I bought a 97 X Sport, and I have possible transmission/transfer case issues.

[Zach_just]

I would like to say hello to every one on this forum. I was so happy to find out that there was a place for X's alike.
I was recently a proud owner of an 86 ranger that my GF wanted gone so we could get something newer. So.....
I found a 97 X Sport trac that a Buddie of mine had. It has zero rust and everything is in fantastic working order... well except for one thing... Transmission. After reading many of the posts here I found out that this is a very common thing.
I will be towing it to my house tomorrow and I am going to start the process of fixing it but I was hoping for some feedback on things to try/do first.

Right now it starts and runs great but as soon as you put it into any gear there is a grinding noise and there is no movement. I am thinking that it is going to be all hard parts being replaced.

Any way, thanks for reading and I look forward to making some new acquaintances here.

Zach

 

[Axial32]

Hey...Welcome to the forum...what color it the X-Sport..?

 

[Zach_just]

It is black ex with Grey interior.
Here are some picks of it.
The only rust I could find on it was on the running bars.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

welcome zach u plan on doing mods to it or what and do u got aim or yahoo

 

[Zach_just]

Mods!!! Damn, I forgot to talk about mods. Must have been a long day.

I still have a 3" body lift from my Ranger that I was planing on installing if all goes as planed. I just picked up some 15" steel rims with about a 4" offset, still thinking about tires and sizes. I have a Cone filter, magnaflow muffler and material for a huge bush bumper. 4 6" off road lights and I picked up a bunch of steel for a roof basket (If that what they are called).
I didnt even realise until now but I have all of thease things yet I will be getting the truck tomorrow. I guess I have my weekend full.
I also plan on doing a complete detailing job on it, full cut, all 3 stages. Should come out looking new. Well, until those pesky trees bump into me.

I don't use AIM or Yahoo but thanks for asking. I do use skype but its for clients only.

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

Nice Ex!

Do they still do Peach Fest there? Not that I would remember the last!

 

[Zach_just]

Peach Fest is in Pentiction from what I remember, and I think they still do it. I heard that one year there was a bit of a small riot and a bunch of people started pushing/rolling the giant peach around. That would have been a sight to see.

So any one have any suggestion to my tranny problems? Things to look for first before cracking it open?

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! It sounds like it's a transfer case problem, and not a transmission problem. Your vehicle looks nice!

 

[Zach_just]

Welcome to this forum! It sounds like it's a transfer case problem, and not a transmission problem. Your vehicle looks nice!

So it looks like it wasn't the tranny after all. I switched it into 4low and to my surprise it went into gear and worked. But.... it would not work in 4high or auto. I pulled the t-case servo motor and manually switched it to high as indicated by the arrows were the motor would mount. I was able to drive it in high but the front wheels were definitely engaged as It was not liking tight steering on pavement. The switch was on auto so I would assume that the (not sure about if this is what it is called) TCCC would be on 4auto and the t-case would be on 4high.
I am wondering if the motor is just old and cant engage the t-case into gear or if it has some kind of adjustment?

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

-Zach

 

[joshwho44]

The transfer case used in the Control Trac 4wd system is only shifted between 4lo and 4high by the shift motor. The transfer case clutch engages and disengages the front drive shaft for 2wd/4wd action, the shift motor has no bearing on this at all. Sounds like what my sport did last fall when the t-case blew... I was able to limp down the street and have it towed, but it made some terrible grinding noises and felt "crunchy" even at slow speed <10mph. I was at school when mine went out and had no time to work on the truck. Cost over a grand to have the entire case rebuilt. If it turns out to be the t-case it may be easier to replace it with a used case than to repair it. You could even step up to a BW 1354 manual t-case!

 

[Zach_just]

I should probably mention that the previous owner’s nephew switched it into 4low and it was driven enough to do some major damage. So he went and had a new t-case installed. It only has 3months of mild driving on it.
I don’t see it being the t-case as when it is shifted manually it has no problems other than the front drive shaft still being engaged.
If I did the BWM and was confident that the t-case would stay in 4high without the servo motor I would be more than happy to just do that, but I know that there has to be some reason these issues are happening and I would rather fix it than Mickey Mouse it.

Thanks for your advice,

-Zach

 

[joshwho44]

To test it you could do the bwn or disconnect the brown wire from the t-case. If it stays in 2wd with the brown wire disconnected then its some kind of controls issue. If it stays in 4wd then I would assume its a problem internal to the case. As far as the shift motor goes, it is not uncommon for them to go out and its easy to replace or rebuild http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1102904.

 

[Zach_just]

I am heading out to the X to start the BWM and to clean the shift motor.
I will let everyone know if this cured the problem.

Thanks again for all of your help,

-Zach

 

[Zach_just]

OK, Shift motor was mint, must have been new with the new t-case but I cleaned it anyway. Pink eraser and just a little grease. I also have the BWM done and I think it is working but I will look into that later.

Once again I Manuel shifted it into 4high/4auto and installed the shift motor. Drove great and drove fine. Put in neutral, switched to 4low and it worked like it did before. But, once again it cannot go back into 4high/4auto. Just the same ratcheting noise as before.
I adjusted the sensor, on the motor unit to see if it would help but nothing. I also removed the bottom motor bracket as I thought it could be binding the motor if its pulling on it to hard. Still nothing. I get all the lights, pops, clicks and sounds as if its going to go in but wither it is engaging to far or not far enough.
Since this is the 2nd gen switch motor I cant get into the motor sensor that will indicate the position of the motor. I am thinking this is the issue.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Zach

 

[joshwho44]

Bummer dude... This sounds like it could be the shift rail bore as well.
http://explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182071
and
http://explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182072

Mine used to do pretty much exactly what you're talking about before I had it rebuilt. Took the shop two tries to get it right as well

 

[Zach_just]

Yup, a bit of a bummer. But I got it for a song and dance.

So I was going to just put it into 4auto manually and drive it like that till I could figure out the problem but... As I was messing around, checking all of the gears (D, 2, 1,) I noticed that it had popped out of 4high/auto. That was ****ty. So I went back under and put it back in. I noticed that 4/low has more room for engagement were as setting it to 4high/auto it has to be turned all the way clockwise and then given a decent twist of a wrench to get it in. Once again I tested it out and after a while it poped out again.

This leaves me to believe that it is not the shift motor, it is something else (as Joshwho mentioned a shift rail bore). IF it didn't have to go so far to engage 4high/auto I believe it would be fine. But what makes it do that?

I will do some more reading. Its just so strange because its got a new TC in it.

Thanks again for all your help,

-Zach

 

[joshwho44]

It sounds like it could really be the shift rail bore. The shop could have done a poor repair job. The case holes for the helical ramp can get pretty bad from what I understand as well as the ramp itself. I wouldn't doubt if one of these parts were to blame for the extra play in the shifter...

You might want to move this to the "Explorer & Ranger Transmissions, Transfer Cases, & Differentials" sub forum and see if you get some better results. I'm not too familiar with the inner workings of the BW 4405. Wish I could be of more help.

 

[Zach_just]

Thank you so much JoshWho44 for all of your help so far.
When you say "move this post to the "Explorer & Ranger Transmissions, Transfer Cases, & Differentials" form do I just cut and paste it to a new one or is there a way to move it other than that.
One more quick question: If the issue I have is the shift rail bore would it be easy to fix or should \i start looking for a new TC?

Once again thanks,

-Zach

 

[joshwho44]

I "think" you could just ask a moderator to move it for you, just ask one. Or you could start a new thread with a link to this one...

 

[BrooklynBay]

I've renamed, and moved your thread to the transmission section.