Took the Ranger to my buddy Larry yesterday to get the diff replaced and so forth. My buddy Jesse helped me get it down there as he has a PSD and a flatbed trailer. Didn't have any trouble moving it, got into the stall easy, and Larry started the teardown/cleanup process yesterday.

Here's the e-mail i got last night from him

"Okay Chucky, here's the skinny so far........

The axles you bought from the sploder 8.8 won't fit your Ranger, they're too long. But it's no biggie because your axles don't appear to be bent & the splines are in great shape. The "C" clips are in great shape also. The axle bearings are in great shape too. At this point, the only thing I'll need to buy extra are the axle seals. They were starting to leak a tad so they might as well be replaced while the axles are out.

On your differential housing, the cast iron pumpkin to be specific, there is a tiny crack in it from the ring gear jamming a chunk of metal between it & the housing. I checked to see if it would leak by putting brake cleaner in it & it did not leak so that's good, that means it did not go all the way through the housing. It will not affect the diff's structural integrity at all so there's no need to worry about it. I did however, apply aluminum epoxy to both sides in an attemp to elimate the future possibility of gear oil seeping out of it.

I checked all your parts & everything is correct for your diff

Two teeth on the tone ring were slightly damaged but I was able to file them back into their original shape so your speedo & ABS should work properly.

It looks like everything will work out just fine & dandy. Maybe you can sell those Sploder 8.8 axles to a Jeep nerd & get your money back.

Once I get the diff all set up & everything adjusted, I'll let ya know.

Later,

Larry"

So Wed. is the latest he said he'd have it. Be nice to get her back on the road. Nice thing is the damage wasn't as bad as I thought.

 

You're good to go Now Chuck All you gotta do is come & get it

Question..................Are you gonna wheel it anymore? Or is the Bronco gonna be your only wheeling rig?

 

No major wheeling with the Ranger till it's paid off. Bronco is gunna be the trail toy. I'll do stuff like Saxon or stuff stocker's will do in the Ranger, but the Bronco is the trail pig. Gotta figure out if I wanna go big with it or keep it low and flex like crazy.

 

Oh, I picked it up today. The truck runs like a champ now. I can feel a difference in the diff from the Torsen to the TracLoc.

Looked over the broken parts, the thing grenaded worse than the pic showed. Def. wall of shame material there too!

Break in period is gunna suck, but it's only 500 miles so it'll be no problem putting that on. Now the truck has a stout rear end, time to put some money into the Bronco for the trail pig. First big thing I've done to the Ranger and it's pretty sweet!