Rear End Gear Question

Believe all Explorers were 28 spline. Also they had a few gear options, just have to look at the tags. Some got 3.73's, 4.10's, etc.
 
I might be lookin' for one so which years have them and what do I look for on the tag to know what size ring and pinion is in there?
 
Yup, thats a good price. And the IRS Explorers are 31 spline so you cant use their Trac Lok. Also there may be some difference in the pinions on the IRS Explorer. We are not sure about what gears I had but they are Ford 8.8 3.73s but the pinion was way different.
 
The earlier model Explorers like 97-99 are plentiful. They all look like solid axles. Are these OK? I'm going to start extracting this weekend.
 
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Solid axle diffs have different side gears and will not work in an IRS setup. You can use the ring and pinion, but not the TL unit. Your best bet for finding a TL that will work is see if they have a tbird SC in the yard, that will have a TL unit, but you will have to swap the gears from the explorer onto the tbird diff since the birds only came with 2.73s, 3.27s, or 3.31s.
 
Blenderhead said:
Solid axle diffs have different side gears and will not work in an IRS setup. You can use the ring and pinion, but not the TL unit. Your best bet for finding a TL that will work is see if they have a tbird SC in the yard, that will have a TL unit, but you will have to swap the gears from the explorer onto the tbird diff since the birds only came with 2.73s, 3.27s, or 3.31s.
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Next thing ya know you will tell him to make sure to put the c clips in on reassemble. :lol:

My TL is out of a 96 Cobra. Seems to work just fine. And yeah GMAN, any solid axle Exploder will work.
 
If you put a trak-lok out of a solid axle car into your IRS, you will never again be able to remove your axles. The side gears are different from IRS to solid axle. IRS side gears have a bevel cut into them so that when you pull them out, it pushes the circlip in and the axle can come out. With the solid axle side gears, they are flat there because they are meant to work with C-clips instead of circlips. Everything will go together just fine, but the axles will not come back out, and to get them out is more of a headache than the diff is worth. If you want to put the solid axle diff in there, go right ahead, but don't complain when you need to replace an axle and the only way to do it is to replace both axles and the entire rear diff, housing and all.
 
Blenderhead said:
If you put a trak-lok out of a solid axle car into your IRS, you will never again be able to remove your axles. The side gears are different from IRS to solid axle. IRS side gears have a bevel cut into them so that when you pull them out, it pushes the circlip in and the axle can come out. With the solid axle side gears, they are flat there because they are meant to work with C-clips instead of circlips. Everything will go together just fine, but the axles will not come back out, and to get them out is more of a headache than the diff is worth. If you want to put the solid axle diff in there, go right ahead, but don't complain when you need to replace an axle and the only way to do it is to replace both axles and the entire rear diff, housing and all.
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geno and many others remove the clips off of the axles, they swear by it say it cant move enough in car to leak let alone come out of the diff
CobraStar_LS8 said:
anyone got info on which t-birds have them?...Including years and which trans type, etc?
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i think its only supercoupes, if it has a v6 with a blower grab the diff
 
I remember pulling a 3L27 pumpkin from an LX 4.6... can't say for sure if it was stock or not.
 
So you think a car that makes almost the same torque as a same year diesel F350 is gonna have a 7.5" rear?
 
All supercoupes got the 8.8 rear, and even some of the NA V6 cars got the 8.8. The 94/95 auto SCs could have either a TL or an open, but all the 5-speed SCs and all the 89-93 auto SCs got the TL. Also, at least on 89-92 tbirds and cougars, the rear disc brakes, ABS, and 8.8 TL all came as one package, so if it has rear discs, or if it has a Teves unit in it, the diff is most likely a TL. For 94-97 4.6 cars, if it has ABS then it has traction control, and therefore does NOT have a TL rear, but just because it doesn't have ABS or traction control does not necessarily mean it does have a TL rear, but it could. But if you see a 4.6 tbird or cougar in the junkyard, and it has wheel speed sensors, don't bother crawling under there because it will be an open diff.

As for leaving the clips off, just put the car on a lift use a pry-bar and see how far out that axle can come with all the suspension intact. It definitely could come out far enough to leak. It probably won't since there is no force pushing the axle out of the diff, but I certainly wouldn't want to take that chance on my car, let alone a customer's car. Maybe if it were being built for drag race only, and you trailer the car to and from the track, then I could see doing it, but then if you are going through all that, why cheap out on the diff anyway?
 
even with c clips still in the axle should still come out. The IRS side gears are not
beveled (well just a little on the splines and I think the solids are the same) they have
a step cut into them and if you cant get the shaft out you can
just pop the cover off and remove the c-clip or compress it to get the shaft out

IRS side gear.JPG
 
CobraStar_LS8 said:
anyone got info on which t-birds have them?...Including years and which trans type, etc?
Click to expand...

I used the dif from a Super Coupe automatic as it had the 3.27 gear set. It is a bolt in swap and have had no problems with it in over 5 years of use. It seems to me that Ford used the lower gear ratios for the automatics to help in the initial acceleration when competing with the 5 speed cars that have a really low first gear.
 
Geno is wrong. I have tested it myself, with a side gear and an axle with a circlip. Once it goes in, it does not come back out. If you want to do it, go right ahead, but you will invent new swear words trying to get it back out of there. It simply doesn't work. I don't know why this is such an issue here. The side gears are clearly different. There clearly isn't a beveled edge on the solid axle side gears. The circlip clearly needs something to push it in, like a beveled edge, before it will let the axle come out. Spend a few extra bucks and buy the right diff, and you won't have to worry about not being able to get your axles out. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself before you go buying something that will cause problems. All you need to test this is one IRS axle and one solid axle side gear. Slide it on, then try to get it off without touching the circlip, since you won't be able to reach the circlip with the axle in the car. After you do this, and see how much of a fight a little clip can give you, then if you want to put it in your car, go right ahead, but don't complain when you can't get your axles out.
 
I'd have ZERO problem installing the axles with no clips.. Driller does it, Geno does it... and they both drive their cars like hell...
 
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