Has anyone had this happen?

[wazzup242]

280 lb-ft is a lot? Not really. The weakness of the lowpo as a performance engine is that it makes very little torque for its size and does so at a laughably low RPM.

Thats still a lot more than my other cars lol. My First car was a 2000 v6 mustang which i think the mercury could have at least hung with. But it was nice when i was 17. And Now i have a 2008 focus which i think makes 147hp and 120 tq or something like that. At this point at least that focus would run laps on the mercury

[1987cp]

Ah, I see your point of reference. Though among other things, the Focus's stock engine is built to rev and is geared down like stink (typical among FWD vehicles in my experience), while Grand Marquis, besides weighing more, typically got RARs of 3.08 or lower and a 2.41 First gear.

If you think about it, with 147hp out of a very small engine with only 120 lb-ft peak torque, the average torque must be pretty decent, comparatively speaking. The 5.0 lowpo only makes remotely reasonable average torque if it's operated over a severely limited RPM range (like idle to 3000rpm).

[gadget73]

What is "ideal" (as in for a daily driver) gearing for a lopo anyways?

3.55 gears feel pretty good.

[andymac0035]

3.55's it is then.
I was beginning to wonder if maybe my 2.73's weren't all that bad (especially in winter time).
I drive my car in "D" a lot which I figure helps save on the OD band. I don't usually bump it up into OD inless I'm going 55-60 or better.
....but I imagine the extra mechanical advantage of 3.55's would help a lot too....

[wazzup242]

Sorry to bring this thread back from dead again lol. A friend of mine at work has an 03 explorer with IRS and 3.55s in it that he is changing due to slight gear whine that he cant stand, He is kind of a perfectionist lol. Anyways i wanted to be sure the gears would work before i tear apart my diff. I am going to re use the open diff if there is nothing visibly wrong with it.

Is there anyone that has used the explorer ring and pinion? I am going to put them side by side and compare sizes and what not before i put it together.

Also what is a rough estimate on bearings? Going to change pinion bearings and side bearings. Surprisingly My axle seals aren't leaking, Previous owner may have changed them before.

Thanks to all for the help so far.

[gadget73]

8.8 ring and pinion is an 8.8 ring and pinion. Do yourself a favor though and put a traction lock in there. Open rears break traction too easily, especially with more rear gear. Also, if you weren't already aware you'll need to verify the gear contact pattern, and possibly mess with shimming and whatnot to get things correct.