I have been thinking about switching rear ends to get better highway mileage. 80% of my driving is at highway speeds and for about 60 miles one way for work. I had looked at the 3:45's out of earlier Rangers but recently have noticed that some of the earlier Mustangs have more gearing options. Does anyone know if they are compatible with the Rangers? I had seen a 3:31 offered. I know it will be BAD in town but I think I can deal with that.

I know I will have to change the speedo gear in my 5-speed and the odometer gear behind the dash to keep things accurate, but both should be available from the "donor" car.

Any thoughts or am I barking up the wrong tree again.

Thanks

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Little Black Ranger: R.I.P Born-1997 Died-2018. 297k miles of good times. You will be missed.

Oh Deer: 2003 XL 2.3L 5-speed stick w/OD. Current mods: Body work after hitting a deer 12 hours after I bought it. Averaging 32 MPG on the highway.

my truck came with 3.08s. running 3.27s now and love them. seeing how you have a 2.3, you probably have a 7.5 rear end. so you will have to stick with 7.5 rear end gears. i think mustangs had the 8.8 like rangers/explorers.

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Krylon Fusion is for Amateurs.

I know fox bodies fairly well:

86+ fox bodied v8 mustangs had an 8.8
all others were 7.5 including post '85 v6's and 4-bangers until 2004.
all mustang 7.5 rears had 28 spine axles.

In summery - don't use a v8 as a donor car unless its pre 86. a pre 86 5.0 engine is carbed as efi debuted in the mustang for 1986.

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92 STX - Red, Regular Cab, 2.9l Manual, 2" lift with 31" tires

Mechanical odometers run off the same cable as the speedometer. There is no gear behind the dash that needs to be changed, just the gear at the transmission end of the speedometer cable.

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2011 Ranger XLT 2WD - Dark Shadow Gray Metallic -- SOLD
- Richmond Gear, POWERTRAX No-Slip differential -- FOR SALE
- Advantage, Torza Hard Hat tonneau cover -- FOR SALE
2016 Ford Explorer - Shadow Black
2010 MINI Cooper - "Der Krautenküper"
1993 Special Service Package Mustang - The Five-O's 5-0.

whoa whoa whoa so if the speedometer is off the odometer will be off as well? no wonder my mileage plummeted with the 31's!

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92 STX - Red, Regular Cab, 2.9l Manual, 2" lift with 31" tires

Mustang rear ends wont work in your truck at all. Size wise they are two small roughly the length of two short side shafts.

Your 2.3 will likely get worse gas mileage dropping the gear ratio to far down. Your best bet on MPG's is driving habits. You might be ok trying 3.27's or 3.55's which are available for both the 7.5" and 8.8" you can find some expo's with 3.27's in them.

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'05 Ranger Edge SAS'd, 5.38's, D60/D60U, 38.5" TSL SX's, October 2012 TOTM, build thead

Yes. A mechanical odometer is driven by the same cable as the speedometer. The speedometer is driven by how fast the cable spins, the odometer counts how many times it spins -- typically 1000 rotations equals 1 mile. If you don't calibrate the speedometer when changing tire size or rear end ratios, your odometer is going to be inaccurate too. I don't know how many times I've seen people post in the Mustang forums about they changed gears, and they get exactly the same MPGs as before. Then find out they didn't change the speedometer gear, so the odometer is showing more miles than actually driven.

I assume the OP is referring to the rear end internals, and not the housing. And yes, dropping a gear ratio too low can have a negative affect on mileage, especially city mileage. 3.27 is probably as low as you'd want to go, and you'd only gain about 1.5 MPG over 3.73s, and maybe 2 MPG over 4.10s.

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2011 Ranger XLT 2WD - Dark Shadow Gray Metallic -- SOLD
- Richmond Gear, POWERTRAX No-Slip differential -- FOR SALE
- Advantage, Torza Hard Hat tonneau cover -- FOR SALE
2016 Ford Explorer - Shadow Black
2010 MINI Cooper - "Der Krautenküper"
1993 Special Service Package Mustang - The Five-O's 5-0.

Thanks for all the advice.

I was going to just change the whole rear end rather than just the internals. I have heard that just changing the internals is a nightmare, requires special skills (that I know I don't have), and can be disasterous if done wrong. I was thinking about 3:45's or 3:55's until I saw the 3:27's and 3:31's that were offered in the Mustangs. My drive is almost all highway so I would think that I'd do better than 1-1.5mpg. But hey, what do I know. Seemed like a cheap option with being able to get a rear end for less than $100 and a lot of elbow grease.

