5.0 2to4wd 4406 and tons

[Scotts96sploder]

Well hello again, its been a few year!

Back to taking a stab at this crazy adventure, finally collecting parts, and a have a few questions.

I found a 4R70 and a 4406 with the VSS in the tail shaft, I think it was a 2000. I got the linkage and boot, but the knob was missing. Im getting ready to try to stab it in there which means ill have to make a few modifications.
On the 2wd trans the vss looks a little different, and its way further forward, so I'll have to extend those wires, but the plug looks the same, not entirely sure why they look different. I'm assuming the sensor on the front of the xfer case is a position sensor so it will light up the 4WD light and probably tell the computer something. So can I just ignore that one? Also the singe out of the back, no clue what that connection is, maybe temperature? The electrical on the trans all looks similar so that should be easy.
Now I got the trans from a junk yard, no way to test it without putting it in, that I know of anyway. So I wanted to possibly throw in a drive shave from an expedition just to test, just not sure its going to work as i went spring under, so the length is a little longer. Does anyone know the measurement of the expedition shaft? I did look through a few threads and didn't see it. If i have to have a shaft made I will just get the sterling installed where it will end up and have a shaft made to fit that.
Took some measurements around the tank, looks like the front bracket is going to need some heavy modification, and the tank itself will probably get a hammer treatment. Not sure if they are the same from 2-4wd. Also measured approximately where the shift lever is going to end up, looks like there's already a panel there! I dont recall that beaing mentioned anywhere.
Thanks for the help, I'm probably asking dumb questions, and the information is probably already here somewhere.
Also couldn't find my old thread about this, so... if this needs to be moved. sorry..

 

[Scotts96sploder]

I was acutely able to find answers to most of my questions through other means. I got the wrong transfer case... so now I have other questions.

Apparently you can swap out the tone ring on the xfer output shaft to the gear style, so in theory I can get that and the correct tail shaft from a 97-98 expedition? Can I just use the gear off the 2wd trans Im removing?

How much trouble will I cause if i just run it without a spedo until I can find the parts or another case? Its just a toy so no long drives.

 

[410Fortune]

Welcome back! cool project you have here

forget all that
Get a Dakota digital SGI-100BT speedometer interface (amazon, summit, etc)
It will use any wheel speed sensor and run your speedometer and make the pcm happy
I was getting ready to respond to your post here, lots to talk about!!


What is wrong with your transfer case? from the little bit can see it looks like a 4406m which is what you want
It will fit with a little "massaging" to the front gas tank hanger

You must have seen my 96 explorer low range thread where I added the VSS to a 98+ 4406 t case, that was years ago.
Now I just run the dakota box
It is bluetooth enabled and is programmable/adjustable for tire size allowing you to dial in your speedometer accuracy
They also have gps enabled versions, I don't mess with those I just use the hard wire version.
3 wire hookup

Here's a thread I did about the dakota, $100
I am about to install two more, we are building two v8 sport tracs right now

Ford Ranger forum

The Premiere Site For Ford Ranger Enthusiasts

ford-rangers.com

the sensor on the front of the t case is used for the 4high and 4 low lights in the dash yes, one wire each direct to your GEM module or instrument cluster
The v8 computer does not care if you are in 2wd, 4hi or 4 low as all v8 explorers 96-01 were RWD or full time AWD

the brown wire out the back of the t case is not used for us....just leave it disconnected

If you can find the correct rear d shaft it will bolt in, 97-98 expedition 4.6 I believe, otherwise I just get F150 driveshafts from a 4.2, 4.6 or 5.4 truck and modify them (shorten) or have them shortened to fit. The length is somewhere around 31" if I remember, I do not convert many explorers mostly rangers..........

for the t case shifter you will cut a hole in the floor, just to the drivers side of the existing floor access plate, then we use shift boots and bezels from the F150, ranger or many other vehicles you can find a good boot at the junk yard. F150 parts fit like stock here

4406m shifter and boots from f150

 

[Scotts96sploder]

I'm glad I saw this reply before heading out to the shop this morning! I was about to start tearing into the case to see about removing the tone ring, and you just saved me a bunch of work! Thank you very much and happy Father Day! (assuming)

Ok so I will get one of those ordered up and get ready to swap all this heavy junk out.

I really don't want to spend the money having a driveshaft made just to test this junkyard transmission, so I will see if i cant dig up a mostly straight driveshaft for that purpose. I'm fairly certain Ill have to have one made for the sterling even with it moving back a bit.

So that brown wire. I read that it has something to do with a synchro for the front shaft in f150s? I was going to do manual hubs up front, so the front shaft should already be spinning, making that unnecessary like you said. This think will mostly play in sand and mud so I don't see me shifting to 4hi at 60 mph like I've read you can do. Also not sure I care about the shift lights working, but that may be a cool addition sometime after the big hardware is in place and working.

