Anyone rebuild a BW4406?

I'm looking to do the BW4406 swap like everyone else. Most of the how-to's and threads regarding the subject were done a few years ago. Of course the donor vehicles themselves are getting older and more mileage on them as time goes on.

The options of sourcing one for me are the following.

1.Rockauto.com = just over $1000, + $175 shipping (remanufactured)
2. one local wrecking yard = $550 mileage 121,000km (75,000 miles) who really knows right?
3. Call a few tranny shops $1500-$2000 rebuilt hahaha
4. Local pick and pull yard $200. lots of miles on the examples I scouted last week.

So the local pick and pull yard option is looking really good because they also have the linkage, shifter boots, driveshafts I need. I should get those items anyways regardless of where I get the TC from. What's really nice is they have about 10 1997-1998 F150's and 2 were manual BW4406 but both had high miles. I want a 1997-1998 so it plays friendly with my speedo.

So talking rebuild to a few tranny shops they still want lots of money and again they won't give you a firm price because until they open it up who knows what needs to be replaced.

So back to the title, how hard is it to rebuild one of these things? Any special tools required. Any books out there for this? I don't think an exploded parts diagram is going to cut it for me. I see a few sources online for internal parts.

Last question. What order would you do the following.

Body Lift,TT, WAR shackles, then TC? I'm thinking lift first to help with space for the Tcase and proper fitament of shifter in interior.

i want to say they are easy, but "i" didnt do mine. i watched one friend take it apart, but had to get another one to put it back together (the guy that took it apart was leaving on holidays, and i couldnt get the parts together before he left).
the thing with rock auto is, sure you get a new case, but you still need the shifter, rear yoke, and front drive shaft (btw, depending on on what your yards want, i have a front drive shaft with new u joints in it that i will never use now if your interested in it). with a wreaking yard, they may give you a warranty, and you might be able to haggle a price for the rest of the stuff you need.
if your wanting to lift it, i would do the body lift, then the case for the reason you said, to make the shifter the length it needs to be, and clearance. its not that hard to put one of these cases in without a body lift however.

You can get the timkin "rebuild" kit from Rockauto for $92 which consists of 4 bearings, not sure about seals. I plan on making 1 out of 2 here soon as I have a manual 4406 out of a 02 F150 and need the speedo tailshaft out of a 98 expedition case I have.

Ahh choices. I'm really on the fence. I'm trying to put together a manifest in my head of what I would need in respect for tools to pull a TCase by myself in the dirt on my back in the pick and pull yard.

Or i just focus on getting the driveshafts and shifter and boot and linkage first. I got 3 ankle biters at home and dont want to spend the whole day or weekend in a yard pulling junk off a truck. Whats involved in pulling the shift linkage off of a F150 with t case still in place.

I knew when I was at home depot and saw that makita cordless reciprocating saw that it would be usefull and go nicely with my other makita cordless 18V li-on tools. Haha. In all seriousness I would need that tool to remove some exhaust to attempt the TCase removal. Would it be needed to remove some of the tranny tunnel to get to the linkage or can a guy get at it from underneath?

you can get the linkage with it still in the truck, its a little tricky, but not impossible. the case on the other hand......once you get past the drive shafts, and exhaust, you have to deal with the cross member for the (if i recall) torsion bars. thats when you dont want young ears near you.

vroomzoomboom said:

you can get the linkage with it still in the truck, its a little tricky, but not impossible. the case on the other hand......once you get past the drive shafts, and exhaust, you have to deal with the cross member for the (if i recall) torsion bars. thats when you dont want young ears near you.

Click to expand...

Haha. Well I'm going this Sunday to see what I can gather for parts. Wish me luck. I'll see if I can find someone dumb enough to help me..... Celly you listening... Hahha and Yes and I do recall seeing that cross member last weekend when I was there. I'll see what kind of carnage I can do to myself and the donor truck in the process.

