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8.8 Rear Axle Rebuild #: 1195

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 05:44 am

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jsoluna
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New to the forum, not to Rangers. Have had several through the years and always found them to be reliable and (for the most part) easy to work on

My 99 is a 3.0/4x4/5spd/Supercab with 180k on the clock. A few years back I started noticing a strange whining noise that changed pitch on accel and decel. I hadn't changed or checked the diff fluid since I had pulled the cover and replaced the fluid at 110k so I pulled the cover and out came what looked like chocolate milk. Water had somehow gotten into the axle and completely trashed everything. Bearings were starting to howl and the pinion was starting to walk on me so I reluctantly parked it and searched for a replacement 4.10 rear.

Apparently finding a 4.10 rear is easier said than done. I could have 3.73s all day, but only found one 4.10. drove two hours to find a rusted housing and bent axles, brakes shot, etc.

I finally broke down and decided to rebuild my housing with new internals. Using electrolosis to get the rust out of the housing and off the various parts. Bought a Ford Racing 4.10 R/P kit.

Attachment: IMG_20170326_164156935.jpg (Downloaded 82 times)

Last edited on Mon Aug 27th, 2018 05:54 am by jsoluna

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 06:30 am

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black06xlt
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Make sure when you reinstall the housing run a rubber hose from the vent on the housing up to the frame and zip tie it in the frame rail this should help prevent water from getting the housing

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 06:44 am

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JAMMAN

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Welcome but I'm a little confused because to the best of my knowledge ford only put the 8.8 in the 4.0 package in 99.Did someone already swap out the axle? On the 3.0 they used a 7.5

Whatever it is yours is starting to look really good! As black06xlt was saying a busted vent tube is the most common entry point for water, if you go 4 wheeling a lot in mud/water it can get in through the pinion seal or axle seals also especially if they are old and dried out.

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 06:49 am

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jsoluna
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It was the vent tube, as you both surmised. It had fallen out of the factory clip. I don't wheel it, but that season was particularly rainy.

I can take a pic of the door code. It came from factory with an 8.8/4.10 open diff.

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 06:50 am

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jsoluna
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Swapping in 4.10 Trac-Lok🙂

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 09:26 am

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JAMMAN

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I'm intrigued with the Eaton trutrak and impressed by the torsen which is a similar design.

I see there were a few 3.0's equipped with 8.8 rear ends which expands my search since I pretty much wrote 3.0's off in parts search for rear ends.

Goes to show an old dog can learn new tricks :)

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 12:12 pm

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jsoluna
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This project started in spring 2016, I drove the truck from 120k-180k virtually problem free. I am a maintenance nut, so it bothers me that I could have prevented the ingress of water by being more diligent.

However, I've never set up a ring and pinion before, so I'm glad to get the chance to learn this dark art.

I love the 3.0 with the 5spd, use 93 octane to keep the pinging away, and change power steering and trans fluid regularly as well. It was a great truck and has pulled a trailer for a good portion of that time before the diff started to howl.

Anyone who has experience setting up 8.8 rears, I welcome your input. I have done all the reasearch and am prepared to dig in. More pics to come.

Last edited on Mon Aug 27th, 2018 12:13 pm by jsoluna

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 04:04 pm

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Welcome, Glad you joined us. Have fun and enjoy F-R.
From Don
Grove City, Ohio. :frd

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 06:50 pm

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Inside of the housing pre-electrolysis

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 06:51 pm

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jsoluna
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"Brakes" Lol....

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 08:10 pm

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jsoluna
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Dropping the axle housing down into the tank for round one. Round two involved inverting it to get the opposite side. The end result was a massive amount of rust removed, enough to do a final cleaning of the axle tubes with a wire wheel attached to a drill with a 3/16 rod tack welded to the wheel to extend through the tube.

All of the rust removal happened about a year ago, so I am doing a final cleanup and paint now, while also getting organized with all the various parts for the rebuild.

Attachment: IMG_20170312_154538176.jpg (Downloaded 75 times)

Last edited on Mon Aug 27th, 2018 08:11 pm by jsoluna

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 08:14 pm

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Housing post-electrolysis

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 08:52 pm

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So what are you using to power that contraption, I'm thinking DC and the housing is negative? Are you using just water or something else?

