Rear End Catastrophic Failure
 

As some might know I traded the Ranger with my Dad for his Fusion. Well the 01 finally gave him some grief.

With over 260,000 km's the rear differential exploded internally. Ring and crown gears shot as well as the axle shaft teeth. He was quoted $1600 for a complete rebuild of everthing in the rear diff as well as new axle shafts. Not something he's willing to fork out for it as he's lookin gto sell it shortly.

My question is, what years (perferably 01+) can I get a used (junk yard) rear end from? Currently the rear end is on a 01 Edge 2wd, 3.73 w L/S. I know I can get a used rear end for a few hundred bucks, but I'd like the same 3.73 out of a newer Ranger. Can it be done?

Thanks in advance. Oh yeah, and I don't want to upgrade to a 4.10.....LOL

If your gonna go buy an axle you might as well get an 8.8 with disks and l/s with 3.73s. 96+ explorers are what you wanna look for.

if you want a bolt in no hassle deal. 98+ should be what you want if iirc

I believe any rear axle from any ranger 93 up will bolt in with no issues. Make sure you have the same size u-joints on the new one. All info on the axle can be found on a small metal tag (gear ratio etc.), usually attached to one of the rear cover bolts.
Any pickers out there correct me if there was a change in rear spring perch distances over the years.

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Axles.html

Ya 93+ up are all the same

93-09 will bolt in no problem.Preferably a 8.8 L/S with 10" drums.A 7.5 open with 9" drums will work if thats all you can find and he is selling it anyway.2010-2011's wont work due to the funky disc break setup.

Get a exploder rear end. and do that conversion while your at it.

LOL @ the conversion swaps......if you send me the $$$$ I'll do it. I'm just simply looking to get all the internals from a donar rear differential. I had a 3L73 in there and that's what I'd like to put back in. So far my calls haven't been so good. Not too many Rangers in the scrap yards around here.

swapping in an entire axle will be easier than just swapping the internals unless you know how to shim the ring and pinion to achieve the proper gear mesh and backlash. the chance of you finding internals that require the exact shims that your stock one did is slim to none. get a complete axle, throw it under there and be done. youll thank us later

Can't agree with you more Patrick. I did this about 8 months ago, by myself in about 6 hours. It's really easy and you should be able to find an axle with 3:73's in it pretty easy. I had to pay $500 for mine from a JY, just because of the stupid 4:10 Torsen crap is hard to find around here.

Check car-part.com. I would replace the whole assembly. No ring and pinion set up.

Wouldn't doin an 8.8 swap be about the same about of money and time?

look a little farther out. i'd be willing to help you if there were any down this way.

I found where all the rear ends go........South Carolina and Georgia. Turns out the old man got a better deal though his buddy and had all new parts in the rear end. He's also not going to sell it either.

Ah well, disaster averted I guess. At least I feel better that I didn't pass off a POS to him. With over 260,000km's (162K miles) on it with original parts, it was bound to break sometime.

An 8.8 swap from an explorer (if thats what your talking about) would cost a lot more (because the explorers have the 31 spline beefier axle and are in higher demand) and take more time and work because you would have to cut the spring perches and shock mounts off and then grind the axle down and reweld them and get it all painted back up.