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Little Black Ranger: R.I.P Born-1997 Died-2018. 297k miles of good times. You will be missed.

Oh Deer: 2003 XL 2.3L 5-speed stick w/OD. Current mods: Body work after hitting a deer 12 hours after I bought it. Averaging 32 MPG on the highway.

yes lol

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pmming you link now

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Ford Ranger Edge Supercab, 2004 3.0 Auto, 2WD, 4.10 Axle 31x10.5x15 BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A KO's


My Truck Is My Mountain Bike's Ride!

Class III hitch, Rhino Bedliner, Almost Maxed T-Bar Crank, Tuff Country Add A Leaf, Custom Low Anchor Points, OEM ('99) Tow Hooks, Pro Comp Offroad Lights , Mustang Dome Light, Clear Corners, Slim Toolbox, Blinker Mod,Cargo Brake Light Mod,Expo Lighted Visors, Ultra Silverstar heads/fogs, Fog/high mod, Reverse/switched lights, Bike Fork Mounts

You wont gain much if any highway or not and if you are already getting 30MPG it sounds like you are about perfectly set up with that 4 banger. I would personally leave it the hell alone if I was getting 30MPG.

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'05 Ranger Edge SAS'd, 5.38's, D60/D60U, 38.5" TSL SX's, October 2012 TOTM, build thead

The Fox body Mustang rear end is narrorwer wheel flange to wheel flange. I believe the Ranger pass side axle is the same length as both sides on a Stang.

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George

2011 Ranger Sport 4 door SuperCab 4X4 Oxford White, 4.0 Auto Mods: XLT Carpet, Pin Stripes, Clear Corners, Extang Revolution Tonno, LineX, Pre Key mod, tailgate lightbar, cab lights, Muth heated signal mirrors
2008 Ranger Reg Cab 4X2 Redfire Vulcan Auto Mods:FX4 body color grille, Sport aluminum wheels, Extang Revolutioin Tonno, color matched bed liner, tailgate lightbar TRADED

Read above.

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'05 Ranger Edge SAS'd, 5.38's, D60/D60U, 38.5" TSL SX's, October 2012 TOTM, build thead

Just throwing my $0.02 in here, but...

Mustang rears won't work with the Ranger--the reason being is that the differential housing on the Mustang is centered, whereas the Ranger rears were off-set somewhat.

What I ended doing is going to a JY and pulling a rear off of a '94. What you need to look at, in terms of axles, is the axle code that is on the sticker that is located on the door jamb. I'd say also to search for, and print out, the sticky-post that lists all of the axle codes and what they mean.

After doing that, go axle hunting at your local JY. The axle I pulled was a code 92, which means that it has an open 8.8" ring gear and a 3.08 final drive ratio.

After that, it really isn't that hard to jack up the rear end, and swap out the axle you have with another one. The biggest pain is going to be two things: 1) getting out the e-brake cable from your old axle, as well as getting the driveshaft bolts off.

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Billie, my "sparkly" blue 1992 Ranger
SPECS: 2.3 I4; Rebuilt motor at 194,263 miles; straightened driveshaft when engine was rebuilt

FIRST MODS: 2" suspension lift and rear disc brake conversion

Larger tires cause the odometer to read fewer miles than actually driven. Since you still burn about the same amount of gas, calculating MPG based on the odometer would indicate fewer MPG.

If you want to correct for your larger tires, without calibrating your speedo (BTW: cops will not be sympathetic to your incorrect speed indications, and still issue you a ticket), you can calculate the correction factor to apply to you MPG calculations.

New Tire Diameter / Old Tire Diameter = Correction Factor

Stock, 225/70-15 = 27.4"
New Tires = 31"

31 / 27.4 = 1.13

Mutiply the MPG you've calculated by 1.13 to get your actual MPG.

Do this with your speed too. If you are indicating 50 mph, you are actually doing 57 mph.

Yeah... That won't work. Internals are the same, but the housings are completely different.

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2011 Ranger XLT 2WD - Dark Shadow Gray Metallic -- SOLD
- Richmond Gear, POWERTRAX No-Slip differential -- FOR SALE
- Advantage, Torza Hard Hat tonneau cover -- FOR SALE
2016 Ford Explorer - Shadow Black
2010 MINI Cooper - "Der Krautenküper"
1993 Special Service Package Mustang - The Five-O's 5-0.

you seem like you have a pretty good handle on things - any idea what gear i should look for? I currently have a manual with 3.55's.

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92 STX - Red, Regular Cab, 2.9l Manual, 2" lift with 31" tires