Ford Explorer Crawler

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Katina Piccirilli

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Aug 3, 2024, 4:39:15 PM8/3/24

to tiofisenme

I imagine that the BMW 3 series diff from the the e36 are likely a good option. Might be a little heavier than the miata but not any different than the Toyota. There aren't a ton but a good source will be locostusa.com.

but I THINK there are two different size of ring gear going on there. BMW had generally 3 sizes of diff across all models during those years, and e36 would either have small or medium depending on engine.

Yeah, BMW has one for just about every possible ratio you could want - and they will take a lot more than 200 ft/lbs too. Mounting the earlier trailing arm car cases can sometimes be a hassle - but often you can swap the rear cover to an E36 style "2 ear" to make it work.

For a very inexpensive option, go ford 8.8. They came IRS in thunderbirds, all you need is the housing, everything else swaps in from explorer and mustang parts. You can rebuild the LSD for about 200$. The gearing ranges from ultra low mustang v8 stuff to crazy high off-roader exploder stuffs.

I can't remember their name, but there's an outfit on line that sells replacement friction discs so a DIY-er can refresh a tired one at home, and even increase the level of lock quite a bit, rather than paying $1,000 for a pro rebuild.

I have a track car near-done that will be putting about 250HP/320TQ (crank) to one, and I'm not worried about that in the least. Second draft of the motor will be more like 350HP/400TQ (crank) to one, and I'm a little less sure how long that will last. I know of several that have hung in there, but most of them were street rod/drift cars, not heavy redline track use.