Please help me find an impossible-to-find part!!!
 

Hi, hoping all you forum users could lend a guy a hand here for a sec. I just got married and my wife is Norwegian, and I'm writing from Norway. I just received a big mission from my new father-in-law, so I gotta succeed!

He is looking for a part for a 1988 4wd Ranger extended cab that is just about impossible to find here. He needs the left side drive shaft, but he says there are many different ones so it depends on what the differential identification number is as well as the axle identification is.

The number he gave me that he says is on the differential is two lines:

410VE87AJA -- BUT THE V is actually un upside down triangle
X610 30 76

Then he gave me the number on the front axle:
E87173002JA

I guess his dealer in Oslo isn't much help and he doesn't speak enough English to get through this mission, so he's enlisted me. Hopefully you all can point me in the right direction...

THANKS!

does he need a driveshaft or a axle shaft?

he said it was the drive shaft. thanks!

ummm ok is it the driveshaft going from the transfer case to the rear axle or from the transfer to the front axle? there is no such thing as a left driveshaft there is a left axle shaft for the rear and a left cv shaft for the front

is it going from the transfer case to the axle or from the differental (center of axle) to the tire?

if you can take a pitcure of the part if you are unsure

Hi am so sorry to be such an idiot here -- I'm a car gumby working through a language barrier and I only know as much info as he was able to give me through that barrier. Thanks for bearing with me.

It is for the left FRONT side. He showed me a picture, and it's basically a long rod with a u-joint in the center (well, not in the center -- it's offset to one side) and a 23 spline on either end.

I wish I could take a pic but the car's in the shop in Oslo, 8 hours away.

It's kind of a crazy world here -- buying the part here is about $2000 out of a wrecking yard and from what I gather it's about a tenth of that back home. So he's tasked me with finding it and getting it over here!

no problem man i like trying to work though problems like this but im still kinda lost here do me a favor go to rockauto.com click the start button select ford-1988-ranger super-2.9L-drivertrain-driveshaft and lock at the pics sell if thats kinda like what ya need i think your lookin for a 2 piece drive shaft still not 100% though

Man, I have no idea... Here's the pic he showed me. He says he needs from the u joint to the left, but if he has to buy the whole thing he'll do that.

He needs the outer axle shaft from what I could understand. Driver side from the sound of it. Pretty common part that almost any junkyard in the US should have. I probably have 2 or 3 of them in my parts Broncos but I couldn't promise any of them would fit, or what I'd charge to go pull it out and ship it.


GB :)

So here's another question -- he seems to think that not all the parts will fit, and some only fit some cars and it depends on the diff and axle identification numbers. Is that true, or is the part he needs pretty universal for '88 Rangers?

bump - anyone out there?

I would go online to some of the autoparts distributors and post that question. the only way to tell would be thru a parts cross book. they could tell you what models interchange. I doubt there are several but i could be wrong. Try the auto parts on ebay as well. since it is an outer shaft i would think it is somewhat universal on 4wd rangers with twin suspension.