Hi all. The other night I blew the rear axle out of my 92 ranger 4x4. It has 4 liter V6 and aod trans.

Finding a complete used 8.8 with 3.27 gears is proveing impossible. I need this truck up and running asap.
What I am thinking is finding an 8.8 with different gears, disconnect or don't use 4 wheel drive and either rebuild the old diff later, if its rebuildable, or buy new 3.27 gears and do a gear swap in the replacement axle later when time permits.

In the mean time, what gear ratio would I want that would be close to the 3.27 gears?? I am thinking 3.55.

Please advise

Thanks
Grant

 

3.55 would be the next step up. i personally like the 3.73 ratio. its a good balance of having low end grunt while still getting reasonable fuel economy. im sure your 3.27's gave you great highway milage but id hate that ratio for towing anything. being that you have a automatic 3.55 would probly be suitable.

 

I have 2 sets of 3.27 gears in my shop sitting on the shelf. One has been magnafluxed and has no cracks. I am not doing anything with them if you are interested PM me. I have just the gears and not the whole rearend. So you will have to set the gears up. aOne is from a Mustang and the other from a 92 Ranger 4x4.

 

Myself, I would find a complete 8.8 with either the 3.55 or perfered 3.73 and just bolt that in. When you have time or money, I'd regear the front. You may not loose any milage at all.
Dave

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I ended getting a diff from an explorer and going to swap that in.It has 3.27 gears in it and a recent brake job and looks like it was serviced not long before it was wrecked as well.

Not the most ideal thing to do, but was the only diff I could find. Wreckers couldn't find me anything, any where.

The swap is actually striaght forward, and all I am missing at the moment are U bolts. The Explorer ones are about an inch too short and the originals from the Ranger are smaller in diameter.

According to another website, this is actually a prefered upgrade. The only thing better would be an axle with disc brakes. And in 4 hours, the old axle is ready to come out and the new one ready to go in.

Thanks again guys and thanks for the offer on the gear set 02FX.