So i Finally bought an 8.8!
 

its not much. but its a start! and for $75 i couldnt pass it up, even if i am going to replace everything. Its an 8.8 out of an 80's ranger the guy told me. it has drum brakes and 5 lug axles.when i tore it down after i picked it up i found that it has 3.08 gears, 28 spline axles and an abs reluctor ring. im def going to change the gears to a 3.90 or 4.11 and i might change the spider gears to for 31 spline ones that are alittle newer. just thought you guys would like to hear my new project. thisll be done over the course of afew months so updates will be scarce... and for the best part. pictures!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...T/P2130810.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...T/P2130811.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...T/P2130814.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...T/P2130815.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...T/P2130817.jpg

cool. definitely post up the running total invested along the way. what made you decide to go with the 8.8? cost? challenge? dare to be different?

Neat. Lots of guys are doing this with good results.
Keep us postet!!

I wanna do this soon too! Why doesent anyone do the 8.8 out of an explorer? Some have disc breaks, a posi, and 3.73's. Are they the wrong width?

local guy just did this and twisted his driveshaft in half from finally launching right. His was installed with a 4 link setup and looks like a mofo

Awesome, looking forward to updates!

IFYI all Ford ranger FX4 2002 and newer get 4.10s and a posi


99 and newer with a 4.0L its either 3.55 3.73 or 4.10 and posi is optional. You can tell what it is by the axle code...

All 31 spline of course

to answer all of your questions as best as possible. Yes, I do dare to be different. being a machinist, a fabricator, and a welder. Im fairly confident that i can make this work. Im not one to brag and say "im the best there is i can do anything!" but i can sure as hell try my best. i dont plan on reusing the stock tubes, or spider gears, or axles, nor gears themselves lol. i only bought the rear for whats effectively the pumpkin (center) for $75 it was worth it to me to mess around with.

On other threads about building 8.8's people have quotes from moser with 8.8 splines and 10 bolt ends for around $310. so with that im almost at $400. New 31 spline spider gears are $126 on summit, and gears are around $150. whatever the install kits cost ontop of all that. so im around $700 with all of that right there. the collars to mate the 8.8 tubes to the 10 bolt tubes are free for me considering im making them, along with all of the welding. i do plan on making a torque arm provision for this rear aswell to make it much more install friendly. I will be limited with cash and time, so dont hope to have this thread updated oftenly. but whenever i do something i will update it.

I plan to have the diff out sometime this week aslong as cutting the tubes off. im big into pictures if you cant tell so expect everything to be well documented :P

on a side note. if anyone has a spare 10 bolt for sale please let me know what you want for it! i could really use one right about now. i only need the housing. nothing else. thanks guys

If you"really" want to be different, do what I'm gonna try. Drill out the plug welds of both rears, make a bushing to accommodate the smaller dia of the 10 bolt axle tubes, slide into 8.8 housing, and weld. :-)

I had actually taken that into consideration!... but i wanted to first go over the rear for awhile and weigh my options. does that mean that the center section is steel ?

Cast steel. Not cast iron as some people think.

Welding either isn't a problem as long as you have the proper alloy rod or wire.

How do you plan to address the tq arm mount?

cast steel that makes life alot easier! and opens up to much more options.... i was either going to make a girdle or now that i know that the center is cast steel maybe ill just weld something onto it similar to a 10-bolt

I'm going to use something line the quick performance mount. That will make the pinion angle adjustable without needing an adjustable tq arm.

Have you seen tgr threads in the gears and axles forum? There ate pics there of a fabbed tq arm mount welded to the side of the 8.8 made of tubing and plate.

something like the QP 9" mount would be nice. thanks for giving me the idea. and i have seen those pictures from cam's 8.8 there nice. knowing i can weld onto the housing i might just go for that. if not ill continue with my girdle idea. i have plenty of time and ideas in mind so itll be a fun project :)

Cool..sounds like a fun project..prob cheaper than buying a 9".

I'm sorry but I'm trying to decode that one still..:confused:

:lol:

thanks merv! all in all it should cost me around a grand. which is conciderably cheaper then a 9"... and thats exactly what i was going for :)

That is basically what I did.

Stock 10 bolt axles will slide right in the 28 spline posi. I was running this for a while till the posi took a dump.

I have a 31 spline posi and custom moser axles to swap in now.

Sweeettt

Can you guys post these pics that are in the other threads also? Im wondering if we could put a thread together with all types of options to do this?

I put the 8.8 in my blazer too and just got the axles and rotors drilled to the gm pattern. I used an Explorer rear since it comes with the 31 spline axles. My particular setup also came with 4.10's and disk brakes. All I needed was and adapter piece for the brake hose to connect. I used the explorer aluminum driveshaft and installed a adapter u-joint for the yoke. I had to get the driveshaft shortened for my application. I have about $200 in my 8.8 setup.

The diff is offset around 2-9/16" from center towards the passenger side. TheRangerStation has excellent info on the rears. http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Axles.html