New here, with some questions:

[MountainClimber]

I don't see a live axle being a requirement unless rock crawling or you simply desire it. Check out dezertrangers.com and race-dezert.com as I'm sure what to do with an A-arm truck has been sorted out long ago. From chasing the Dixon Bros. Stock Mini in the Best in the Desert series, both when they had it and now in the hands of a friend of a friend, the R&P is what will need looking at, with ball joints as the distant second. They have field changing of the ball joints down so I'm led to think that they are not too difficult to do.

If a live axle is the goal I would suggest that you do not use leaf springs. Copy the radius arm system used on Early Broncos and F-100's using the Cage Off Road universal radius arms. It's stout, lives well in desert uses, and rides well considering the huge unsprung mass.

I'm not sold on a solid axle swap, it's a lot of fab work and as you've stated there isn't much benefit for the type of wheeling I'm looking at. Basically what I'm going for is a good, reliable rig for overland work and the occasional 3.5 trail in Moab or else where.
The Dixon Bros. system is a great piece of kit and I've spent plenty of time looking at it. it's a great kit and a lot of people use it for pre-running and what not so I have no doubt that it would work for me. The rear end would either need to be streched by 4 inches per side, add wheel spacers or drop in a new axle (can anyone say Currie?) to keep the track width the same.

Of course if you read all of the above suggestions and my responses you can run a quick mental tally and see the cost of a build like this quickly skyrockets.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I don't know if I'd suggest a C4 or C6, don't know so much about them, but I don't believe "old school" is always better. The 4R75 or 4R100 were both good trans. GM was reverse engineering them, and Chrysler approached Ford wanting to buy them.

So Ford took the dipstick out of the Ranger? Idiots! I left in 2003, and it was still in at that point. The Ranger was a "real truck" and so they expected the customer still checked the fluid. I guess after I left, the lure of the $2.03 cost savings was more important.:ar15:

 

[madizell]

I don't think you can add 4 inches per side using spacers. If you are trying to establish proof of concept on the axle width, fine. But I would not take it out of town that way. If you can afford the freight, have a new axle built. A 9" Ford is hard to beat.

 

[MountainClimber]

I don't think you can add 4 inches per side using spacers. If you are trying to establish proof of concept on the axle width, fine. But I would not take it out of town that way. If you can afford the freight, have a new axle built. A 9" Ford is hard to beat.

Thanks for the offer but this build is at least 3 years off but a 9" is on the list.

 

[DaveInDenver]

So Ford took the dipstick out of the Ranger? Idiots! I left in 2003, and it was still in at that point. The Ranger was a "real truck" and so they expected the customer still checked the fluid. I guess after I left, the lure of the $2.03 cost savings was more important.:ar15:

Toyota automatics don't have dipsticks, either. Freaked me out the first time I saw that, too. But they have a fill plug and a drain plug, so you fill it up to the plug like doing a manual tranny service. Maybe that's the way the Ford is now?

 

[MountainClimber]

Toyota automatics don't have dipsticks, either. Freaked me out the first time I saw that, too. But they have a fill plug and a drain plug, so you fill it up to the plug like doing a manual tranny service. Maybe that's the way the Ford is now?

Perhaps, I haven't bought the tech manuals for it yet and I haven't taken a look at the tranny that closely yet. It's worth taking a look at though. I'm a few hundred miles from 30000 and thinking of switching over to Mobil 1 in the drive line, a perfect time to look at filling the tranny.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

The Explorers have a standpipe in the trans. You remove the plug from the bottom of the standpipe. If fluid comes out, it was too high. If fluid doesn't come out, it's either perfect, or too low. The only thing you can do is pump fluid up the standpipe until it stars running out the standpipe when you remove your pump. Then let it stop running out, then put the cap back in and now the level is perfect.

It's ridiculous.:ar15: Of course, they are never supposed to leak, so you should never have to check the level, right?

 

[MountainClimber]

The Explorers have a standpipe in the trans. You remove the plug from the bottom of the standpipe. If fluid comes out, it was too high. If fluid doesn't come out, it's either perfect, or too low. The only thing you can do is pump fluid up the standpipe until it stars running out the standpipe when you remove your pump. Then let it stop running out, then put the cap back in and now the level is perfect.

It's ridiculous.:ar15: Of course, they are never supposed to leak, so you should never have to check the level, right?

Correct, I've never had to (been able to) check the trans level.