How to: The Comprehensive Brown Wire Mod Thread

[ke4asc]

More to do.....

[ Good Evening,
I am Trying the Mod Because I have NO control at all over the four wheel Drive . It's the Strangest thing I've Ever Seen. It's Not Complete yet , But I'll let you know how it turns out. This Machine will go into 4 wheel LOW on it's own and at will... most of the time on start up how ever. Then I have shut it down wait 10 minutes for it to clear, and restart. Real strange.
I have already taken the time to run the wires and connected the switch.
I am tring a different approach though.. I am installing a dpdt switch that allows the choice of factory settings OR Manual over ride to 4 high.
By the way It's got a center OFF position For safety too, With that i can stop that relay for energizing at all if I want too.( that's the Idea anyway.)
The Big Test will be tomorrow. Hope it works. Any thoughts?

Well Christmas Eve, I tried disengaging the unit with the switch.
I'd say there is a sneak circuit some where. it DID NOT work.
I may Modify the Mod a little, we shall see.More to do I guess....

 

[ke4asc]

Question?????

Anyone one Know where a Wiring diagram can be found for this system ????>>>

 

[2000co]

I'm thinking doing the mod but want to understand the benefit of doing it. I have ’00 explorer XLT that I already paid for T-case rebuilt. After reading several articles about T-case I understand how sensitive the T-case is and even if one of your tires doesn’t have the proper air pressure it can cause T-case burnout.

What’s the benefit of doing this mod on my truck? Will it protect the T-case from burnout if for example if one of your tires doesn’t have the proper air pressure?

 

[2000co]

I'm thinking doing the mod but want to understand the benefit of doing it. I have ’00 explorer XLT that I already paid for T-case rebuilt. After reading several articles about T-case I understand how sensitive the T-case is and even if one of your tires doesn’t have the proper air pressure it can cause T-case burnout.

What’s the benefit of doing this mod on my truck? Will it protect the T-case from burnout if for example if one of your tires doesn’t have the proper air pressure?

 

[Blooblud95]

Hi everyone,Im new here,I've been going through lots of threads but this one caught my intrest since I have a 95 4.0 xlt.My original transmission went south;so instead of searching any farther than my local salvage yards for another tranny,I simply bought a 98 mercury mountaineer 5.0 AWD for $500 from the yard.The mounty was totaled.
I stripped both trucks of thier motor,trans,complete wiring harnesses inside and out,including dashboard and gas tank.Two totally diffrent systems.
I swapped the complete 98 mounty system into my 95 Ex.A week and a half later,it started right up,a few bugs here and there that were codes from bad sensors.
now I am stuck with the all wheel drive;so I def. wanna change this.I purchased a 4406 transfer case with the shift motor out of a 97 F-250 from the guys at the yard.

My questions are this:

1)How am I going to get this F-250 4406 tranfer case (which does bolt and spline up to my 4R70w trans) to shift into all positions that my swtich says:
2wd/4auto/4Lo (dont forget I still have my 95 front diff. with vacuum lock actuator; and vac. switches are still intact in the front right fender

2)How will I get the front axle to engage in syncro with the tranfer case if I dont have the original GEM module in my Ex from my 95 system.Can I build my own relay system with a separate switch for the axle?:scratch:

 

[aj2005]

so if I want to se the brown wire under the seat correct me if im wrong. is to cut the brown wire. connect a wire to one of the cut brown wires then to a switch. then connect another wire to the other cut brown wire and connect it to the switch as well. you didnt mention how to do this with the brown wire under the seat.

 

[philm]

Well Christmas Eve, I tried disengaging the unit with the switch.
I'd say there is a sneak circuit some where. it DID NOT work.
I may Modify the Mod a little, we shall see.More to do I guess....

Sounds to me like either your clutch surfaces are fused together or your shift motor / encoder / switch -unless you have a manual shift Frankensploder (BW4406)- is defective.

