Ranger axles

[CarFreakGT]

Found a couple of donor Rangers that are being parted out. Before I try to score some axles, just a couple of questions. Do I need a second person to come w/ me? My brother will probably be w/ me anyway, since I hope to borrow his truck. How long should it take to get the axle out? (I'm decent w/ most disassembly. It's the re-assembly that I have to think about a little more! ) Any must-have tools to take w/ me? Other than the axle itself, what parts do I definitely need to get w/ it for my conversion? (89 GT 5 spd) What is a fair price? Finally, any tips? Thanks for any input/advice!

 

[tunedin302]

Pop off the differential cover, watch out for the large amounts of gear oil now on the ground (a big from the EPA), pull out the set screw, pull out the pin, push the axles in, get a magnet or pliers and pull the c-clips, disconnect the calipers, pull of the rotors and finally pull out the axle!! Have fun since you have to do this to 2 rangers to get the same length axle.

 

[Euphoric306]

rangers have drum rear brakes...?

 

[$uperstang]

yeah he made a typo

 

[tunedin302]

rangers have drum rear brakes...?

... sorry, brain fart ....

 

[trbkrb]

Easy to do, just a bit messy. The hardest part for me was removing one of the wheels since the donor vehicle was off the ground, had no driveshaft, and the ebrake didn't work.

If you need them and the drums are 9" and in decent condition, grab them also. I paid about $25-30 each for axles from my local Pick a Part, and about $12 each for the drums I got for another guy.

Good luck! Shouldn't take you more than an hour or so.

 

[bubba-dough]

Drivers side axles. Also check the hardened suface where the bearing rides, once the hardened surface starts getting grooved and chewed up it doesn't take long to snap one under any good power. It is a crappy design and with the age and mileage of most Rangers it may take more than 2 of them to find 2 good axles. Also at a pull it yourself junk yard here tha axles are $15 a piece. 1 person can do one axle in under 30 minutes.

 

[Mavrick]

Bring a BFH, because i bet the drums will give you a little trouble.

 

[superhuaman]

I thought you were supposed to take the right side ranger axles.... When I went to the junk yard, i got a rh axle from a ranger, and a lh axle from an aerostar.

 

[marine_2003]

Its the drivers side from an 83-92 anger and the Passenger side from an 86-97 Aerostar

 

[superhuaman]

Ok thanks. I thought I remembered going to the d/s of the aerostar and the p/s of the ranger, though. I know for sure it took like 6 vehicles to get 2 axles because one of the axles was messed up, and I stripped a couple of diff crosspin bolts, LOL.

 

[speadfreak]

I am hoping that you are aware that not all left side ranger axles were the same length. I pulled a left side axle that ended up being too short. You need the the left side axles from the rangers that were equipped with the wider drums. I am not sure of the exact measurements but the smaller ones are about as wide as the ones on a fox body. The wider ones are about twice as wide. At least this was my experience, had to go back to boneyard twice before i had it right. I don't know if it will help, but the correct axles for me were found on a 2WD extended cab, other came from a 4WD. The one that was too short came off of a 2WD regular cab 4cyl. hope this helps

 

[superhuaman]

Yeah, you have to get an axle from the rangers with the 7.5" axle and 9" drums. The aerostars have 10" drums, but if you get a shaft from a 7.5" axle it still works.