I replaced the front/driver's side blend door actuator on my 2003 Explorer Limited last week using the excellent info in this post.
My Ex has DATC. I noticed a couple of differences between the excellent info posted here regarding the manual climate control and my vehicle's DATC configuration, so I thought I'd share my observations.
Most of the hex head screws holding my center console in place were actually 10MM heads. Also, I do not have any covers over the rear set of screws that hold the console to the floor at the back of the console, so it was real easy to find the rear set of screws.
I have an additional wiring connector under my center console that connects to the AdvanceTrac switch. It's just one more thing to disconnect when removing the center console.
In my vehicle there's a white plastic duct that routes air to the driver side defroster vents from the lower blower vent area. This duct/conduit passes smack dab over the driver's side actuator. As such I had to disconnect the top section of the duct and then move it out of the way in order to make space to extract the actuator.
There's also a wiring bundle that routes through the same area that I needed to move around to free up space.
I did not need to may any cuts to my dash in order to remove the old actuator or to install the new one, but there's very little room to maneuver the actuator. The only thing that suffered cuts during the entire process were my hands.
I didn't have much slack in the actuator's connector cable. I think the hardest part of the entire process was reconnecting the connector after installing the new actuator.
My rationale for replacing the actuator was a combination of the "ticking" symptom and a lack of cold airflow on the driver's side when using A/C. I disassembled my old actuator but didn't seem to have any gear damage. I used the old actuator shaft to test movement of the blend door and did notice the blend door did a bit of sticking in the "full heat"position, but I was able to work the door back and forth several times and free up the movement. I'll have to wait for a warm day to see if this fixes my problem completely.