Working on a SOA

[Scott Gabriel]

Picked this up from Gouky on RRORC for dirt cheap (haha, get it DIRT cheap)





started cleaning it up and stripping it.



Heres some orignal pics

came with free mud (hell for 40bucks, i couldnt complain)

used a cordless drill and a wire wheel, pulled the brakes and diff cover

more to come when i get back out to work on it



ScottG

 

[Adam Cat]

What are your plans? Using that for a SOA conversion in the rear or is that the new solid front?

 

[Travis Munday]

Nasty lookin' gear dope...Be sure to get plenty of pics, only a few have done this on the ST and no one really has any progress pics or a how-to. Anxious to see the results, and how you plan to match the front with the rear.

 

[Scott Gabriel]

well, its a stock 91 explorer 8.8 axle, that the orignal owner already welded on spring perchs for a SOA





I plan to strip it to the bare housing, install a torsen limited slip from a lvl2 ranger, 4.56 gears, and the disc brake setup from my 04, and i have a clear, trimmed IRS diff cover to install





I also have 3.5 inch fabtech lift spindles with the proper rotors, that and a tbar crank should level it all out, on some chrome 15s with 33s

 

[Todd Z]

Your st is 2wd correct ???



Todd Z

 

[Ian Gross]

Not to Hi-Jack this but will that torsen lsd work in our stock rear end?

 

[Chris Kulbaba]

Whats SOA?

 

[Ian Gross]

Spring Over Axle



entails moving the rear axle from ontop of the leaf springs to underneath giving somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 inches of lift

 

[Scott Gabriel]

Your st is 2wd correct ???

yuppers

Not to Hi-Jack this but will that torsen lsd work in our stock rear end?

well, the Ranger Fx4 Lvl 2 came with a 31spline 8.8, similar to the explorer, and ive been told it will swap over, and i got one as a freebie

 

[brandon mena]

Why didn't you just weld perches onto the top of your current axle?



Also be warned, it gives alot more than 4", you'll need extended torsion bolts like I had (and still have, FS BTW)



[Broken External Image]:

 

[Scott Gabriel]

Why didn't you just weld perches onto the top of your current axle?

that involves owning a welder, and after all the parts i wanted to install, it was easier to just pick this up and build that

 

[Johnny O]

Not to Hi-Jack this but will that torsen lsd work in our stock rear end?

Yes. You can also get an aftermarket Detroit True-Trac which is essentially the same thing as a Torsen and usually costs less, unless you're getting a used Level II rear from a wreck.

Also be advised that Ranger rear axles are 1.5" narrower than Explorer rears.

 

[Chad Merry]

Brandon check the swap and sell. Question about your torsion bolts.



Chad

 

[andy see]