Wiring for that module looks simple enough. I don't care about abs, mine hasn't worked in years, I was going to remove the pump completely at some point. I'm taking a guess that the wiring is slightly different on the 96, since the signal comes from a different place? Then obviously the programing will be different because of the lower pulses coming from the tone ring. Ill probably have questions when I get to that point. Thanks again!

 

[410Fortune]

You can use the rear axle speed sensor to input to the Dakota box
In 96-97 the trucks still had the vss in the tailhousing as you can see. The vss in the tail was used to drive the speedometer and the gem module…. While they already also had a speed sensor in the 8.8 for the abs system.
In 98 they simply used the rear axle speed sensor for everything and ditched the vss in the tailhousing. This is true for most/ all fords

Happy Father’s Day indeed! I have a 14 year old son and this day is incredibly important. My first Father’s Day he was 7 weeks old and he almost died, he was born w 3 heart defects, he flatlined 3 times that day, in the chopper above the hospital while the surgeon (dr. Max mitchell) was scrubbed up and waiting for him to land. Max had left his family at the water park when he heard about my son. He saved his life that day. His heart was fixed and after 28 days in the cicu we took him home. Now he is 14 will be a freshman in high school and his heart is 98%, he is our little miracle. I also have grandkids that I have helped / raised since they were 2 and 4, my stepsons both gave me some grandkids.
I love Father’s Day more then any other
I took a dang near 10 year hiatus from this forum while we raised him, I Re focused on life and raising kids instead of daily truck forum stuff. Luckily
Life allowed me the time to get back to it several years ago… you can’t get rid of us that easily!!


The brown wire is for the electromagnetic clutch that is supposed to ramp up the front d shaft so when you engage high range at speed it’s more smooth. I have never hooked this wire to anything and I have never had issue, as you said with hubs locked that sucker is already spinning. Shifting the 4406 in and out of high range is effortless just grab the stick and pull back slightly

Like you are planning i always remove the factory abs from my personal vehicles. With some flaring and a brass tee block to split the front line out of the master cylinder to each front caliper… you won’t miss it. I use the factory lines that were removed and bend/ re flare them (double flare) the factory lines are
Metric but they all also accept a standard fitting on the other side to go into your new tee block. I am getting ready to do this again on my personal
Sport trac build when I do I will post up details.
I have pictures from when I have done this before I can post them up if needed

Try to get the correct expedition shaft, but if not don’t be afraid to shorten an f150 shaft, it’s not that difficult. I just covered this in my 07 ranger thread. When driveshaft prices went to $4-700 to have one “Re tubed” I started doing it in house. It is harder to find a good shaft that was not dented by the junk yard fork lift then it is to shorten one imo. I have built many of them to date.. just use a flat table and some common sense
Blamo cost me some paint, some welding wire and a couple of unjoints

I don’t have a v8 4406 explorer here to measure for you, otherwise I would! I only have v8 4406 rangers around! Like 3 of them lol

 

[Josh P]

Happy Father's day. My boy is 10 years old. Doctors told my wife there would be no chance for her to get pregnant. Well, it happened. She ended up with a reoccurring infection that kept getting worse. She had to move in with her parents as I had no clue. Her mom was a school nurse that retired to take care of them. I was working 16 hours a day 6 days a week and managed to find a 2nd job that allowed me to get to Albuquerque to see them for about 6 hours each week. When I woke up Friday morning at 5am I didn't get to see that bed again until Sunday night at 9pm. It was a 62+ hour workday I did for 18 months. She eventually fully recovered and the 2nd time around, no issues. She is 7 years old.

 

[410Fortune]

Awesome!!!! We are so lucky
The meaning of life = raise a kid or twelve

Hard work pays off
Good things happen to good people

 

[Scotts96sploder]

Wow, amazing story! I'm glad everything worked out for you and your family.

Bit of prep work today, going to try to get the tans and transfer case in next weekend. Im sure ill run into something and post pictures when i get stuck. I did forget to grab the locating pin for the transfer case, so hopefully i can still get that when I go back to grab a drive shaft.
Stripped the interior, tossed the carpet and will eventually order some vinyl. I retained the seats for testing but will probably end up being replaced with el cheapo summit racing poly seats. Debating on weather or not the center console is going back if I want to make a custom one. Mine is pretty beat up. Do i NEED to plug that giant plug back into anything, as in will it run and drive without a cell if I leave that disconnected? Scrubbed the majority of the grease off the combo so i dont have to deal with it while trying to wrestle it in place.
For the shaft. I know there is a straight f150 shaft laying in the yard i can booger shorter for testing only. Im going to look for the correct one, at least straight enough to test. Again, the 8.8 is going bye bye shortly after so i just need to know the transition setup works. Pretty much any year from the 90s early 00s expedition/navigator shaft will work right?
Oh! Electronics questions. Would it be relatively easy to grab the wiring harness for a 4wd explorer and just wire that up, or should I modify my existing 2wd? Or do I need to modify anything other than the length of the vss? Im fairly certan other than the vss everything else is the same. Also with the magic box (its already ordered on cramazon) you recommend running the vss on the sterling. I CAN run the vss on the transfer case and use the lower range of settings right? My thinking is that its less wiring to add (96) and less chance of wiring getting damaged while hooning around with the wiring tucked up above the trans.

