Hey guys I have a 7.5 rear end at the moment i was wondering is it worth the time to build it for light offroading or should i just get an 8.8 rear and build that for off road usage?

 

not worth it. if your only doing light off roading, then a 8.8 with maybe limited slip and the right gears would be perfect.

 

what 8.8 is good. I mean an explorer, ranger 4wd axle or is an 8.8 2wd work just the same?

 

2wd and 4wd 8.8 are the same for Rangers. If you are able to weld, expo axle would be best as its 31spline and stronger for off road, however, unless you're going to rock crawl or something, the ranger is good enough. Expos are disc brakes though which some like. Check out prices at a junk yard to decide which to go to.

 

Explorer 8.8 you get bigger shafts (31 spline) and tubes and disc brakes, BUT, you gotta do some welding/fabbing to get them to fit and they are 1.5" wider than Ranger 8.8s.

With a Ranger 8.8 you will upgrade the ring ang pinion, shafts are actually the same from 7.5 to 8.8. It's also a simple bolt on.

That said, you could buy my 8.8, 4.10 geared,
My neighbor lives in Hamden CT (has a vacation home next to me) and he'll be up in a few weeks...you could even buy my front D35 to regear to 4.10 and have an 8.8 out back!