Why the length diff between pre-93 Ranger REs & 93-up?

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:37 am

I discussed a little about this in a thread where I was asking what rear ends fit what Rangers

viewtopic.php?t=84

As I mentioned in another thread, I just picked up a 93 Ranger 8.8" RE to replace my 89 Ranger's 7.5" RE with. In the thread referenced above, Cjnomor4 said the length differences were nothing to worry about, the RE will bolt right in.

However I'm still curious about why Ford added the extra 1.5" width to the 93-up Ranger REs.

Did the frame of the Rangers get wider or was it just the body that got wider thus the wheelbase got extended to keep the truck from looking doofy?

Thoughts?

cjcnomor4 · Post by **cjcnomor4** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 8:06 am

just to clarify, the 93 rear end bolted right in my 95. you can measure your 89 and compare it to the 93 and see where the extra 3/4" on either side is. i dont know if its just extra tube length or if shock mounts and spring perches moved too.

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 8:26 am

That's what I'm concerned about.

If the frame got wider, I'll be doing some of what Malcolm did having to move the leaf landings on the RE and possibly moving the shock mounts too (exactly what I was hoping to avoid by getting a Ranger RE).

MalcolmV8 · Post by **MalcolmV8** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 10:41 am

The 95 Explorer rearend I got was 3" wider flange to flange than my 92 Ranger rearend. The leaf spring perches where the correct width though. I only had to grind them off and re-weld them on because the Explorers have the leafs running under the axle where as the Rangers have them on top. Also the Explorer rearends didn't have the shock mounts so I had to add them.

Just visually looking at a glance the parking brake cables from my 92 Ranger's 7.5 with 9" drums look the same as the parking brake cables on my 94 Ranger 8.8" with 10" drums. This is just inspecting though. I haven't actually tried swaping them out or anything.
The Explorer parking brake cables were very different and much longer. Of course the Explorer rearend also had disk brakes. I ended up using Lokar brake cables with custom brakets I made myself.

Chris I think you'll be fine. I thought all Ranger rearends from 89 to 97 where the same width? Is this not true? I thought it was only in 98 with their "new" platform they got wider? You'll have to measure and let us know.

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 11:08 am

According to this article on RPS, the width changed in 93 for Ranger REs. The chart indicates 1.5" increase in width.

Since you are saying 3" end-to-end, that leads me to believe they are meaning to say it's 1.5" on each side. However comparing the Explorer RE to the Ranger RE is comparing apples to oranges.

I'm off work tomorrow so I'll get under the truck and actually measure all this stuff. Now that I have the RE, I can focus on doing the rebuild of it and get the gears I really want in there. I can imagine it's much easier to work on a RE that's not in a vehicle so while I have that luxury, I'll take advantage of it.