-73 DE KC2FHZ

 

[philm]

Hi everyone,Im new here,I've been going through lots of threads but this one caught my intrest since I have a 95 4.0 xlt.My original transmission went south;so instead of searching any farther than my local salvage yards for another tranny,I simply bought a 98 mercury mountaineer 5.0 AWD for $500 from the yard.The mounty was totaled.
I stripped both trucks of thier motor,trans,complete wiring harnesses inside and out,including dashboard and gas tank.Two totally diffrent systems.
I swapped the complete 98 mounty system into my 95 Ex.A week and a half later,it started right up,a few bugs here and there that were codes from bad sensors.
now I am stuck with the all wheel drive;so I def. wanna change this.I purchased a 4406 transfer case with the shift motor out of a 97 F-250 from the guys at the yard.

My questions are this:

1)How am I going to get this F-250 4406 tranfer case (which does bolt and spline up to my 4R70w trans) to shift into all positions that my swtich says:
2wd/4auto/4Lo (dont forget I still have my 95 front diff. with vacuum lock actuator; and vac. switches are still intact in the front right fender

2)How will I get the front axle to engage in syncro with the tranfer case if I dont have the original GEM module in my Ex from my 95 system.Can I build my own relay system with a separate switch for the axle?:scratch:

My understanding of the old system is that to shift on the fly, the brown wire is first energized resulting in the front driveshaft spooling up to speed. The front diff. is then locked by the vacuum solenoid. You should be able to use the existing GEM the same way with the shift motor disconnected. The only thing is that you would'nt have 4Lo or 4Hi. You would only have 2WD and 4Auto. Ideally, I would suggest wiring up some relays to control the shift motor and front diff. lockup with a new selector switch and hook the brown wire to a pushbutton eliminating the GEM and 4Auto. To shift into 4Hi on the fly, you would hold down the button until the front driveshaft spools up to speed and then and only then flip your new selector switch to 4Hi. See here for the relays and selector and do read the whole thing.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=290109

If you don't have TOD (no brown wire) on your BW4406:
you'll have to either permanently lock up the front diff. by tieing the vacuum solenoid to the ignition circuit or bypassing it altogether with a vacuum line or selectively lock it up with a toggle switch. In the latter case -preferable for better fuel consumption- you would have to stop the vehicle before engaging the front differential.

I'm curious how you'll deal with the gas tank issue.

Best,
-Phil

 

[Blooblud95]

I will have to go with the 2nd gen. sport tank.Aprox.10" shorter,but not sure which year will have the tank pressure sensor,and the other one whatever that may be.

 

[philm]

gen2s should all be the same. No? Tank pressure sensor -they should have called it a tank vacuum sensor- for emission control and the fuel level sender.

 

[Schobanger]

Thank you! saved me a boatload of work. one quick question? is up and to the right the ground? or up and to the left the ground? thanks in advance

 

[philm]

um... On what?

The ground is below and all around.

 

[Schobanger]

ground wiring? come on now

 

[philm]

Seriously. On what? The tank sensor?

 

[Blee1099]

To ground the switch so it illuminates just ground it to a bolt.. There are plenty of bolts in the steering column, dash, etc that are grounds.

 

[philm]

Heh, yeah. I wasn't trying to give you a hard time. The ground side of the clutch coil is the transfercase's... 'case.' Maybe you were looking at the shift switch connector -front of a manual shift 4406- or shift motor connector -rear of an electric shift 4406- or not a 4406 at all? The brown wire comes out of the rear driveshaft cone (by itself) some of them have a white connector on the end.

 

[pqkawara]

Gentleman,

Does anyone know if this mod works on a 2002 Explorer? If so, is it the same procedure?

RCooper

i thought i read somewhere that once you turn the switch to "off" you cant engage the front axel again with the "on" position untill you re-started the vehical (turn "on" bwm switch, turn of truck and re-start it). is that true?

 

[Gabe96Explorer]

Ok... QUESTION... it isn't really answered well from what I have read.

I have a 96 Sport, 4x4 OHV with the Control Trac.

The brown wire mod, will simply disable the control trac "sensor" and allow me to have a constant locked 4WD high and constant locked 4WD Low, am I right?

 

[IZwack]

No, its the opposite, it disables 4wd - reread the thread

 

[Gabe96Explorer]

Oh.. Sadface.... LOL.

edit -

well... Thats not too bad... so I would be able to disable the front spinning wheel and have true 2WD?