With the front suspension completed I was supposed to tackle the rear axle myself...and I was dragging my feet.


A common 8.8 swap for 1st gen mustangs is to use an exploder rear end from 95-01. (I think)


Advantages with these units: typically 31 spline, close to the correct width, 3.55, 3.73, or 4.10's and track lok's are common, rear disc, relatively cheap ($400-$500 I was seeing already pulled).


The pinion is off-center by 2", which is the right amount to cut down the long side such that the WMS-WMS is really close to factory 7.5 or 8" rears that came on the car.


Basically you cut the long side down to match the same length as the short side and buy a new short side axle and then voila...you are golden.


In hindsight, that is definitely what I should have done. LOL


Alot of explorers have had rough and salty lives...I went another route which worked out but it was the hard way.


First I wanted higher gears for this fuel miser - 3.27 sounded good....wanted to start with a good working dropout with fairly low miles if possible.


I didn't feel the need for 31 spline and didn't want to buy gears if i didn't have to.


Bring in new edge 8.8's as a donor.



After some research I found that 2011+ Ford Ranger axles are 8.8, 28 spline, have the correct rotor hat hub, and the correct axle bearing ID/OD to be compatible in the new edge housing. This means I can use a stock mustang 8.8 rebuild kit for bearings/seals/etc.

These axles were close enough to being the correct length but require that both sides of the housing are sectioned/shortened accordingly.

Note that these Ranger axles do not have ABS exciter rings where-as the mustang axles do.

This is not a problem, however.

Lastly, Rock Auto supplied 2 new axles for under $200 shipped.

Purchase price of the complete rear was $300 from Carlisle.

For reference, one can buy a ready to bolt-in rear axle from online sources for about $2500. too rich for my blood...