bears416

Iv been lookin for a long time for an explorer 8.8 but cant find that or a blazer 8.5. I was wondering if a ranger or mustang 8.8 would work, if so what mods wud need done to them

Thanks

slowbu

iTrader: (4)

Ranger will work just have to weld the spring perchs on the bottom of the axle, s10's are axle over spring rangers are spring over axle

Mustang would be the same way have to cut the link mounts off an weld perch's on

But I would use the explorer rear over either the ranger or Mustang
31 spline vs. 28
Easy to find with true trac
Disk brakes 96 an newer
3.55,3.73,4.10 gear options w/posi
3.27 is a gear option in the explorer axle but I have yet to see one with the 3.27 gear an have a posi

slowbu

iTrader: (4)

I'm one my phone ls1tech app so idk where your from but the jy's here in NC are full of explorers I can pull them all day for 150 bucks at the pull a parts

onetype

iTrader: (6)

You'll have to narrow one side 2-15/16". After narrowing mine, I wish I would have just bought 2 and swapped tubes. They are stupid cheap, and then you could sell the long wheel base 8.8 to a Jeeper.

geoff17

Aren't the mustang and ranger 8.8 too short? On my s10 I was able to use an explorer rear end with 3.08's and I added a posi unit. It was a bit wider and pushed my wheels out so rather than paying a bunch of money to narrow it I wanted new wheels anyways I just bought vette wheels and didn't need any spacers in the rear, just the front.

rotor vs. piston

iTrader: (3)

I got a 8.8 from an explorer delivered to my door for less than $300 last year, LSD 3.73. Just actually installed it the last few weeks. When I pulled the cover to change the fluid everything looked great. Can't wait to put some miles on it this weekend.

Only thing I'd recommend is to replace all of the brake lines, hard and rubber, they're both known to fail pretty early.

S10xGN

iTrader: (11)

I've got a 28 spline Ranger axle in my S-10 with one side narrowed and can fit a 325DR on 10" rims with 5.5" backspacing. If I were to do it over, I'd use the Explorer with 31 splines. Even so, I've got < $1k in the whole axle with all mods, redrilled axles and drums, narrowing, perches, posi rebuild kit, S-spring, etc. It'll chirp around corners if the pavement's hot...

ss454327

iTrader: (10)

You don't have a Pick-n-pull type parts place anywhere near you? They had 100 explorers at my local one when I bought mine. There are two options as far as how wide you go. The stock explorer is 59.5" wide which works perfectly with vette/camaro/Mustang offset wheels. If you go this route and have to buy wheels I would go with the Mustang wheels as drilling axles is either expensive (if you can even find a place that will do them) or a pain in the butt (if you do it yourself). You will have to buy 2" spacers for the front anyway so just buy 4.75 to 4.5 conversion units. If you want to run stock wheels you need to pick up two short side axles with the explorer rear and have the long side narrowed. For me this would have been a free option because all I would have to do is pull one 8.8 and remove the long axle and pull the short axle from another 8.8 so that when I purchased the rear end I only got two axles instead of three. There is a guy here where I work that builds rear ends on the side and he only charges $75 to narrow an explorer 8.8. They come out to 56" with two short sides. That's only 1" per side wider than the stock s10 rear (54")

Oh and my 8.8 with 3.73 posi with complete disk brakes was $167. I bought a pair of new rotors and pad for less than $40 total.