I am looking of changing my gears to probably 4.10 and am wondering if it would be easier to just buy the gears and get a shop to install or look for a complete system with 3.55 or 4.10 already there right now I have a 1996 f-150 4x4 5.0l 302 with a 8.8 rear end unsure of the gears at present time? possibly thinking of a 9inch what are your guys opinions?

 

Check the door jamb sticker for the axle code currently in the truck. Since you have a 4x4 you would need gears for both ends. Trying to find a donor with 4.10s is not going to be easy.

 

a 4.10 sterling shouldnt be that hard to find, but if youre not towing or pushing a lot of power you'll just be turning added iron for no reason. the same can be said about the front axle (out of a 3/4 ton), but swapping a rear is much easier than swapping the ttb, however if it were mine i'd rather build a coil sprung ttb using ford.10's (ford 4.10's), along with fresh bearings and seals, on my shop floor to be swapped in vs buying expensive aftermarket gears and swapping them alone.

 

Well, check what you have now, If you have a limited slip rear, and you find a non ls rear in a junk yard, you don't want to down grade. I would rather do one of 2 things, build your current axles with the gears you like, and fresh bearings, or have a shop go through your set up and do it for you. I just spent an entire Saturday swapping rear ends over on my friends chebby, and it was supposed to be a direct bolt in, but the problem was his old one needed the LS unit rebuilt, a whole new carrier, new gears, and he got this rear end gifted to him. It cost $300 and a lot of time to get it swapped over to all work. New brakes, New drums, New slave cylinders, new brake cables, new shocks, new wheel seals, and he already did that on his old rear end, but the new one came from a long bed, so brake lines, brackets, cables, shocks were different. It all worked, but it wasn't a saving at all, and now he has a high mileage rear end and less money. Be careful on what you get ahold of if you plan on swapping axles.