who has switched rear end gears from one to another?

[wildstang]

I bought a front and rear end from a early 90's navaho that had 3.73 ratio with limited slip and want to put the gears into my 92 ranger with an 8.8 (I know this is an explorer form but their brother and sister vehicles). I would take the ring gear and pinion from the rear and bolt in to my ranger but I have never done a gear swap in the 8.8. Could I reuse the crush sleeve and be careful not to crush it more, or could I get one of those kits that uses the different shim thicknesses and just measure the hight of the crush sleeve. If I can which would I use to measure, the ranger or navaho? Or do I have to go through and do the whole back lash, gear pattern trial and error method?

Thanks for any help.

 

[410Fortune]

Why not weld some spring pads and shock mounts onto the Navajo 8.8 and use it?
Its a little wider and alot stronger then your 92 Ranger rear end (31 spline vs 28) The Explorer rear may also have larger drum brakes.

The ring and pinion from the 8.8 explorer rear will work in your ranger rear but I believe the carriers are different because of the 28 vs 31 spline axles.
Your 8.8 is not as beefy as the explorer rear either as far as tube size goes I do not believe
Save a headache and convert the explorer rear to spring over, just my 02

 

[Dan Whitaker]

You will need to use the rear axles from the Navaho as well becuase it will have 31 spline axles as opposed to your Rangers 28 spline axles.

I would imagine that you will need a new crush sleeve as well.

 

[410Fortune]

the 92 Ranger 8.8 is not the same, you cannot jsut use the Explorer axles they will be too long I am 99% sure
The 8.8 in his Ranger is likely a small tube 8.8

 

[BMXunleashed]

if you want to just use the gears then ya its like installing any other gears. meaning ya you would have to set back lash and shim everything out correctly....or it would be smart to....

but if you have the whole rear end, why not just swap the whole rear end you would have to dissconnect and re connect brake lines/leafs/ driveshaft/ and shocks....


i may be wrong but to my knowledge the rear end swap would be easier

 

[Dan Whitaker]

You will need to use the rear axles from the Navaho as well becuase it will have 31 spline axles as opposed to your Rangers 28 spline axles.

I would imagine that you will need a new crush sleeve as well.

Man 410 you beat me to it My "Old School" ass cant type as fast as you

 

[410Fortune]

easier, stronger, cheaper to swap rears

 

[wildstang]

Thanks for the quick replies. I don't want to go through the fabrication of new spring perches and the rear from the navaho is very rusty and some of the quick measurements I have done it looks like the tires will stick out past the fender lip and I didn't want to run different rim off sets.

Can I use the crush sleeve thickness to get the intial thickness for set up?

Has anyone every used the solid shims inplace of the crush sheeve, do they work good?

I wish the ranger and explorer had the same shaft spline, that way it would be easy to get a limited slip for it.

 

[410Fortune]

we dont, the 28 spline 8.8 is alot weaker in a 4 door SUV
I converted my 8.8 to spring over with shock mounts in about 2 hours then bolted it into my BII, cost was about $200, $35 for weld on perchs, 30 pack of beer (didnt weld back then) and of course $125 to have the Explorer driveshaft cut to length, balanced, and rebuilt with new U and CV joints.

Just FYI

All 8.8 ring and pinions are interchangeable, you are dealing with a carrier break and a smaller housing. I am not sure about your other questions hopefully somebody who knows will chime in. I believe the Explorer rear is like 1.5" wider then your 8.8, not much

 

[BMXunleashed]

get some flared front fenders and bedsides? that would solve your tire/ fender clearance issues... i dunno, i think it would be worth it to have the stronger axels

 

[410Fortune]

grinder on the inner lip of my BII bedsides cleared the tires when I went 7.5 to 31 spline disk brake 8.8

 

[sn0border88]

So you dont want to weld on new spring perches but you want to set up gears? Im just not following the train of thought? Its like a 1hr job compared to a 4hr job that may not work right, and still leave you with 28 spline axles.

 

[wildstang]

The rear axel from the Navaho is extremely rusty with very large flakes and the one in my truck is much better. I do have another explorer rear end in better surface condition but it has the same crappy 3.27 gears so I would be doing even more work by setting up the gears and then redoing the spring perches. Seems to me that 28 spline shafts are sufficient for a v6 engine considering v8 mustangs are putting 2-3 times the power and torque through them then I ever could with the 4.0. It would be nice to have the 31 spline so I could use the limited slip because that truck sure could use it in the winter but I plan on putting that into a 91 explorer that I am going to use as a plow rig.

I agree that for the best strength, the explorer rear is best and I will look it over closer to see just how bad it is and maybe consider using it. Where is a good place to get the spring pads, any one have actuall locating dimensions for them, and are the shock mounts the same (I could look at home but I am at work right now). Thanks.

 

[sn0border88]

Scaled rust on an axle tube? Thats nothing, just hit it with a wirewheel and paint over it.

 

[410Fortune]

I agree, all the axles are rusty in appearance, wire wheel = short work of that sucker + krylon flat black = in business.
Setting up the spring perches is not too hard, you can bolt it under the truck, adjust the pinion angle and get everything set 100% dead solid perfect, then tack them on. Remove and weld fully, I got some help from some friends who knew how to do this stuff years ago when i did mine, I was a bit worried as you are, but it only took a little bit of work, tape measure and 15 minutes with an arc welder...

I even left the explorer spring under pads on the axle, its makes a perfect place to put the jack....

 

[allout]

I agree with swapping the whole rear end assembly. I have set up many gear sets and some times they can be a pain in the a$$. The pinion shims are under the bearing so if the pinion depth isn't the same from housing to housing then you are looking at new bearings and pressing them off and on. For less $ then a gear install kit you can install the whole rear end. Here are some perches at Summit Racing. http://store.summitracing.com/egnse...erches&N=700+115+4294841030&Ntk=KeywordSearch
The axle tube is 3" diameter & 2.5" wide springs.
I made my own but in the end I think these come out cheaper.

 

[wildstang]

You guys are pretty convincing, now I am thinking about swapping the whole rear end. I may need to go buy another rear because I still want to put the limited slip into my other explorer. Is that an easy swap? Do I just pull out the non limited slip carrier, unbolt the ring gear, bolt the ring gear onto the limited slip carrier and reassemble into old housing?

 

[wildstang]

Thanks allout for posting the spring pad link.

 

[wildstang]

Well, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense, you guys convinced me. Went to the salvage yard Saturday and pulled a 93 explorer rear, 3.73 traction lock for $134. really nice shape, surprisingly very light rust (for a Vermont rig) and all the nut came off nice, took about 40 minutes to pull it. Now I need to get spring pads and shock mounts to weld onto it, probably get both from AFCO.

I was thinking that the rear would stick out past the rear fenders but looking at it with the correct rims, at most I think it will bring the tires flush with the fender lip. I need to do some more measuring but I almost think the front is wider then the rear (maybe same width as explorer front). Now I need to find time to do the conversion, that will be the hard part.

 

[wildstang]

A little update, I got started on the rear end swap this weekend. Got the spring pads and shock mounts welded on, need to clearance the shock mounts in order to get the shocks to line up with the holes. I need to get some new ubolts for the axel to spring and axel to sway bar. I put the axel back under the truck so I could roll it back into the garage and it looks like the tires are about flush with the outside of the fender, I will probably need to cut and roll the inside lip so if I load it heavy, the lip won't cut a tire. Looking at the ranger and explorer 8.8's side by side, I did not realize the housing were different for the axel tubes. I thought they used the same tube and just put in different axels.