Exploder IRS?

[jaybee]

Has anyone seen a car or truck retrofitted with a Ford Explorer IRS? They use an 8.8" center section and mount on a subframe, but decent information on the internet has burned out to be hard to come by.

I ask this in part because IRS has always been a little trick, partly because it's a width that ought to work under a lot of cars, partly because the last live axle Explorers were built quite a while back at this point.

[UGLY OLDS]

I do remember they always seemed to have leaking/noise/failure issues in the OE application...The center sections (IE: the complete center case & gears), seemed to fail ....MANY were replaced for us under warranty ......

Bob ...

[Arnold]

I have an Uplander with factory 4x4/awd irs where they just bolt the subframe with carrier to the existing frame. As Bob mentioned I wonder if the failures are caused by the carrier moving around too much/or being run at a bad angle. Reason I say that is mine has factory air ride/ride height that is computer contolled and always seems to be doing something.( Pretty sensitive system where I hear the compressor coming  on for a little bit fairly often)

[jaybee]

Points well taken on reliability of these units. For some reason I'm having a lot of trouble finding decent diagrams or pics of what they look like. Lot's of pics of the old T Bird suspensions, which are getting really old by now and are very wide, as well as Mustang suspensions.

[purplepickup]

I'm having a lot of trouble finding decent diagrams or pics of what they look like.

I googled "ford explorer independent rear drive axle" , clicked on images and got a few good pics & diagrams. Some discussion here about RX7 build using one: http://www.norotors.com/index.php?topic=15911.0

Rodding options are constantly changing aren't they?

[Beck]

I have been playing with the Exploder IRS for a little while. Mine don't stay IRS.
I thought this would be a good way to save some weight on my little tractor. The center section is aluminum. I made 2 of these. One with 9" bearing ends and another that stayed with the 8.8 bearing size.
The guys running these in steel are able to mount the hitch directly to a heavy duty cover. I was afraid of that with the aluminum. I made a separate hitch that bolted to the frame. I gained as much weight with my hitch as I saved with the axle. Not a good idea for me.

[Charlie Chops 1940]

The 8.8 rear ends are tough. The IRS "pigs" are used in a lot of IRS retrofits in LS engine swaps. They are also used in a kit to improve the IRS in first gen Cadillac CTS-V's.

[jaybee]

Thanks! This is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. Must have been the search terms I was using, I kept coming up with all sorts of mixed searches with everything from Explorer FRONT suspension to BMW semi-trailing arm suspensions.

I stayed interested because I did find a bit where someone made it look pretty good under a 50s Ford pickup. They chopped the subframe wherever they needed to and welded it directly into the frame.

No question, the options keep changing. It doesn't seem that long ago LS-architecture engines were expensive and resources to transplant them were special interest stuff. Now there are literally millions of them out there and you can see a nice variety of swaps at any decent sized show.