8.8 swap

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Go xploder. It uses 31 spline axles. Mopar 5 bolt pattern, disc brakes. You only narrow the long end to even it up and it makes it 1/16" wider than a stock width A body rear.
 
I have an issue with my 8.8 drove it a couple weeks ago and drove fine. Drove today and has high pitched noise when accelerating. Have never rebuilt it, I did put new axle bearing in it. 323 limited slip explorer rear.
 
Did you shorten it? Maybe it needs a good cleaning out and new bearings. Check the mesh on the teeth when you pull the cover.

Stock ford limited is ok for street buildups, but when you start getting into high HP, hard launches, slicks, etc you need to go Eaton TruTrac for your LSD, or a spool if a dedicated track car.
 
Who knows how many miles are on it besides the 10k you put on it. It may be time to douche the housing out, and press in all new diff bearings, seals, and do a crush sleeve eliminator.
 
moparmat2000 said:
Who knows how many miles are on it besides the 10k you put on it. It may be time to douche the housing out, and press in all new diff bearings, seals, and do a crush sleeve eliminator.
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Did you do all that to yours.
 
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In the process of doing this. When you pull the diff, keep the side shims marked in bags labelled left and right. Dont mix them up.

When you pull the pinion out, measure total shim thickness, along with crushed sleeve thickness from the pinion. Then measure the sleeve eliminator thickness and stack the shims to make the total thickness the same as what you have with the crush sleeve and original shim stack. This will get you very close to dead on the mark providing you are reusing the original ring and pinion.

I purchased a bearing, and seal kit off evilbay with Koyo bearings for about $60. Comes with all 3 seals, 6 bearings, shims, diff cover gasket.

Then i bought a set of yukon clutches, with cross pin bolt, friction modifier, new yukon S spring, and yukon crush sleeve eliminator. Thats about it to rebuild one.
 
moparmat2000 said:
In the process of doing this. When you pull the diff, keep the side shims marked in bags labelled left and right. Dont mix them up.

When you pull the pinion out, measure total shim thickness, along with crushed sleeve thickness from the pinion. Then measure the sleeve eliminator thickness and stack the shims to make the total thickness the same as what you have with the crush sleeve and original shim stack. This will get you very close to dead on the mark providing you are reusing the original ring and pinion.

I purchased a bearing, and seal kit off evilbay with Koyo bearings for about $60. Comes with all 3 seals, 6 bearings, shims, diff cover gasket.

Then i bought a set of yukon clutches, with cross pin bolt, friction modifier, new yukon S spring, and yukon crush sleeve eliminator. Thats about it to rebuild one.
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I am wandering, last time I drove it they redid a road here and it has a horrible hump in the road I hit my trans pan and sounded like my rear end hit too. It was load and scared the crap out of us. It drove fine that day. You think maybe the drive shaft pushed into the pinion and loosened it up.
 
Whats everybody using for a proportioning valve with the xploder rear disc setup?

The plan w this car is M body spindles with M body 2.75" calipers in front w 'doba 11.8" rotors and caliper mounts. M body manual master cylinder with firewall adaptor, and stock xploder rear brakes. I have a 74 duster tubing kit from inline tube, and a double flare tool so rebending and reflairing ends isnt a big deal, plus i have a bag full of new SAE fittings.

I was thinking of plumbing in an SAE thread GM type disc/disc proportioning valve. I can get these for about $40 each.
 
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That sounds like a good setup. Better than mine. I used the 74 a body P
disc/drum-is what I had before. Then added adjusted valve for the rear exploder. I have 70 B body master cylinder and booster.
 
Picked this up. Seller is making adaptor plates for the 8.8 per my dimensions.

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save your money ,,, you do not need a case spreader tool to set up 8.8 rear axles --- there are no recesses on the 8.8 case to attach this tool so it is useless in that application.
 
Look at picture #3 the blueprint. The seller is fabricating and providing adaptor plates per my dimensions with drilled in recesses to use the tool and not charging any extra over the price i payed for it. So yes it is useable for the explorer 8.8 with bolt on adaptor plates with recesses that locate for the dowel pins on the spreader. When i receive it, i will post pix along with adaptor plates. Plus i am not interested in pounding the shims into the case with a mallet.
 
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I felt like I could have used one of those spreaders when I rebuilt my 8.8. The stock spacers were overly snug when I put the setup back together, and required quite a bit of massaging. The only thing I did is replace the stock clutches with carbon fiber.
 
Price i payed was $129.99 including the custom made adaptor plates for the exploder 8.8. Free shipping. I thought that was a deal. My guess is that he will probably start making these and selling them with the adaptor plates now because a lot of people are using the exploder 8.8 for other applications. I hear its even a direct bolt in for a chevy S-10 without moving the perches.
 
There is quite a bit of difference as to how the original tool attaches to a dana and how those adapters attach to the 8.8. 1 bolt ber side versus two. That puts the stress in a much different place than on the dana. I wonder if that might be a concern.
 
The adapters still allow the pull point to be in the Middle where the tube is I don't see it really being a problem but I guess I'm about to find out
 
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moparmat2000 said:
The adapters still allow the pole point to be in the Middle where the tube is I don't see it really being a problem but I guess I'm about to find out
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Eh, I don't see it that way because on the dana, the actual pull is pulling from a single point, versus a dual point. The adapters are spreading the load across what, 4 inches? It will probably be fine, afterall it's not like you cracking an egg. Just caught my eye and I'm curious about it. There are people far more qualified than me that could do a stress analysis (maybe that guy did already) but that aint me :) Like i said though, I'm sure it will work as expected.
 
I probably watched at least 10 8.8’s being built. When I pulled mine apart it didn’t need any special spreader to put it back together. There is no noise or any problems thus far. If you need a mallet or a spreader to install shims, it sounds like the tolerances are too tight. Am I missing something here. Just asking cause I’m curious.
 
so what case spread dimension are you going to use -as i have never seen one published -- Dana diffs have this dimension available and it should be used when using the case spreader -- you will probably distort your case and cause yourself problems
they actually make a tool to drive in the carrier shims -- i made my own out of 1/4 aluminum plate -- you do not want to pound directly on the shim to install it.
Ford built a few million of these diffs without needing a spreader ,, why start now.
 
When i pulled the ring gear assembly out, i had to pry it out. It had never been apart, all factory stuff. Your only talking spreading it a couple thousandths of an inch to set it all in there. I am reusing the ring and pinion, but replacing the bearings. I plan on setting the ring gear in place, loading the shims on the one side, then installing the spreader, and just adjusting it out only enough to slip the shims in on the other side as a tight slip fit tapped in place with a plastic mallet. I dont plan on cranking the **** out of it to spread it. I doubt i'm going to have trouble with it.
 
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Actually upgraded for $20 more to get the different dowel setup to do GM 10 and 12 bolt rears and needle bearings for the adjustor to make it a little smoother. Got a buddy of mine who went in on this with me who does GM axles so i am not into it for the full amount. So $149 total.

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Removed and reinstalled my diff with no problems. No spreader needed.
 
Must be nice, this one didnt come apart easily like that. Took 2 pry bars to get it out of the case, and it was never apart before that. As a matter of fact i watched all the 8.8 videos where they unbolt the clamps holding the ring gear in and just lift it out of the carrier. This one didnt even budge.
 
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