Hello
I have an 89 ford ranger 2.9 v6 3.73gears. I noticed a whie back that the rear end was getting a little loose and what i meen by that is when i was travaling at highway speeds and on any kind of turn and hit a bump like strips of metal in the concreat on over passes or small pot holes it seams like the rearend of my truck would swing in the oppisite direction of the turn and feels very weird to say the least. So i did some checking and when jacked up i can grab my wheels and push and pull them in and out around an 1/8 of an inch or so. is this normal or do i have problems with wheele bearing or somthing else in my rear dif. I removed the rear dif cover to inspect it and couldn't really see anything wrong other than a portion of a tooth on one of my spider gears is missing. I did notice a s shaped piece of metal that i later learned is fords trac lock(is that correct). I am pretty good at fixing my own problems and do have my manual but don't have any experiance in rear ends. either way if i need to do wheele bearings or replace anything in the rear end i will have to get the trac lock out and am not sure how to do that as my manule does not say anything about it. Any tips or suggestions would be great. Thanks!

Sounds like wheel bearings and "C" clips. C clips secure the axle shafts in the diff. With a tooth missing on one of your gears, it sounds like it might be time for a explorer axle swap.

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'88 STX Super Cab 4x4
2.9 5spd 180,000 miles
Crappy Paint, Worn Parts,
Fix'em as they Break
when Nowhere is Now Here

I had that same problem on my ranger.. So I swapped Rear ends with a 4WD one... mine was so bad when I went to swap it out I tried to take the tire off and my whole axle came with it...

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I have a 2001 Ford Ranger Edge 3.0L 5 speed 2WD single cab with 31X10.50-15 and 4.11:1 gears out of a 4WD Ranger.