General Ford 8.8 Swap Question

When people swap in the Ford 8.8 rear ends how do they match the gears in the front diff?

Pixie dust

Your question is a little vague but,the ratio must match front to rear.Either change the rear to match the front or change the front to match the rear!

I thought that the gear ratios in the Dana diffs don't match the ratios in the Ford diffs. If you were to put in a Ford rear end then how would you match gears in the Dana front end? Or would you have to swap in front and rear Ford diffs?

Almost everything available for your D30 is available for the 8.8!

RCP Phx said:

Almost everything available for your D30 is available for the 8.8!

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x2. for example, if you have a 4.56 gear ratio in the front then buy 4.56 ring and pinion set for your 8.8. do you know your gear ratio in the d30? to find out pull the diff cover, count the teeth on the ring gear, and divide by the # of teeth on the pinion gear.

I think what he's talking about is a 4.10 vs a 4.11 ratio.

That small of a difference doesn't matter.

Further - 8.8s come in the same flavors as D30s. 3.73 to 3.73, 4.10 to 4.10 etc

So here is the cool part. You can easily find an 8.8 with 4.10s and the D30 out of a 4cl XJ will have 4.10s. If you have a low pinion late model D30 XJ, and need to change gear ratio for bigger tires, this is your chance to upgrade to a high pinion with 4.10s, which is stronger. Plus, you get to rebuild it while you drive, then swap both at the same time! If you already have 4.10 front, or you need 4.56, you will have to change at least the gears in the D30. You may be able to find a 8.8 with 4.56s if you look real hard. Look for an 8.8 with disks, limited slip, and 30 spline axles our of a 1999 or newer Ford Explorer. I did this to my 2000. I am running 31s with a RE 3.5+ lift and it works real well. I am using a stock front drive shaft for my rear shaft as well (4.0, AW4,231, previous rear was C8.25). Hope this helps. Good luck! JM

Did any Ford Explorer come from the factory with a 8.8 and 4:56 gears? If so that would be very interesting.

http://www.gator4x4.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3667

Fords have a sticker in the doorjamb with letters and numbers. These letters and numbers correlate to what parts were used on that particular vehicle. So by that above chart 4.56 gears were not offered on explorers with the 8.8 rear end, however 4.56 gears were offered in 8.8's. There is an entire chart somewhere on the serious explorations website with an entire list of engine/transmission/tansfer case/axle codes.