What do you think? Add some 31's and a lockrite into a 7.5 rearend....am I looking at replacing the reaend VERY soon after, or will it hold up?

 

I think it'll hold up......but why? really....think about it.

 

would the locker possibly go in both carriers?

but if your planning on just getting a new axle, save and put the locker in it.

i've seen a 7.5 put though its paces with 35x14.50s and it held. but theres no telling how long it will

 

I was looking for options to save a little money....I mean, the rearend is alrweady under there, might as well use it til it explodes, right? But on the other hand, knowing that a 8.8 will hold up even better would be money well spent....

 

A 7.5 can take a good amount of abuse, you should be alright for quite a while.

 

With only 31s, I wouldn't be worried. The 7.5 should be fine.

 

they're the same size axle shafts just so you know
unless your going with the 31 spline

 

well, I was planning on going with the 31 spline 8.8 out of an explorer. But, like everyone else has said, the 7.5 should hold up to 31's so I might be saving some money so I can put it towards recovery gear, gears, etc....I will definatly need them too lol

 

your 4.10s should be fine i would think, i ran 33s on 4.10s for about a year with my underpowered 4.0 which probably has as much power as your 3.0..

 

You should be fine for awhile. I ran a 7.5 in my 88 with a 302 and 31's, it didn't self destruct until the guy i sold it to start drag racing it with slicks.

 

you will be more than fine with that setup unless you run it dry of course. I have 100's of thousands of miles on my 7.5 with 31s and a lockright and I beat the **** out of it constantly. The only issue I've had is I actually blew up the lock-right, but the axle wasnt damaged at all so I just swapped the spiders into it and kept going till I got the lock-right warrantied.

 

i snapped my centerpin with 33's on my 7.5 buy an 8.8

 

was it a notched or soild center pin?

 

you should be alright. i ran 315/75r16 buckshot and then 34/10.50 super swamper LTB on my ranger with a 3.0 and a 7.5. i was extremely hard on the truck too. i was just going to run it until it destroyed but it never messed up. so 31s would be easy on it.

 

The locker for the 7.5 will not work with the 8.8.

I ran my old 7.5 with a Lock-Right and 31's for just about a year with no problems.

I have said this before and I will say it again.
The weak link in the 7.5 is the notched cross pin.
Get a Lock-Right and make sure the solid cross pin they give you gets installed.

/soapbox