Hello everyone. I'm trying to decide if an 8.8 is the right rear for my car. I'm fully capable of building my own but just want to make sure it's worth the effort. Ideally I would just order a dana 60 and be done with it but I'm trying to keep the cost down. Every way i try to piece together a 9 inch seems to cost close to the s60. I think I can be into an 8.8 with new 2 3/4" tubes, junkyard f body brackets, 9 inch ends, 33 spline axles and a truetrac for roughly $1500. I think I'll be fine with it but I don't like doing things like this twice. I could probably build a 35 spline dana 60 in the same manner but a homemade 60 would be a heavy pig. The car is a 2000 ws6 ta with a t56 and an s475 turbo. Used to be procharged. The 10 bolt has been through hell! Mostly street use but it does see the track. Any 8.8 advice? Thanks, Greg

 

Lots of good 8.8 threads in here, just do some searching. The 8.8 is about the same strength as a 12-bolt and uses the same carrier & pinion bearings. The Exploder 8.8 housing is more rugged than the Mustang and uses 3 1/4" axle tubes. The Ranger 8.8 is also pretty stout and uses 3" tubes. Lots of cheap upgrade parts are available to beef up the 8.8 and a cover / girdle is recommended.

 

I like your torque arm mount. Are you still making them? I'm not sure if the small 10 bolt tubes in the 8.8 like some guys run would be a weak point or not.

 

Sorry, can't talk about my mount on here. I had my PM privileges revoked when sponsors complained.

A lot of guys are making 8.8s with 10-bolt tubes so certainly its a viable option. When I built mine I used custom axles and big Ford 3.150" bearings.

 

The Explorer 8.8s are 31 spline and disc brakes....FX4 Level II had 31 spline shafts while all other rangers were 28.

The 31 spline ranger has 3.25 tubes.

The WMS of the Explorer is 1" wider WMS-WMS at 59.5