How to: 4x4 high in a 95-96 4x4 Explorer

Here it is boys, a full writeup forus 95-96 guys that want to do away with 4x4 auto so that we can have TRUE 4x4 high. It works similar to the brown wire mod for the 97-01 guys. All pictures are courtesy of gijoecam.

Start off by removing your radio and the radio bezel as well. There are two screws holding it, then it should pop off. You will then need to remove the vent ducting that is behind it. It is also held on by two screws.

You can also see in the pic the GEM unit on the left hand side. Take the three plugs out that face you first, then remove the one screw that holds it in. It can then be slid down, the out. Then it is easier to remove the bottom plug and can be removed.





Next, you will see a large bundle of wires behind where the GEM was. You will need to search through the wires and find the brown wire. You can see in the pic what it looks like.





You will then want to carefully cut the black tape off of the splice so that it looks as such.





Then you need to cut the wire that is going towards the drivers side. This is the wire for the Transfer Case Clutch Coil (TCC coil).





Now I used 14 awg wire, you can use either 14 or 16 awg. You will need to run a wire to your switch location (wherever you put it) from the TCC coil wire we just cut, a wire from the original brown wire, and a wire from a 12v power source. I used the cigarette lighter positive wire as a 12v tap. This 12v wire will need to be fused, 15 amps is what I used (your switch should be rated for 20 amps).





Now for wiring up your switch, you should have bought a SPDT or DPDT switch. I used the latter. If you would like to have the ability of having swd low, you should use a on-off-on switch. Otherwise you can use an on-on switch. This will also allow you to have your original factory settings if you wantedd to use it. I wired my switch up like so:





And VIOLA! You can now have 4x4 high instead of crappy 4x4 auto! To use your new switch, you must be stopped, turn you factory knob to 4x4 auto, then engage your new switch for power so you have 4x4 high. You want to be stopped when engaging and disengaging your new switch for 4x4 high. You also want to be sure that you do not leave your new switch engaged for 4x4 high while the car is off, otherwise you run the risk of draining your battery. Best way to prevent this would be to use a switched 12v source, I did not, o well.


Well, hope that helped out some of you 95-96 4x4 guys. My thanks go to gijoecam because without his help, this would not have been at all possible. Good luck!

very very cool! i will be doing it soon. but i'm alittle confused about the switch. anyone have a pic of what this switch looks like we should use?

I just used a 3 position (on-off-on) dpdt toggle switch. My diagram is looking at the back.

Have you had problems with using your switch while in motion? I never stopped to engage the clutch in my old Explorer. BUT, mine was set up a little different... I ran a relay to power the actual wire on the TC that engages the clutch. I used just an on/off switch to power the relay and had a diode to keep from feeding power backwards into the switch circuits.

Your way is ALOT easier than the way I did mine. GOOD JOB.

I first saw this picture and went, "Hey, that guy's got the same trouble light that I have!"..... then I realized those were my pictures, LOL!!!

Hey, moderators, can we get this stickied up under the brown wire thread? It's kind of the same mod, just slightly different wiring.

Just a couple of notes:

You can engage the transfer case with the brown-wire switch on-the-fly with no problems once the front axle is engaged (i.e. the OEM switch set to auto). With the front axle disengaged, I suspect that engaging the manual switch would result in a clunk as the front driveshaft spools up to speed, but with no load on it and the axle shaft broken, it shouldn't do any major damage. I would test it myself, but I've got a '98 with a live front axle.

For the switch, there's no reason you couldn't use a SPDT as well. You would simply lose the two extra terminals. If you really wanted to get fancy, you could use a DPDT switch to light a dual-colored LED to tell you which mode you were in. (I've got my accessory switches in my truck wired-up that way. E-mail me if you need a schematic for it)

I think he meant that if you want the option of 2WD LOW, you want to use the on-off-on. Using an on-on switch will allow you to have 4auto and 4hi and 4 low, just no 2low.

Glad I finally convinced someone else to try it!

-Joe

FYI, this is now linked in the List of Useful Threads.

Thanks, Rick!

ok i'm gonna try and do this today..but if i cant find a 3 position switch. can i use a normal "on-off" switch? thanks guys

Yes, you *can* but you will not be able to wire it up to be able to use 4auto still. You will either have 4wd or 2wd, but no 4 auto.

-Joe

gijoecam said:

Yes, you *can* but you will not be able to wire it up to be able to use 4auto still. You will either have 4wd or 2wd, but no 4 auto.

-Joe

Click to expand...

i searched and searched today and i think i found a 3-way switch.


it has 3 prongs on the back. the middle one is for the power..the other 2 say "acc"...so will this do what i want it to do? meaning will it give me auto4x4 and 4x4high.

thanks guys..i really want to do this but i'm alittle scared

yep thats the three way switch they are talking about..



this is on my list of things to do too

ok i'm going out to the garage to do it right now..YAY

ok guys...i'm really confused..my '96 with a build date of 11/95.....and i have no brown wire!?! i do have a tan/blue set of wires. and they splice together like the brown wire. but..they both go tword the drivers side...what do i do?

heres what mine looks like

So on one "on" position, you'd have your factory settings, the other "on" positon, you'd have the option of having 4hi when your factory switch is set to auto?

Hartman - that is correct.

In one of the ON positions, I have 4x4 auto and 4x4 low
In the OFF position, I have 2wd high and low
In the other ON position, I have 4x4 high and 4x4 low

This is awesome, I could have used 4hi earlier tonight.

Just curious, how does this work exactly?

well i gave up...after cutting 2 of the wrong wires and not seeing a brown wire anywhere...i fixed what i had cut and put it back together..guess i was not ment to have this mad.

I might give this a whorl tomorrow....AK I'll let you know if mine has the correct color wires.

thanks hartman..i'm at a loss why i couldent find anything like what was in the pics.

both the wires that looked like they should have been the "brown wire" when cut stoped my drivers window from working(was alot of fun getting them reconnected..lol). and i looked thru the bundle a few times and could not find anything else that could be it.

Maybe it is possible that since the pics are taken from a 98 that the colors are different in a 95-96?

yeah that was my thinking also...but then i found a red set of wires that seemed like it had to be it..but it also just stoped my drivers window...and i still had auto4x4 after cutting the wire.

i just couldent seem to find any wires that size and together like that other then the ones i tryed. and they did not work out.