How to: Convert V8 AWD to BW 4406 Manual Shift- A how to thread

[Kevlar7R]

mine has never done that. I shift to neutral, and then can easily shift to 4low. No grinding, no issues. I have a newly remanufactured trans, but it didn't do it with the old dying trans either.

 

[Turdle]

mine has never done that. I shift to neutral, and then can easily shift to 4low. No grinding, no issues. I have a newly remanufactured trans, but it didn't do it with the old dying trans either.

Not while in a drive gear you can't--

 

[vroomzoomboom]

only issue i have ever had was once i couldnt get the t case out of 4hi. i had the truck jacked up on one corner (was hooking the lights up), so the truck was twisted. started to get frustrated at it. finally, i put it on the ground and was going to walk away from it, but decided to try it one more time, then it worked like it normally did. dont know why, but it did.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

one more thing i will add, and thought i did. you can use a mustang polly bushing from a 87-93 fox body on the trans to replace the weaker stock explorer ones.



you will need to cut and reweld the crossmember

 

[Hybred]

I am at a complete stop with the trans in Neutral or Park, and I can't get the TC to move out of neutral, it just grinds. Only way to get the TC out of neutral is to shut the engine off.
I know the F150 & F250's don't have this problem, Ford just wouldn't do that. So there must be some small difference between my transmission and the ones that come from the factory with a manual TC. A spring, valve, check ball, some small adjustment to keep the tailshaft from spinning when the TC is in neutral.

 

[rabbit91]

That is so strange

 

[ahodges]

I am at a complete stop with the trans in Neutral or Park, and I can't get the TC to move out of neutral, it just grinds. Only way to get the TC out of neutral is to shut the engine off.
I know the F150 & F250's don't have this problem, Ford just wouldn't do that. So there must be some small difference between my transmission and the ones that come from the factory with a manual TC. A spring, valve, check ball, some small adjustment to keep the tailshaft from spinning when the TC is in neutral.

So you're sure that when you are in 2hi or 4hi you are coming to a complete stop (not rolling at all before this) and then putting the transmission in neutral. Once you are at this point you then pull the transfer case down into neutral the proceed to 4low? If you did everything in these exact steps and are still having issues then I have no idea what is going on. It's a timing thing to get the scequence right. If you are still moving before you take the transmission or transfer case out of gear it, the transfer case will grind going back into either gear.

As long as your truck doesn't move by itself with the transmission in park and all brakes released then your transmission is no different than any other made by Ford.

 

[Kevlar7R]

Not while in a drive gear you can't--

Maybe I should have been more clear. Shift the TRANS to neutral, then I can easily shift the tcase to neutral or 4lo and back.

No grinding, but occasionally a thunk as it seats in to gear.

 

[CheapThrillEX]

Its not uncommon for the tail shaft to spin when the trans is in neutral with no resistance against.

I run into this ALL the time when i put a vehicle in neutral and start it on my hoist. Fwd rwd doesn't matter. Start them up in neutral with the tires off the ground and the wheels start spinning. Lower it down to the ground and the wheels stop and the vehicle doesn't go anywhere.

 

[gmanpaint]

I'm thinking the shifter itself is not aligned correctly. Even a small degree off, and it will cause the grind. Been here, done that.

 

[T/REXPLORER]

AWD to 4WD, using electric shift.

I've been reading today about what I need to do this. Parts are in the first page of the stickied thread but the info is scattered on the electric shifting T-case.

From what I gather I want a 5.4l Expedition rear driveshaft, and a 4.6l F-150 front driveshaft.

I know I need a 4406 case but I saw it mentioned that AFTER 98' the electric shift cases didn't have a VSS which I assume I need since my Explorer is a 2001.



In the photos it really appears the manual shifter is in a spot that would hit my right leg with the way I drive. Also, I've never had an electric shift case give me issues but I have had broken shift linkage.


Any tips on which case is needed to use the electric shift option?
On the manual shift is the shifter "in the way"
Any other tips on swapping to a 4x4 case that uses an electronic shift?

 

[CDW6212R]

I've been reading today about what I need to do this. Parts are in the first page of the stickied thread but the info is scattered on the electric shifting T-case.

From what I gather I want a 5.4l Expedition rear driveshaft, and a 4.6l F-150 front driveshaft.

I know I need a 4406 case but I saw it mentioned that AFTER 98' the electric shift cases didn't have a VSS which I assume I need since my Explorer is a 2001.



In the photos it really appears the manual shifter is in a spot that would hit my right leg with the way I drive. Also, I've never had an electric shift case give me issues but I have had broken shift linkage.


Any tips on which case is needed to use the electric shift option?
On the manual shift is the shifter "in the way"
Any other tips on swapping to a 4x4 case that uses an electronic shift?

Your Explorer has the VSS in the rear, so you don't need the one on the trans. I have a 98 Navigator 4406 and it has it, unneeded.

The electric shift 4406 is the TOD version, Aaron here made the first thread about that swap. It takes the same drive shafts, but the TC itself is more rare and expensive. Hunt around for a while, take your time. I got mine for about $250, over half was shipping.

The TOD swap requires a GEM from a proper year 4WD V6 truck, 98-01 for you. It also needs the 4WD module and TOD module from those same trucks, all three modules are reached from the radio opening.

