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Anyone do a Ford RANGER 8.8 swap?

C

canadianwheeler

NAXJA Forum User
Location
canada
I tried searching but got mixed info.

There is a local guy selling a 2004 Ranger FX4 8.8, 31 spline, 4:10's with Limited slip. I was thinking about picking it up and swaping it into my xj?

Doing a little research i came up with a few different answers to some of my questions. Is the width of a 8.8 from a late model ranger/Explorer the same?
I also read that the only difference is the explorer has disks and the ranger has drums?
 
I believe that the ranger 8.8's are 1.5" shorter WMS to WMS than the explorer 8.8's and yea the ranger rear ends have drums. They are 10" drums so larger than anything an XJ ever came with but still drums.

Also watch the LS that comes in there. It's a gear driven Torsen LS and I know there was a BIG recall on them because people were using them offroad and grenading them frequently.
 
xjmatt said:
I believe that the ranger 8.8's are 1.5" shorter WMS to WMS than the explorer 8.8's and yea the ranger rear ends have drums. They are 10" drums so larger than anything an XJ ever came with but still drums.

Also watch the LS that comes in there. It's a gear driven Torsen LS and I know there was a BIG recall on them because people were using them offroad and grenading them frequently.
Click to expand...

Hmm,
I thought that TORque SENsing gear driven Diffs were virtually indestructible.

Gonna have to check into that...
 
probably similar to what happnes when your pinion nut comes loose.
Ask me how I know :)
 
Gil BullyKatz said:
IIRC the ranger 8.8's aren't 31 spline...
Click to expand...

The FX4's starting in 1999 came with 31 spline 8.8's and either 4.10's or 4.56's for gears. They also came with the self destructing LS. All others are 28 spline.
 
More reasons not to put an 8.8 in IMHO!
 
canadianwheeler said:
Yes late model ranger 8.8's came with 31 spline but what about the width?
Click to expand...

I can't find the sources I used when researching this axle swap but I BELIEVE the ranger axles were all 1.5" narrower than explorer 8.8's. So total it was 2.75" narrower than an XJ axle. You'll need spacers or wheels with decent backspacing to make up for that.

If you want to be sure ask the seller to measure WMS to WMS. Personally I wouldn't pay much for it though because chances are it has a bad LS unit.

FWIW I ended up goin with a 29 spline 8.25 and just put disc's on it.
 
jeepnuts311 said:
its a 2004? are you buying the whole truck? how much for the axle?

he would be stupid to part it out...IMHO

-Tim
Click to expand...

He was actually running it in a really modified bronco 2 on 38's. He went to dana 70.
 
You can put anything in anything with a big enough hammer and a big enough wallet...but why?...seriously the axle is too narrow...get a exploder axle...I bought a '97 model axle complete with brakes in good condition for under 200 bux...
 
MudDawg said:
You can put anything in anything with a big enough hammer and a big enough wallet...but why?...seriously the axle is too narrow...get a exploder axle...I bought a '97 model axle complete with brakes in good condition for under 200 bux...
Click to expand...


exploder 8.8's with disc brakes go for around 800 bucks here. Not too cheap. And good luck finding any with 4.10's
 
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