gear ratio

[painterdude923]

i'm trying to find out the size and gear ratio of my 97 ranger, 2wheel drive, 4.0?

[cgrey8]

Rangers either have a 7.5" rearend or 8.8" rear. Most all 4.0L Rangers are 8.8" rears with the smaller 3.0L V6 and 2.3L L4 getting the 7.5s. Although I've heard of 8.8s being installed on both smaller 3.0Ls as well as on 2.3Ls. So I guess it is possible you could have a 7.5" rear on a 4.0L. The bolt pattern of the rear differential will tell you whether you have a 7.5" or 8.8".


Look on the tag that's bolted to the rearend. There should be some numbers at the bottom of the tag that will tell you what the stock ratio is. Most likely a 97 Ranger 4.0 2wd is going to be a 3.55. Although it could alternately be a 3.73. Some Rangers were limited slip too. In those cases, Ford stamped the tag with an L as the decimal point. So a limited slip rearend might have 3L73 to indicate 3.73 Limited Slip. The Limited Slip rearends usually also have an italicized L cast into the top of the differential housing.

Here's the best source for Ranger rearend data:
TheRangerStation>Ranger Rear Axles

[Grumpy]

there are 2 more ways to tell what size and gear ratio you have too .... look ON the rear pumpkin and there should be a tag with all the info on it ..... write it all down EXACTLY like it is on the tag and post it here and i can tell you what size (7.5 or 8.8 ) ring gear and gear ratio and if its a traction lock or not ..... the other way is to look on the door build sticker (or a sticker under the hood back on the firewall or on the rad support)... they put them in diff places .... and get the the info under the section where it says AXLE( Door Sticker would be your best bet to get the info from as it will be more accurate ) .... will prob be a combination of numbers and letters.... get me either of them and i can tell you what you got. Good Luck and let me know and i can tell ya what ya got ... or at least find out what ya got and post it back to you ... Peace

[painterdude923]

on the door it shows axle 92. on the tag on the rear end it reads,,s350 p, 3 08 88 gh23

[Dave]

It;s the bottom line that has the good info. Ratio would be 3.08 open and the 8.8 rear axle size. The door sticker with the 92 agrees. Not exactly a a performance gear,
Dave

[cgrey8]

I purposely swapped out my 3.73 gears for 3.27s. Add to that my T5's 1st gear is 2.95 (stock T5's 3.35) and my 5th is .63 (stock T5 is .68), I have the equivalent of a 3.08 with a stock T5 installed. If I had it to do over again, I'd do it again purely for the better fuel economy. But I do have to admit that 1st gear idle-creeping in stop-n-go traffic is more annoying with a steep gear vs what it'd be with a 3.73 & stock T5. And off-idle torque is less than stellar. It's all in what you want to do...

[v8ranger]

mine is a 7.5 posi with 373's and the first gear torque is great. Let me ask this of you all. Will a 90's something 8.5 rear end out of a ranger bolt right up in an 86?

[cgrey8]

It should. I've got a 93 Ranger 8.8" in my 89 Ranger from replacing my stock 7.5". It bolted right in. The only issues I had were with the parking brake cables being different between 10" brakes any my original 9" brakes. I just used a cable clamp to hold it all together.

[Grumpy]

i got access to a 8.8 ring and pinion gears 3.50 or 3:55 ratio if you want it .its got the chunk too but it was an open or peg leg .... as it now has NO clutches or spider gears or anything in it now .... but i do have another chunk here but would have to tear off the rear cover to see what it is exactly cuz i dunno cuz it has no tag ..... but good news is is that i got to tear it down anyway cuz it is the one im goin to use my Auburn Pro and 3:73's and Moser Custom Alloy street axles in ...... lol... let me know ..... and we can work out a price or trade some stuff around for it .. Peace 4 now

[Dave]

mine is a 7.5 posi with 373's and the first gear torque is great. Let me ask this of you all. Will a 90's something 8.5 rear end out of a ranger bolt right up in an 86?

The axle itself is a bolt-in but with the earlier years, but one inch wider per side (I think '93' & newer) , have to watch the back spacing of wheels. The other thing that might be a problem is whether you have the large or small bolt pattern on the pinion yoke. Denny's drive shaft has that problem covered.
Dave
http://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/p268_13 ... _ends.html

[Teddyzee]

Great info so far.

Just wanted to add, I believe the pinion flange has two patterns on it , starting in 1993.

Also, the entire rearend width grew by 1.5" in 1993, .75" per side.

The Explorer 8.8 with the disc brakes (1996, 8.8, 31 spline, perches on bottom,...) was a further 1.5" wider in total, .75" per side.

So three common widths that will bolt on any Ranger.

As far as parking brake cables go, I used a cable for a 9" brake on my truck with it's 10" drums, then used whichever was cheapest at the parts place (just replaced them) for my Cobra calipers. They don't seem to be a problem to mix and match.

[Grumpy]

the 7.5 inch in my Ranger has the SAME pinion flange as my 8.8 Pinion flange that is in my mustang and the pinion flange on the 8.8 rear im putting under my Ranger when i get the Auburn Pro Diff and gears and axles and stuff swapped into it..... well guess what ????? ......... it takes the SAME pinion flange as both my Ranger and Mustang too ..... granted i do not know what it came out of .... all i do know is that it came out of a Ranger but do not know the model it came out of

[cgrey8]

The 93 Ranger rear I have in my truck is wider than the stock one I pulled.

However I'm still not sure where the .75" per side comes from. That's what's written on TRS and I've heard that from massive numbers of people. But my own measuring shows my 93 rear as 1.5" wider per side for a total of 3" wider overall. The good news is it doesn't matter. It fits perfect in my 89 Ranger and you can't tell the rear is wider than it was stock. But then again, you really have to look close at my truck to see that it isn't a 100% stock Ranger. For pics of what I'm talking about, check out this VERY old thread entry:
will this (rearend) fit

And the yokes on my stock 7.5" and the 93 Ranger 8.8" were different. The 7.5" rear had a smaller flange and yoke. The 8.8" was 1" bigger diameter bolt pattern...same bolts though. Fortunately the driveshaft I found to cut down came with the right size yoke to fit the 8.8" flange.