Thanks for the driveshaft offer but they only want $40 per driveshaft and shipping from you to me would cost more than that anyway.

Here is the current inventory at this yard of 97-98 F150's.

The date on the end of each listing is when that truck arrived on the yard. All pretty recent. This is a high volume place I couldn't believe the amount of people there last weekend.

Ford F-150 98 0059 08/16/2012
Ford F-150 98 0060 08/23/2012
Ford F-150 98 0155 07/24/2012
Ford F-150 97 0030 09/06/2012
Ford F-150 97 0031 06/28/2012
Ford F-150 97 0056 07/30/2012
Ford F-150 97 0059 08/16/2012
Ford F-150 97 0060 08/23/2012

The swap is going to happen probably next year. I will be gathering parts slowly for the lift and tires for budgetary purposes and winter season is coming as well. This also allows me to take my time rebuilding the TCase.

find a rear drive shaft from a short box (cant remember if it has to be a step side or not). it will have a double cardon.

vroomzoomboom said:

find a rear drive shaft from a short box (cant remember if it has to be a step side or not). it will have a double cardon.

Click to expand...

I can also use the rear driveshaft from an expedition correct? Because I saw one of those there too.

I just picked up a 18V Makita LXT cordless reciprocating saw (minus battery and charger) and lots of metal blades that shares batteries with my drill and impact driver I already have.

Here is a list of things I think I may need to bring to the junkyard

Coveralls
Foam puzzle mats to lay on ground
Gloves, safety glasses
Cordless reciprocating saw
Screwdrivers
Combination wrenches metric/standard, plus ratcheting ones
Sockets/torx bits, universal swivel
Side cutters/pliers
Penetrating lube
Lots of saws all blades
Headlamp
Tool bag
Cardboard & plastic bags for truck
Floor jack & Wood blocks
BFH Hammer,punches, cold chisel

EDIT: thanks Jon
15mm 17mm ( both deep and shallow) plus 13mm for the crossmember.

7/8" and 3/4" for the trans mount bolts. A curved wrench can be used for the top transfer case to transmission bolts, without removing the console.

save the bolts which attach the shifter to the transmission, you need them. Try to get all 3 shifter parts, plus the 2 boots . Be sure to get the plug with a bit of pigtail for the shift position sensor.




Am I missing anything?

15mm 17mm ( both deep and shallow) plus 13mm for the crossmember.

7/8" and 3/4" for the trans mount bolts. A curved wrench can be used for the top transfer case to transmission bolts, without removing the console.

save the bolts which attach the shifter to the transmission, you need them. Try to get all 3 shifter parts, plus the 2 boots . Be sure to get the plug with a bit of pigtail for the shift position sensor.

Yes, get a 5.4l expedition rear drive shaft.

You shouldn't need a body lift. Stang5lgt and I just swapped a 4406 into Puff in about 6 hours, without the body lift.

Send him a PM, he has a way to make the front drive shaft inexpensively.

I "think" it uses a Jeep Cherokee front slip yoke stuck onto a ranger rear shaft with Double cardaan

Turdle said:

15mm 17mm ( both deep and shallow) plus 13mm for the crossmember.

7/8" and 3/4" for the trans mount bolts. A curved wrench can be used for the top transfer case to transmission bolts, without removing the console.

save the bolts which attach the shifter to the transmission, you need them. Try to get all 3 shifter parts, plus the 2 boots . Be sure to get the plug with a bit of pigtail for the shift position sensor.

Yes, get a 5.4l expedition rear drive shaft.

You shouldn't need a body lift. Stang5lgt and I just swapped a 4406 into Puff in about 6 hours, without the body lift.

Send him a PM, he has a way to make the front drive shaft inexpensively.

I "think" it uses a Jeep Cherokee front slip yoke stuck onto a ranger rear shaft with Double cardaan

Click to expand...

Thanks for ALL the info Jon.

I know I don't need the bodylift to put the TCase in but I do want to clear 285/70R17 tires when she's all said and done.

