I own a 95 Ranger 2.3L 2wd that is my first car and daily driver for over 3 years. Recently the differential has locked and is surely not repairable.
The truck has 220,000 miles and the body/bed is quite rusty (more rust than body). Frame is solid, front suspension is solid, new clutch/master/slave assembly, and plenty of new minor repairs. I also have swapped it to a single-piece aluminum driveshaft. My question is;
"Should I invest the $350 to repair the rear axle and continue driving it?"
If I were to repair it, I would do the rear leaf springs while the axle was out. I would also put the 8.8 explorer upgrade with a locker, using explorer leaf springs to beef up the rear.
In total I can expect $350-$400 to complete, but end with a truck sellable for less that $800 due to its visual condition. Otherwise I'd be lucky to get $150 scrap value for my truck, or a few hundred selling it as parts.
What are items I can expect to need repair soon in an old truck, is it worth the money to do the axle swap, is it easy enough to do the explorer swaps than same ranger hardware, any additional info would be helpful
What do I do???