odd ball

[littlezell]

was looking for parts for my 96 exploder and I came up on front and rear diff and it has 327 gear ratio??? thought they were 3.50 or 3.55??

 

[The Jester Race]

Standard factory ratios
3.08
3.27
3.55
3.73
4.10

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Axles.html

 

[adsm08]

I am starting to learn that in 4.0 equipped vehicles 3.27 gears were disturbingly common.

 

[littlezell]

cool thanks for the infomation.... the guy at the scrap yard seems to think that its odd...lol well he hasnt seen many of them..

 

[greasemonkey6886]

Tons of those here in Savannah Ga. with that ratio.

 

[adsm08]

cool thanks for the infomation.... the guy at the scrap yard seems to think that its odd...lol well he hasnt seen many of them..

They were like electronic-shift 4x4, far more common than they were desirable.

 

[4x4junkie]

Yup.
Not sure what Ford's thinking was with those gears... They are waay too tall for any MPG benefit, forget about the towing of trailers or for anything else... Maybe it was to encourage the planned obsolescence of the vehicle's transmission? :icon_confused:

 

[adsm08]

Yup.
Not sure what Ford's thinking was with those gears... They are waay too tall for any MPG benefit, forget about the towing of trailers or for anything else... Maybe it was to encourage the planned obsolescence of the vehicle's transmission? :icon_confused:

No, it was to make the EPA numbers look better on paper. Problem is EPA numbers are calculated as a 60 MPH cruise with no wind, on a level surface.

 

[JoshT]

with no wind

Here I was thinking they were calculated with a tail wind.

 

[4x4junkie]

Yet the vehicle actually got worse MPG with those gears than if it had 3.55 or even 3.73 gears (especially if it has an automatic).

Government is such a wonderful thing at times...

 

[littlezell]

nice info...

 

[trail B2]

I bought a junk 92 explorer for the 5 speed it had the 3:27 gears too.

 

[509lifted]

my 92 has 3:27s and it sucks

 

[4.0B2]

I seem to see a lot more 3.27's(open) in the 4 wheel drives and 3.73's(limited slip) in the 2 wheel drives.

doesn't make ANY cents to me at all!!!

 

[littlezell]

The Tags are long gone off mine but I think my 96 has those gears.....it sucks cuzz it hates hills.....

 

[509lifted]

i just gotta be in third to take hills and it takes them just fine but if i try in fourth it just bogs down and i cant really use fifth at all unless im going like 90 or more and thats just out rageous

 

[4x4junkie]

The Tags are long gone off mine but I think my 96 has those gears.....it sucks cuzz it hates hills.....

Your door sticker is gone too? (has your axle code)

You could mark your rear driveshaft, then jack up ONE rear tire and give the tire exactly TWO complete rotations by hand while counting how many turns your driveshaft rotates.*
3¼ turns = 3.27:1, 3½ turns = 3.55:1, 3¾ turns = 3.73:1 and so forth.

* For Open (conventional) or Limited Slip (Traction-Lok) differentials only (all stock differentials).

 

[littlezell]

I just checked and its giving me an axle cod of D4?? and ya it goes fine in 3rd gear. 4 gear it wants to bog depending on how fast I was going and year mine is the same 5th eventually will kill it...

 

[kunar]

I just checked and its giving me an axle cod of D4??

3.73 l/s, same as my explorer

 

[4x4junkie]

D4 = 3.73 Limited Slip.

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Axles.html

Maybe it just needs a tune up?
I'd probably still check the axle as outlined above, unless you know for sure a previous owner hasn't swapped it.