As far as a 6hr install for the Tcase. times that by 3 for me. I've seen the work you and Stang5lgt do and I will bow down.

If I get a front shaft from an expedition or F150 for $40 at the JY and get the conversion U joint. Is this not a cheap option?

ford99_1979 said:

Thanks for ALL the info Jon.

I know I don't need the bodylift to put the TCase in but I do want to clear 285/70R17 tires when she's all said and done.

As far as a 6hr install for the Tcase. times that by 3 for me. I've seen the work you and Stang5lgt do and I will bow down.

If I get a front shaft from an expedition or F150 for $40 at the JY and get the conversion U joint. Is this not a cheap option?

Click to expand...

It would have been faster "if" I wasn't there I think.

One big snag was the shifter bolt bosses on the explorer transmission. Mine were caked with dry mud--dust. We had to run a tap into them, a couple times each using a cresent wrench. Talk about slooooowww. This alone seemed to take an hour to work around.

I see what you mean. My tranny is nice and clean, but the threads may have paint or minimal crud in them at the very least. Its probably a sound idea to quickly run a tap in them anyways.

I'll ask again. Is the front shaft from an expedition or F150 for $40 at the JY and the conversion U joint not a inexpensive way to go?

Got a BW4406 and accessories !

Tools ready for the job


Donor truck




Opened up like a can of sardines for easier access to the shifter, shift linkage and top transfer case bolts.




After 3 hours of rolling in the dirt, I got it done. I had a helper lined up who bailed on me last minute this morning. I will admit I was real close to giving up on the transfer case as the torsion bar crossmember was not co-operating. Thanking myself for bringing a cordless sawsall. Just cut it out. Also got all the pigtail harnesses, shift linkage, shift boot and front driveshaft. I had a time limit and just got done in time.


The only realy letdown was that the expedition that was in the yard had its rear driveshaft last weekend when I scouted out the yard but this weekend it was gone.... So i'm going to have to source a rear driveshaft. I'm less worried about that because I got everything else.

I also paid less than I was quoted last week. I thought the transfer case was $200 itself. So I was pleasantly surprised when it came to $200 for everything. I think because of the savings here I will be dropping off the case to a shop to go through it due to the higher mileage on it. 335,000km (209,000 miles)


Checking it out at home. Really glad I glad I got the right unit that will play nice with my gear driven speedo in my 1996.

nice score! that was one PITA i had when i pulled my case was the torsion bar cross member, and that was doing it at work, truck up on its side, and a front end loader trying to pick the cross member away for me. pull the bottom drain plug out, and see what the color is, and if it stinks or not. that will tell you what to expect on rebuild cost.

I wasted time unbolting the torsion bar cross member and ended up cutting it out anyways. The other close calls I had was at the end when I almost was ready to pull the last few bolts for the case and was using a ratchet and backing out the bolts right into the transmission. Basically you wedge the back end of the ratchet into the transmission so tightly you cant switch the direction on the ratchet to get the socket off the bolt head. I got it off with some heavy prying with a large screwdriver.

I'd like to thank the following tools.
Makita 18V sawsall - wasn't going to happen without this tool today and the 5 blades I brought and used them all!!! Hhaha
Craftsman Ratcheting box end wrenches with swivel end
WD40 - it gives you an advantage
Curved habdle swivel head 3/8 drive ratchet
18V Makita impact driver with 1/4 and 3/8" socket adapters. Time and energy saver

Im a big believer in having the right tools for the job. I ended up bringing more stuff then I needed but I had no clue what I was getting into today.


I'm not sure but the transfer case was already drained and the plug was just loosely in place. Perhaps the yard does that for environmental reasons. So guys like me don't come and drain the fluid right there on the ground. The small amount of fluid that soaked the arm of my coveralls and T-shirt underneath when I pulled it off the tranny tail shaft was red in color and no bad smell. So that's a good sign