My '38 Chrysler is getting a Ford 8.8 out of a '92 Ranger. It had to be out of a '90 to '92 Ranger to get the skinny width I needed, but in those years they only made them with drum brakes. The rear I'm getting has the larger 10" drums, but I'm thinking I'd like to put on discs if I can do it without buying a $700 kit. Maybe a later Ranger or Exploder 8.8 with rear discs might be a starting place/donor, but I'm hoping someone here has done this already and can offer some advice.
www.svo73mm.cjb.net is a great resource. I did a similar swap on a 5.0 stang. Here is one way. I did another way but cannot find the write up but it basically uses cadillac calipers from an 85' seville/eldorado Rear w/85-91 Lincoln Mark7 disc: driver side ranger axles or passenger side aerostar axles (2) SVO/Lincoln Mark 7 rotors, side specific (2) rear calipers with caliper brackets (2) soft brake lines (2) pads for SVO/Mark7 calipers (1 set) Lincoln axle to caliper brackets, flipped (2) FMS M2809A ebrake cables for 87-92 car (2) - or 93 Cobra cables for 1993 cars (2) F3ZZ-2A635-A FMS M2810A center ebrake cable (1) adapter from softline to hard lines (2)
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't want to change axles. Everything about this rear is fine as-is- I just want it with discs. I'm thinking I ought to be able to get the backing plates, calipers, rotors, etc from an Explorer (or Mustang) and just switch those parts out. No??
You should be able to swap everything from the explorer axle onto the narrower one you pulled from the ranger. If you want to do that look at this write up for using explorer discs on an older 8" ford axle. http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=43089 If you want all new/rebuilt parts scarebird makes brackets to mount GM calipers. http://www.scarebird.com/
The caliper mounting bracket would probably be the only thing to cause a problem. I know on late mustangs there are a few widths of axle shaft that use the same housing. Space it out with a couple hardened washers or scrounge/fabricate a proper bracket and you should be golden. I bought a custom bracket with about 3/8" offset to fit 03 cobra stuff on my 88. I don't know about exploders, but stangs use 11.something rotors and a Varga caliper out back. Cobras have 12.0 rotors and the same caliper with a different mounting bracket. J
You should be able to just switch off the newer parts on yours. The most you would have to do is weld on some new caliper mounts. They cant be that different. Bolt pattern is the same.
im in the proces of helping a friend install an 8.8 out of a mark,,in to a 48 dodge, we have discovered,that these rears came with two types of set ups. the E-brake is the difference,one version is a drum E brake, and the other has the E brake in the caliper,,different rotors and more hard ware when using the drum E brake set up,,core charge on the calipers appears to be higher the i would of thought,, we found a continental in a yard and got a deal on caliper for cores and backing plates and hard ware,, hope this info adds to your thoughts,,
Early Ranger and Aerostar used axles of two different lengths with the short side one (opposite sides in the Ranger and van) the same length as the drum brake fox Mustang equal length on each side axles, making it easy to use their short side ones for a five lug conversion upgrade. Turbo T-bird and 93 Cobra axles were 3/4" wider, with the t-bird using solid 10" rotors (not sure about the Cobra), but were still 4 lug. Mark VII and Continental was wider yet at inch and a half (actually 1.4") than the Mustang, had 5 lugs and carried 11.25 ventilated rotors. 84-5-6 SVOs used the Mark VII/Continental setup. All these cars shared the same housing width. If the later Ranger disc brake axle housing is the same length as your drum brake one then it's possible the later axles and other components would fit, but it would probably be cheaper to find a complete axle. Not sure about the trucks, but anyone using the Mark VII-SVO setup should be aware the rear calipers are 54mm, were used with 73mm fronts and were supplied with a 1 1/8" bore master cylinder by the factory. I'll be trying to use the later 1 1/16" bore Mustang master cylinder with the Mark VII calipers in the next week or so, I'll update anyone with my results if they're interested.
I know you're set on the Ranger rear and I'm not sure of the width of the Ranger, but '87-'88 T-bird turbocoupes came with 8.8's w/rear discs. By swapping in 7.5 axles it shortens the width by 1" giving it the same track width as fox Mustangs. Northracecars.com sells the offsetting caliper brackets you would need. The 5-spd cars had 3.55:1 trac loc (read posi) and the autos had 3.70:1. Most of the yards here in Norcal have a TC or 2. Just a thought.
This might be your answer; go to http://home.pacbell.net/black306/tech/reardisc.html It allows you to use stock length drum brake axles to mount the Mark VII disc brake setup on a Mustang housing. No reason why it won't work with the wider width Ranger axle housing and axles. Just for grins why don't you measure a stock disc brake Mark VII axle and compare it to the drum brake Ranger axle. I can't help but think the longer axle shaft on one side of the Ranger axle would make it longer (although the pinion is probably centered on the Ranger axle because of the longer axle side). If it works for you just be careful if you buy one, not all Mark VIIs had 8.8s, some came with a 7.5.
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