I was thinking about TbarCya's disc brake conversion thread, and I'm interested in converting to rear discs, and I know he was having trouble matching it all up... but it occurred to me also that with my current wheels, I'm running a 1" adapter on the rear wheels to correct the different offset of the wheels I'm using.. off a mustang. If the Mustang axle is ~2" wider, then it would be just perfect for me.

Also, does anyone want to estimate how involved it would be to adapt a Mustang axle to a Ranger? I.E. fabricating shock mounts, etc.

 

I cant remember, but i think the mustang axles are the same.. Or, the explorer ones are the ones that are 2" wider...

The fabricating of the shock mounts isnt hard, just take it to a local welders shop, and they should be able to do it..

 

Why not just get the axle shafts to go into your carrier and not mess with the mounts? I am doing my conversion kit of my Mustang to all 1995 GT parts. The Ranger axle is always a goof alternative for people to get the 5-lug, but stay disc. It's alot cheaper that way. The Ranger and Mustang axles are usually the same length back in the early 90's. My axles are 29 15/16's for the '95, and about 28 3/4 for the stock '90. There are brake caliper relocator brackets made by NorthCobra Racecars that adapt the mounting points for the rear calipers.

Might wanna check out some Mustang 5-lug conversion and 4-wheel disc conversion threads to find your answer.

 

I'm not sure that the Mustang axle is wider than the Ranger. I have no hard facts other than having read that they use two of the driver's side axle shafts from the Ranger to convert the older 'Stangs to 5-lug. I believe (but may be wrong) that the driver's side axle shaft is shorter on the Ranger.

Either way, the problem I'm having is with the amount of axle that sticks out of the axle tube. You probably could get the Mustang axle to work but it should be the same as swapping in the Explorer rear except that the Mustang rear has control arm mounts that you would have to deal with.

 

the explorer axle is a total of 1.5" wider

 

Swoop, what rotors and calipers are the Mustang folk using when converting to 5 lug and rear disc?? I've heard of using Lincoln rotors with Caddy calipers but they're from old cars whereas if I can get my brackets made, it would use calipers from later model Lincolns but I need to figure out the right rotor to use.