Hey all, new to the forum, and have some questions and looking for feedback on plans I have for a 1988 Ranger extended cab 4x4 I'm about to buy off of my good friend. I'm looking for something to haul deer, elk and other game out of the woods and back to my house, and I've been itching to get another rig to offroad with since I sold my Jeep YJ. I would have preferred something solid axle, but I'm getting this at a great deal.

It already has a 3" body lift that I'll keep, but plans are:

4" Rough Country suspension
33" Treadwright Guard Dog M/Ts
tube winch bumper with Smittybilt XRC8 winch
rock sliders
replace seats and stereo
some roll bars in the bed with lights mounted.
Re-gear with a locker or spool rear.

I've been looking for places to get a ring & pinion set to regear to 4.56s, but my go-to place doesn't have anything at all for the Dana 28 IFS. Where could I get a gear set? Also-any places you guys know of that make winch bumpers for the '88? been looking for a while and can't find anything. I'm also searching for a spool for the rear 7.5" axle and can't find one. Should I just look for a rear 8.8" rear axle off a newer wrecked ranger? I was thinking maybe just weld the spider gears in the rear 7.5". I wanna do this build as cheap as possible because this is just a beater I can take into the woods without really worrying about damage. Any help is greatly appreciated!

btw the ranger has the 2.9L V6 with the 5spd manual trans.

 

pull an 8.8 from a junkyard for the rear end, better gear and locker choices stronger axle. if youre going to regear and its going to be double lifted, get 35s instead. also, most of the bumpers ive seen are home made. and roll bars ftw! post pics, should be a cool lil project.

 

Double lifted will fit 35s? I think he has 31x10.50s on the truck now with just the body lift. it's not too hard to find the re-gear stuff for the 7.5, just a spool is the difficult part. you have any recommendations for the dana 28 front? haven't been able to find anything for re-gear or locker/lim slip.

It has the locking hubs, but can I weld the front spider gears to lock them up? not doing any severe off-roading, just forestry service trails and maybe some jeep/atv trails.

 

go with the dana 35 ttb for the front. its stronger and easier to get diff parts for. i think 92-97 rangers had the dana 35.

 

That's a high pinion in the 92-97 with the reverse gears right? and I was really hoping to do this as cheaply as possible. I was hoping under $2K for tires, gears, lift, and bumper with winch. Doing an axle swap on both ends, I might as well not do the lift kit, and do an SAS with full width 1-ton axles. I've never swapped out an IFS system, but is it a simple just swap out the third member and diff case?

 

Finally found some gears for the dana 28. only found 4.56 gears. I'm thinking i might skip the suspension lift for now and run the 4.56s with 31x10.50s. probably would be better to run 4.10s with 31's but what do you guys think? Or should I run 33's with the 4.56s and just do some fender trimming that I was planning on anyways?

I do have to drive highways through the mountains with 75mph speed limits that I'm not even sure the ranger would do in a fully stock condition, just to get to hunting grounds. So I'm pretty much limited to 4.56s, just now the question is 31's or 33's.

Also I read on one site that when re-gearing to anything over 3.45 I have to replace the housing with one for 3.73 and over. Is this true or am I fine with the stock housing? This is new to me cuz I never had to re-gear my Jeep. It came with 4.10s when I bought it.

 

yes you will need a new carrier