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Ford Ranger Rear Axles - The Ranger Station

 

Axle code in door jam is 96 ant the identification tab what i could read is
S354S
3 73 88 91305

 

So you have an open 8.8 with 3.73 gears.

 

so all i would have to do is pull the 3 73 out and in its place put the 4 88 right? so it shouldnt be so expensive

 

It's not that simple. Someone will have to do it for you. Prices have been stated previously

 

Yes, but you can't just pull the 3.73 gears out and throw in 4.88's. They have to be set-up correctly, which requires special tools and knowledge.

 

well whats the difference between 4.56 and 4.88 gears? my old shop teacher did the math and conversions and told me that a 4.56 would get me close but just a little lower than stock keeping the 35 inch tires that i have

 

With 35's you'll want 4.88's. You also have to account for the increased weight/rolling mass, increased drag, etc. Conversions done on paper or online don't account for this.

 

so the 4.88 would also help out with the massive bumper that im designing for my truck, im getting 9.5 miles to te gallon will they help increase that any?

 

They will probably improve mileage some. But my guess is that you haven't accounted for difference in tire size when figuring the mileage anyway.

 

Well here is another question what can I do to beef the front up the bumper I'm making will be anywhere around 200-600 pounds what will need to be done with the suspension to help support that weight? I'm new to this and I'm glad that I have someone to ask so that I'm not doing it all on my own, any sugestions?

 

200-600 lbs? Are you high?

 

no its just a rough estimation because i dont know which material im going to use and i want it to be super strong lol, it will have a winch front reciever hitch, d ring shackles off road lights, fog lights, its all depending on the material i can get my hands on,

 

It doesn't have to be insanely heavy to be strong. I had a very strong tube winch bumper on my Ranger, probably 150lbs or so. Heavy? Yes, but nowhere near 600lbs. I didn't end up having a winch in it, but either way I wouldn't make the whole combination more than 200lbs.
I didn't do anything other than running bilstein HD shocks and the torsion bars were adjusted slightly (not "cranked").