You will need a radio bezel from those same 98-01 V6 4WD trucks, for the switch. A couple of the needed 4WD wires are not in all of the harnesses. Aaron didn't need to add them I believe, but check on that, so I don't know which they are. I haven't gotten to that research yet.

The shift motor requires extra space at the back, so you have to swap a Sport gas tank in place, after moving the front tank mount. I have what I think will work too in the Sport tank space. I hope to graft(epoxy) the top tank section onto my old 93 4dr tank(plastic). That would be a 22 gallon tank that's the same length as the 95-01 17 gallon tank, using the short skid plate with it.

 

[ahodges]

I've been reading today about what I need to do this. Parts are in the first page of the stickied thread but the info is scattered on the electric shifting T-case.

From what I gather I want a 5.4l Expedition rear driveshaft, and a 4.6l F-150 front driveshaft.

I know I need a 4406 case but I saw it mentioned that AFTER 98' the electric shift cases didn't have a VSS which I assume I need since my Explorer is a 2001.



In the photos it really appears the manual shifter is in a spot that would hit my right leg with the way I drive. Also, I've never had an electric shift case give me issues but I have had broken shift linkage.


Any tips on which case is needed to use the electric shift option?
On the manual shift is the shifter "in the way"
Any other tips on swapping to a 4x4 case that uses an electronic shift?

You will need everything that CDW said. One suggest I have is to use a stock 91-96 explorer front drive shaft with an addapter on the transfercase end though. Those drive shafts have a double cardon u-joint at the transfercase and will reduce or eliminate vibration cased by the single u-joint F-150 drive shaft. That is the route I went when I put a 4406 TOD transfercase in my truck.

The addapter is listed on here as well.

 

[ahodges]

Here is a link to the thread page where they start talking about the electronics needed for installing the 4406TOD in a V8 Explorer: Electronic 4406 Page 11

Here is the page where he switches the F-150 drive shaft out for a 91-96 explorer front drive shaft and installs the Precision 627 Universal Joint Yoke adapter at post #274: Front Drive Shaft

- this is exactly what I did and I haven't had any problems.

 

[bigcrunch]

Maybe I should have been more clear. Shift the TRANS to neutral, then I can easily shift the tcase to neutral or 4lo and back.

No grinding, but occasionally a thunk as it seats in to gear.

Best practice on shifting manual TC with a auto trans.

1. apply foot brake and hold firmly until shift is complete.
2. trans in park
3. shift transfer case.
4. release brake and go.

What you are doing is keeping the trans out put shaft from spinning while in park so no grind going past neutral in transfer case. Keeping brake applied keeps the driveline from loading up by taking up the slop\clearance in all moving parts and allowing the transfer case range forks to slide without resistance, assuming internals are all good.

If still having issue or are unsure about above procedure stop vehicle on slight grade hill facing down,

1. apply foot brake
2.trans in neutral.
3.shut off vehicle
4.grab transfer case shifter
5.let vehicle roll real slow and pull or push range transfer shifter to desired selection.
6.stop rolling and start vehicle > go

Doing this you are aligning mesh point by rotating them slowly. IF you still have issues there maybe a mechanical problem.

 

[bigcrunch]

I am having an issue with my Ex after the manual swap, and was wondering if anyone else ran into this too. If I pull the transfer case down into neutral, I can't get it back into any gear. It grinds, regardless of what the transmission is in, park or neutral. If I shut the engine off, it will go into either gear with a little bit of difficulty.

-Everything works fine once the transfer case is in gear.
-Transfer case comes out of gear into neutral just fine, no issues.
-Also, while the TC is in neutral, and the truck running, if I shift into Park I get that awful clicking noise as if I were still moving and threw it into park.
-Truck running, trans in Park or Neutral, and TC in neutral it sounds like the TC is spinning, as if the trans were in a forward gear.

I believe my problem is in the transmission, allowing the tailshaft to spin while the engine is running, but I have no idea what it could be. Thanks to the first snow of the year alerting me to the issue. And Thanks to anyone who can help me out.

when in 2h you put it in park does the vehicle roll more than a couple of inches?

 

[Hybred]

when in 2h you put it in park does the vehicle roll more than a couple of inches?

No, it didn't roll at all, I had it parked on completely flat ground, engine at idle.

As soon as the TC was shifted into Neutral, the driveshaft on the trans would begin to spin, making any other shifts impossible. I have to shut the engine off in order to get out of Neutral with the TC.

I havn't even bothered with it in a while, really havn't had the need. My PCM quit on me about a month ago, and I had noticed before, that my idle was kinda high. Maybe it was the high idle that would spin the trans output shaft? IDK

edit: I may have interpreted your question wrong. Usually, with normal driving in 2H my vehicle does roll some when I shift it to park. I would guess about 6" or so, it is very noticeable.

 

[kurupt]

One more AWD converted, got the BW4406 in tonight, and rear driveshaft in. One question though, how do you get the old Ujoint out to put in the conversion joint? Mine is stuck like no tomorrow. Anyways, off to the yard tomorrow to pickup the linkage.

 

[ahodges]

on the front drive shaft? I didn't do mine own, I had a drive train shop put it together and balance it.

 

[bigcrunch]

One more AWD converted, got the BW4406 in tonight, and rear driveshaft in. One question though, how do you get the old Ujoint out to put in the conversion joint? Mine is stuck like no tomorrow. Anyways, off to the yard tomorrow to pickup the linkage.

soak it in penetrating oil or ATF ,, not WD40.