A Ford Transit 150 or 250 with the 3.7L V6 (not the ecoboost) can be had used all over the place. They are available in age/mileage combos at prices I find attractive. The price of the new ones are not attractive to me.
So, they always come with a 3.73 rear end which equates to a tow rating of 5200-5400#. That's okay since I flat-tow the track car which is like 3K loaded up, but it's still meh.
With the 4.10 rear, the tow is more like 6400-6600#. GVWR stays at 8600#, natch. So the payload is very low. Low payload is not a concern.
Is it possible to DIY one from a 3.73 to a 4.10?
13 months later, anybody pondered this more in the interim?
What rear do these have? Can you get aftermarket gear sets for them?
Edit - Are you aware of the turning brake rotors on the vehicle issue? Also the 50k fuel pumps?
There's currently a complete 4.10 rear axle on ebay so i'd say you can easily convert by unbolting it and installing a used rear
old_
HalfDork
5/31/20 8:48 p.m.
They offer 4.10 from the factory so I don't see why you couldn't order the ring and pinion from Ford and swap them over. Or maybe you could find a whole rear end from a junkyard to swap over.
It seems any off road shop could regear an axle for 3-4 hours labor plus parts.
Peabody
UltimaDork
6/1/20 11:29 a.m.
I've never seen a vehicle that didn't profit from a little more gear and I've done gear swaps like this at least a few dozen times. If you can get a factory diff/gear set that's the way to go. Modern tolerances are so good it's usually just a direct gear swap and no need to worry about lash or pinion depth
They use a Sterling rear axle with sealed hub/bearing units on the ends and double splined axle shafts. Swapping the gears would be easy but the whole assembly shouldn't be terribly expensive given the weird bolt pattern.
Wow, thanks guys! Don't think I'll buy one this summer, but I might. Depends on whether my current tow-rig craps out on me before track season, such as it is, ends.
