I got my strong box from behemoth drivetrain. It has worked awesome for me and I have had no problems.
1. Remove these things:
Both drive lines
Crossmember (be sure to support the transmission)
Remove exhaust from the down pipe.
2.Unplug wiring hareness from shift motor if you have 1354 T case if not, pull spedo cable out of the tale shaft for 1350's. Remove bolts holding Tcase to transmission.
3. Drop T-case out
4. Place new doubler case in and mount to tranny. Do not tighten all bolts down yet. Mount old T-case to strong box (I used a 1350 manual shift T-case so I had to extend the shift linkage).
5. On the explorers, there is a removable aluminum plate in the floor that all the shifters come up out of. This is where your new strong box shift lever will come out of. You will need to cut your own hole in the aluminum plate(I cut mine out with a cut off wheel).
6. You will have to extend your linkage (for the 1350 T-case), you may need to extend wiring harness for 1354 T-case because it will no longer reach the plug.
7. Now you need to modify your stock crossmember. I cut the crossmember just to the left of the tranny mount location. This allowed me to flip the piece I cut over so that the crossmember would not interfere with the front driveline. This is too hard to explain so I will get pictures posted by the end of the weekend for you guys to see.
8. Jacob from Behemoth Driveterrain said I did not have to build a second crossmember although I did for extra support and protection. I reinforced the T-case skid plate by placing metal rods in the grooves. I then welded them in place. Then I bolted the skid plate back on and made a template out of cardboard to make a bracket (1/4") that will be welded to the top of the skid plate and come up to have two bolt holes drilled. These holes will mount to the bracket that came on the strong box. I will post a pic by the end of the weekend.
9.You will need to extend your front drive line and shorten your rear drive line. Measure from the center of flanges to center of pinion flanges. after getting your measurements, I used a cut off wheel to shorten the rear drive line ( I did it from the axle side although I dont think it matters which side you do it from). They say you are not supposed to extend drive lines although I could not find a drive line that would work good from any nearby junkyard so I used a Bronco 2 front driveline because it would slip into the yolk of my transfer case. After adjusting the drivelines be sure they are balanced or you will have vibrations while driving (more important for vehichles that are used on the street).
10. The way I did my 2nd crossmember (step #8) made it so that my previous exhaust could not be used so I had to take it to a nearby exhaust shop so they could make a new exhaust system.
11. Now that everything is mocked up, you can fill your transfer case and strong box up with fluid. To do this, I dropped the rear t-case out (im not sure if you have to but that is the way I did it). You can fill the strong box up while it is in. I used 80W for the strong box and ATF for the original tcase.
12. make sure to go back over everthing and tighten all bolts. Paint all bare metal so that it does not get rusty.
Here are some pics that I do have at this time:
1. Remove these things:
Both drive lines
Crossmember (be sure to support the transmission)
Remove exhaust from the down pipe.
2.Unplug wiring hareness from shift motor if you have 1354 T case if not, pull spedo cable out of the tale shaft for 1350's. Remove bolts holding Tcase to transmission.
3. Drop T-case out
4. Place new doubler case in and mount to tranny. Do not tighten all bolts down yet. Mount old T-case to strong box (I used a 1350 manual shift T-case so I had to extend the shift linkage).
5. On the explorers, there is a removable aluminum plate in the floor that all the shifters come up out of. This is where your new strong box shift lever will come out of. You will need to cut your own hole in the aluminum plate(I cut mine out with a cut off wheel).
6. You will have to extend your linkage (for the 1350 T-case), you may need to extend wiring harness for 1354 T-case because it will no longer reach the plug.
7. Now you need to modify your stock crossmember. I cut the crossmember just to the left of the tranny mount location. This allowed me to flip the piece I cut over so that the crossmember would not interfere with the front driveline. This is too hard to explain so I will get pictures posted by the end of the weekend for you guys to see.
8. Jacob from Behemoth Driveterrain said I did not have to build a second crossmember although I did for extra support and protection. I reinforced the T-case skid plate by placing metal rods in the grooves. I then welded them in place. Then I bolted the skid plate back on and made a template out of cardboard to make a bracket (1/4") that will be welded to the top of the skid plate and come up to have two bolt holes drilled. These holes will mount to the bracket that came on the strong box. I will post a pic by the end of the weekend.
9.You will need to extend your front drive line and shorten your rear drive line. Measure from the center of flanges to center of pinion flanges. after getting your measurements, I used a cut off wheel to shorten the rear drive line ( I did it from the axle side although I dont think it matters which side you do it from). They say you are not supposed to extend drive lines although I could not find a drive line that would work good from any nearby junkyard so I used a Bronco 2 front driveline because it would slip into the yolk of my transfer case. After adjusting the drivelines be sure they are balanced or you will have vibrations while driving (more important for vehichles that are used on the street).
10. The way I did my 2nd crossmember (step #8) made it so that my previous exhaust could not be used so I had to take it to a nearby exhaust shop so they could make a new exhaust system.
11. Now that everything is mocked up, you can fill your transfer case and strong box up with fluid. To do this, I dropped the rear t-case out (im not sure if you have to but that is the way I did it). You can fill the strong box up while it is in. I used 80W for the strong box and ATF for the original tcase.
12. make sure to go back over everthing and tighten all bolts. Paint all bare metal so that it does not get rusty.
Here are some pics that I do have at this time: