7.5 to 8.8 swap done!
 

Got my 8.8 swapped in today. Only took hour and half with my buddy's help. Turned out really good and no problems at all. The 4.10s make a big difference over the 3.73s with the 31s. I replaced the brake shoes and the springs and what not. thought it was gonna be hard but it was not bad at all. Heres a pic of the axle and the new brakes. Tomorrow ill get pics of it on the truck, I forgot to snap some today. And if anyone wants to buy a 7.5 I have one for sale!
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looks pretty good... and might as well use the 7.5 as a boat anchor

looks good!

nice! glad you waited for the 8.8?

told you, you could find one

I'm guessing you have a 3.0L or a 2.3L. Have you taken it on the highway with the 4.10's yet. just wait for that. Between the 3.73's and the 4.10's on the highway it was like a night and day difference. You barely use the throttle to keep up speed and going up inclines you don't have to down shift for them. Not to mention you'll get better millage. My truck going up to New Hampshire got I'm going to say 30 MPG. Now I can't say anything about this really because it only made it up one way LOL, it broke as it came off the highway but it used just over a quarter of a tank of gas for 172 miles. So with that in mind I round down to 150 miles X 4 and came up with 600 Miles per tank and and with a 20 gallon tank it comes out to 30 MPG.

i call BS......aint no way that a Ranger will get 30 mpg.....damn near impossible......your speedo is off from the larger tires.....

LOL I have never heard of calculating mpg that way...

Top the tank off, reset the Trip Mileage, drive till empty and refill.

Take Total Miles on the Trip divided by the total gallons needed to fill it back up. Example----- 275 miles/17gallons = 16.18 MPG

The more tanks you do this in a row then take the average and that is really your MPG.

Well, if you take the number of miles driven, divided it by the number of gallons you filled the tank with, take the distance from Earth to the sun, multiply by how many points my stock went up today, and add the number of times I pushed the throttle...you get the average mpg!

Hm, I guess the number of posts does not necessarily show what you know about automotives....

Nice 8.8 swap...the axle looks great! Flat black? How many coats?

My guess is Dagger has the Mazda 2.3 Duratec like me. However he calculated it I've got over 29mpg hwy when I check--even on the interstate if i keep around 70 and don't pull into towns much. But I drive like a grandpa.

I calculated by filling the tank and driving till empty and dividing miles driven by gallons used.

I certainly get 30 if I stick to the blue highways (driving about 55-60 mph). My truck is stock, even down to the less-than-thrilling contitrac tires. The engine is pretty amazing for efficiency--best economy/pollution of any small pickup and is why I got it.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the 7.5 if you only need the truck for light duty. Same 7.5 that not only Rangers and B-series have come with, but Mustangs have come with for years. They even have a few LS available like the Auburn Pro and the Detroit truetrac that not only improve traction but, I was told by a guy who specializes in rear ends, adds strength to the weakest point in the diff too.

and you answered the difference right there.....your truck is STOCK and his has larger tires.......he aint getting no 30 mpg.....guaranteed...

wtf are you babbling about:shrug:.....the way Beard said to calculate the milage is EXACTLY how you do it......

f'n noobs that know it all.....

his sig says its the 3.0.

sadly, with my 4.0, im lucky to see even half of that in city driving. highway, i get around 23mpg. damn near doubles on the highway

EXACTLY why i called BS on his "30 mpg"....aint happen'.....can't happen'.....won't happen'...

12 city FTW... thats with the speedo all f'd up
17 highway... i THINK i made an educated guess on how many miles i went haha

Here it is on the truck. Really happy with my gained bottom end. It will be interesting to see my gas MPGs. I was getting like 21 around town with the 3.73s so im guessing it will drop a little but Id take the power gain any day. It just poured rain here so we are goin to slide around in the dirt after work. Oh and I put 2 or 3 coats of paint, flat black. I just need to loose the spare and get some new shocks in the rear to complete the project. Thanks guys!
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looks good, but you will want to loose that cover after the first or second snow.....the salt will eat the piss out of it....

Ya I am keeping the old one to throw on there if need be. They say they dont salt the roads here but they spray them with some sort of de-icer, probably just as bad as salt.

Yeah you're right--the 3.0 would never get that kind of mileage (except for downhill with a tailwind, engine turned off, LOL).

Looks great! Could aways crawl under it regularly and polish that sucker up to keep it pretty! Your neighbors will think youlve really lost it though...

haha ya Im glad I kept looking. had to drive 300 miles to get this with my GFs toyota camry. It was prob so funny looking trying to stuff it in in the trunk! But it did fit. happy with the swap but now I want a 4x4, thinking of picking up a cheap TJ or a Samurai for a project.