give me a ballpark figure on how much it would be for a 4x4 explorer gear swap.......that....and how much more for them to install a LS or locker???
i think im just gonna take it to a shop and have it done. I dont want to go through the hassle of doing it. which leads me to my next question.. whats a reasonable amount for installation?