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 08:59 pm

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I'm using a power adapter from an old laptop, outputs 19vdc @ 4.5 amps. The sacrificial metal is iron pipe that I cut into sections, and the solution is water and washing soda. Workpiece is ground, and the sacrificial metal (anode) is positive.

Last edited on Mon Aug 27th, 2018 09:00 pm by jsoluna

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 09:58 pm

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Cool I did some minor copper and brass plating when I was in my teens in school. Night stand in bedroom.

I remember I had some small chrome plated brass pieces I reversed polarity and stripped the chrome off of it. Was using a model train transformer and a huge full wave bridge rectifier. The train transformer was AC and about 24V.

Best as I can figure electrons travel from negative to positive but I have seen many arguments on this.

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 10:37 pm

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Eddie Money
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3rd member rebuilds have been covered in forums before, but I'm more interested in your rust removal contraption. Lol. Can you expand on that and get pics and details. I'd appreciate it. I'm still interested in you rebuild, but you cant show a pick of a home electrolysis device and not share. Lol.

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Posted: Mon Aug 27th, 2018 10:49 pm

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Ok you have my attention. It looks like something Macgyver would do I like it. I'm with EddieMoney you to share more info on this. Possibly start a thread just for your tank

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Posted: Tue Aug 28th, 2018 04:37 pm

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For those interested in the electrolysis process:

I have two tanks, a 35 gal and a 10 gal. They are non-conductive Rubbermaid tubs. Cheap, easy to find.

Fill them with water and washing soda (sodium carbonate). The mixture is about 1% washing soda to water. This creates an electrolyte for conductivity.

Sacrificial metals (where the rust gets plated to) can be any kind of scrap steel you have around. For the small tub I just used scrap. For the large tub I bought a stick of iron pipe and cut it into four sections, attached to the tub with pipe straps. I then ran a conductor to each pipe strap around the outside of the tub to connect them all together and give easy access for attaching the positive clamp.

The power source is an old laptop charger, converts 110ac to 19vdc/4.5 amps. This had enough current and voltage to completely move the rust off the housing, but it took about 5 days. I soldered in old jumper cable clamps to the ends of the adapter's output so I could easily attach my positive and negative feeds.

Negative clamps to workpiece. Positive clamps to sacrificial metal (anodes).

Let 'er eat. It did a much better job than I could have done by hand and was very gentle - didn't destroy any of the good metal below the rust.

It does flash rust quickly, so pressure washing and applying a rust inhibitor is recommended if you don't want to it flash rust overnight. Gotta plan for that step.

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Posted: Tue Aug 28th, 2018 04:56 pm

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I have a 55 gallon plastic drum and an idea LOL.

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Posted: Wed Aug 29th, 2018 05:38 am

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I can get more pics and details if people are interested. Probably won't be until this weekend though. I should have some time again to work on the rebuild then.

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Posted: Sun Sep 2nd, 2018 10:43 am

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Well, the three day weekend is here and I woke up sick this morning......

Looks like I'll just get some painting done this weekend, not much else.

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Last edited on Sun Sep 2nd, 2018 10:44 am by jsoluna

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Posted: Sun Sep 2nd, 2018 10:45 am

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Just take the weekend off, even painting sucks when you are sick.

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Posted: Sun Sep 2nd, 2018 10:48 am

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You and my wife both are trying to keep me out of the shop. I'm one of those people who doesn't deal well with inactivity.

However, you're both right.

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Posted: Sun Sep 2nd, 2018 02:22 pm

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jsoluna wrote:
I'm one of those people who doesn't deal well with inactivity.

I am the same way, I love being out in the garage or at least outside doing something other then sitting around doing nothing.

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Posted: Mon Sep 3rd, 2018 02:41 am

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jsoluna wrote:
Well, the three day weekend is here and I woke up sick this morning......

Looks like I'll just get some painting done this weekend, not much else.
Sorry to hear of being ill. Do I see some axle upgrades there or did you put a fresh coat of paint on those?

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