My truck is badly in need of a regear. Some idiot (me) put 33s on a truck that came with 235/75-15s and is now over the loss of power and mileage. Does the hive know a good place around Portland, OR that could regear an 8.8 to a 4.10 ratio and toss in a torsen at the same time? I know I can hit google but I trust you people more.
What truck? Could you swap in an entire Explorer 8.8 LSD? Those are all over the yards here.
In reply to Stampie (FS) :
That would have been helpful to include...
1995 F-150. Exploder axles are too narrow. I've heard bad thing about the clutch type diff in those too. Like it wears out pretty fast and really doesn't do a lot. I'm happy to be corrected on that though, as it would save me a couple hundred dollars.
31 spline? Good time to upgrade to 31 spline axles. In Oregon I know of people. In Portland I don't.
Posting here again to get this back into recent threads. The first post was at a weird time, so let's see if no anyone has any suggestions or if it just fell through the cracks. Either way, this is my last bump. Don't need to clog up the recent threads with something boring like this 
Many of the 6-cyl F150s came with 4.10s and an 8.8" Might be cheaper than a re-gear.
I'm assuming 2wd? Regearing both ends can get pretty pricey if its 4wd.
Outside of the usual decent shops, I can't think of any outside of 4wheelparts in Southeast. They seem like they might have experience with trucks and the like.
https://www.4wheelparts.com/stores/oregon/4wp-portland-or-36
There's also Gresham 4 wheel drive:
http://www.gresham4wheeldrive.com/
I've not dealt with either company, so I can't comment on their quality.
Hope this helps!
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Part of the 4.10 and 33s plan is that I can bolt in the 4.10 front diff from a junkyard F250 as long as I grab one of the axle stubs too. Otherwise I'd be on 35s and 4.56s.
Cool. Then I would honestly hit up a junkyard and grab a 4.10 8.8 for the rear. Plenty out there with the 4.9L, 4.2L, and 5.0L.
Not sure about your area, but around here, $300 should get you one with LSD. I wouldn't be afraid of the stock LSD. If you're a bit more serious about the traction part, then I would consider something else. I have a stock 8.8 LSD in my Branger and it hasn't let me down, but I admittedly don't do anything more than mild off-roading.
Torsens are great for the street, but unless they have some kind of torque bias (at least some traction on both wheels) they can act like an open diff. On my personal scale of off-roady-ness from light mud to Moab, I like a clutch-style LSD, then the next step would be something like a gov-lok (which everyone hates but I love... different story for a different thread), then finally an E-locker or air locker.
In reply to thatsnowinnebago (Forum Supporter) :
Totally off topic but you wouldn't have a manual would you? And if you did would you have a junk flywheel laying around? I need one for reasons.
In reply to Stampie (FS) :
No, sorry. Slushbox here.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Would I still need a pro to install the junkyard 8.8 in my axle? Or can I just grab all the shims from the axle at the junkyard and toss that into my axle? I guess I'm asking how much can I trust ford to make dimensionally identical housings...
thatsnowinnebago (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Would I still need a pro to install the junkyard 8.8 in my axle? Or can I just grab all the shims from the axle at the junkyard and toss that into my axle? I guess I'm asking how much can I trust ford to make dimensionally identical housings...
Figured he was talking about taking the entire axle. Not just the diff. As far as the factory Ford trac loc just rebuild it with the newer clutch discs available. It's worked for me just fine in drag racing and street driving.
In reply to dropstep :
Oh, that won't work. Too narrow. Either way, yanking a used diff and rebuilding it will still be cheaper than buying all new stuff.
thatsnowinnebago (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to dropstep :
Oh, that won't work. Too narrow. Either way, yanking a used diff and rebuilding it will still be cheaper than buying all new stuff.
I think I'm confused... you have a 95 F150 with an 8.8" and gears you don't like, and you want 4.10s. I'm suggesting you go find another similar year F150 that has an 8.8" with 4.10s and an LSD and bolting in the entire axle. How is that going to be too narrow?
As far as swapping diffs, here is the rule. Rings and pinions are machined to very precise tolerances. Housings are big chunks of cast iron that they get kinda close. The general rule is that the shims stay with the housing.... at least on the pinion.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
My bad, I was thinking about explorer axles when I said that. I didn't think the 4.10 + LSD combo was readily available in the truck axles.
In reply to thatsnowinnebago (Forum Supporter) :
IIRC, you're looking for axle code H5 on the door sticker. Other years will vary. I think there was a C5 for the higher GVW which might be the 9.75"
Basically, you're looking for a letter and the number 5. The letter usually means LSD and corresponds to the RGVW, and the 5 corresponds to the 4.10.
I would also not worry about being specific with the housing. Some of the 9.75" trucks were offered in both 5 and 6 lug, so you would just grab the axle and the driveshaft (assuming the truck is the same wheelbase and trans as yours.) I did that with my 98 F150. Mine had the 4.6L and an 8.8. I found an 02 F150 with the 9.75 and grabbed the axle and driveshaft. Direct bolt-in.
If you want to tackle the diff yourself, it's not as awful as it seems. I'm no expert, but I've done a few and no one died. In fact, I did the 4.10s and Torsen in Tim's Impala SS that we ran at the challenge and it didn't explode. It whines a little which likely means I got the backlash off a tad, but I just installed bigger speakers.
Like I said, the pinion and ring are machined to very tight tolerances. The shims adapt the R&P to the imperfect housing, not the other way around, so I would start by keeping the shims with the housing. That will get you really close. There was only one I did that I needed to re-shim pinion depth by a teeny bit.
carrier shims are kind of all-bets-are-off. If you were replacing with the same ratio, you would be close with keeping the same stack, but it would likely need a tweak. Best way I've found to do that is to throw the original stack back in where it was. You may find that the new diff and new bearings need more or fewer shims to fit with the right bearing lash. Once you get it in there with the right tightness, check backlash and just move wee shims from one side to the other as needed. Also, use the fattest and fewest shims on the thrust side (ring gear side). It's OK to fine tune with one or two thin shims over there, but that's the side that needs the least potential for compression.
Always new bearings, and I like to do new shims since they're cheap.
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