Ford 8.8 Rear Axle Strength

My '97 F150 had the same rear end. I re-geared it to 4.10 which is even weaker than the original 3.55. It was stout and worked well for years. I towed my 6000ish lb trailer while carrying two small ATVs in the bed along with all the regular camping gear, including gas, generator, coolers, etc. Yeah it was overloaded in every regard often but continued to work flawlessly as I towed through the northern US Rockies.

It even withstood a rebuilt, supercharged engine routed through a strengthened, hard shifting transmission for all those years. It did finally fail in grand fashion when my teen-aged son was showing off for his friends and dropped it into gear while revving the engine.