I've got some money to spend, not a lot but a decent amount. I've also got 2 issues I would like to resolve eventually.

Right now I have two issues, gearing and height. My truck has 3.73's and 33's so it's a turd and gets crappy MPG since I drive on the fast side and don't always try to get optimum economy. It needs an 8.8 with different gearing swapped in, which isn't that expensive and I would do it in my driveway so I wouldn't pay for installation either. The axle I get will most likely have 4.10's in it. If I do this, I'll get better MPG and have less of a turd.

The height issue is the torsion bars, they are sagging. I've seen old pictures of my truck and at one point it was level, now my back is a couple inches higher and my front bump stops are kinda close to my LCA's. Looking at my LCA's you can see I hit my front bump stops somewhat often, but I go over the big swooping speed bumps at school kinda fast so that might be the reason for that lol. I can buy stuff from the local Ford at dealer pricing, I haven't called them for a price quote yet so I don't know the exact amount #1 torsion bars would cost. I also know someone who says he can get me alignments at where he used to work for $50 a pop, I wouldn't be paying normal retail for any of this and it would probably cost around the same or less then the rear end. If I do this, I will regain height in the front and no longer hit front bump stops.

What would you do?

 

Fix the wear and tear stuff, then focus on toys and upgrades.

 

well the gear swap is a no brainer, especially since youre a 3.0 auto if i remember right .... id say do that first.

 

yeah,but gas is cheap enough right now that he can worry about the rear end swap later.

realistically everything comes down to how bad do you want what things done and how much you want to spend in the process.

 

I would go 4.56 in the front, with my 4.10s and 32s I'm hunting for overdrive all the time, 33s would be worse. I hit my bump stops all the time as well, I just don't have the cash to upgrade stuff right now.

 

Correct, I'm the worst combo lol. I'm leaning towards the axle too, but the thing that keeps me kinda against it is I don't think 4.10's will be THAT much of an improvement, I'd really like 4.56's but that's out of my budget.

 

are 4.56 that much more? Im guessing 4.10s are a dime a dozen cause some rangers came with em

oh and the worst combo is the 4.0 autos that came with the 3.55s lol so youre not doin too bad.

 

Here's your trade off --- Alignment, which means your tires wearing out faster, or axle, which is leading to crap mpg. Which will have the higher vehicle running costs (ie buying new tires versus paying for extra gas). Decide from there.

If you can get the 4.10s cheap, then do that temporarily if that is going to gain you some improvement, but if it's going to be insignificant then save for the 4.56's.

If you dont take care of the front suspension and alignment,you'll be chewing through those big expensive tires and replacing them in no time.

 

I just found out today from looking at my door tag that I have an R7 rear end which means I have a 4.10 LSD. I was sorta surprised to see that.

 

hws talking about replacing the entire axle, and to my knowledge ford 8.8's never came with 4.56's so he'd have to also buy the ring an pinion on top of swapping the axle.

i say axle, less stress on the tranny, t-bars can be done later.

 

i say gas is cheap enough to not worry about at this time. so.....


make it 4 wheel drive.

 

Axle

 

Welp if your not gonna go and swap in 4.56s I say t-bars and save up for the gears. I doubt you'll notice enough gain going to 4.10s to make it worth it.

 

you and i should both go for 4.56's asap man.

we're givin our drivetrains hell lol
cuz i more then likely drive like you do...

i know imma start savin up. just sucks that im working less hours now though so itll probably be a month n a half till i get all the money i need....but idk.

 

Yes, 4.10 Ranger axles aren't very expensive at all. Especially versus buying an 8.8, buying gears, buying an install kit, and then paying for someone to install the gears. 4.56's are out the the question for now lol.

Yeah, thats also what I'm thinking. I don't think I'll notice too much change, plus if I buy an axle now and install it it will cost more to get 4.56's or 4.88's installed eventually.

 

Get the t-bars. No point in regearing if you are going to do it again in the near future.

 

gears now, i had to rebuild my transmission at 60k miles, its definitely cheaper to buy gears or a new axle

 

How about 33's and 3.55's! Mine is pretty damn sluggish. Then again I do have a 351

But yeah, I recommend fixing the t bar problem first

 

Get the T-bars and alignment taken care of first, then swap to 4.10's with a locker. Should move those 33's near stock setup.

 

how about 4.30 gears?

 

I'd say wait and go with 4.56, you will not be happy with 4.10s if you drive fast.

 

Search for someone selling an 8.8 at a good price.

Also find someone selling #1 bars. Or save up some more and get them. Was the truck aligned when it wasnt sagged?

 

Those weren't offered factory.

I found a couple 8.8's with 4.10's for decent prices, a little high but not bad. I found one with 3.73's for $25 too, why couldn't it have had 4.10's in it lol.

The truck was aligned with it sagged, so it will need to be realigned. Truck needs an alignment anyway, they did a crappy job.

 

I had 3.73 and 33's for a while...it sucked. I know my truck 'woke up' so to speak with 4.10's, and IMO it's the best gear ratio. It was perfect for towing and DD. I was up to 16/17mpg. Now I'm at 14/15 with 35's and 4.88's, I definetly lost some mpg with the higher gearing. I just wish I had 4.56's instead...or 37's to even it out.

If your not paying full price on anything, go do that while you still can. WAit on the axle. Just remember the longer you drive it, the more stress on everything.

 

Well I just called the local Ford I have an account with, even at dealer cost you can buy the t bars for just over half the price online. Regular pricing was retarded lol