 

[Scotts96sploder]

Oh I forgot! While I have this all blown apart, I want to get rid of both airbags. Going to be going full retard with this thing and I really don't want them going off in my face because of a hard bump. Would someone kindly direct me to a post that shows how to get them out without the need for hearing protection or ER visits?

 

[Josh P]

Going to be going full retard with this thing

I like that and want to add it to my signature

 

[DintDobbs]

@Scotts96sploder Ditching the air bags couldn't be easier. Finding some thing to replace the panels with is another game, I just used the disabled air bags to fill the slots.

1. Disconnect the negative battery cable.
2. Turn the headlamp swith to ON to discharge any static.
3. Leave it for a couple of minutes and find a socket set, a 3" extension would be nice, but is optional.
4. On the sides of your steering column, there are two tiny, round panels with a flat spot on one side. Pry them off GENTLY with a small knife or screw driver or some thing. If they don't come off easily, move the pry tool around the clock and keep trying until they come off easily.
5. Carefully unscrew the bolts in the holes behind the round panels, holding the air bag in place.
6. Pull the air bag forward, being careful not to let it fall. Do not pull on the wiring harness behind the air bag.
7. Disconnect the wiring harness behind the air bag.

Unplugging the yellow wiring harness under the driver's seat will also disable the air bag, but unplugging the air bag itself is mucher more betterer.

 

[DintDobbs]

For the passenger side, with the battery still unplugged and the headlamp switch still on:

1. Open the glove compartment.
2. Squeeze the clips to drop the compartment door under the dash.
3. Find two or three (I think three) little gold/copper colored bolts with attached washers connected to a metal framework. You can easily tell that the ones you're looking for aren't used to hold trim in place. These secure the passenger air bag.
4. Pull the air bag assembly out of the dash, being careful not to pull on the wiring harness on the top or back of the metal framework that the bolts were in.
5. Once you have enough space to work, reach up under the bottom and disconnect the wiring harness you just tried not to pull on.

Alternatively, you can disable the passenger air bag by disconnecting the yellow wiring harness under the front passenger seat.

Once finished, remember to turn off your headlamp switch and reconnect the negative battery cable.

I have done this on both of my Explorers. It will make the dash board air bag light flash a few different codes (one code for each air bag disconnection, and one for each harness under the front seats, if you disconnect those). They will flash every time you start the vehicle, and then remain constant until the vehicle is turned off.

 

[410Fortune]

no need to hookup anything to the big square plug where the center console used to be, the truck will not care

No need to get any 4wd wiring as the v8 trucks were all RWD or full time AWD and there is NO 4WD wiring in these trucks
You are using a manual shift transfer case, you will simply run two wires from the t case to your instrument cluster for the 4hi and 4 low lights

Ditch those airbags! That passenger one is nasty

Rubber floor kit from a sport trac will go right in there like factory

2005-2006 ford ranger steering wheel makes for a really nice upgrade, no mods needed

 

[Scotts96sploder]

Ok awesome, thank you all for the responses!

Currently heavily focused on extracting this 2wd transmission, been working for an hour or so here and there after work. I’ve got all the driveshaft and crossmember out, electrical and the linkage disconnected, removed the starter and that dust cover, and started pulling the torque converter nuts off. One of the nuts stripped out, so I’m going to pick up some of those nut extractor sockets and see if I can’t get that off that way. If not I will probably just cut it off with a Dremel or something, I would hate to ruin a perfectly good torque converter.
I was trying to see if I couldn’t pull this out without removing the exhaust, but it looks like I’m going to have to. I’ve had all of those fasteners out of the exhaust before, so hopefully they come out fairly easily again.
Also, the 2wd crossmember bows up in the middle, and I don’t recall if it was that way on the four-wheel-drive that I got the transmission out of. I’m hoping that I do not have to find another crossmember or modify the one that I have. Does anyone know?
also if anyone has a good trick for removing a stripped torque converter nut, let me know.

 

[410Fortune]

use a 6 point 14mm socket 1/4" drive

Lots of light, truck way up in the air gives you room to work

Otherwise plan to remove the transmission "off" of the converter, meaning leave the converter bolted to flexplate and pull the trans off backwards
PITA but it can happen, have done this before when engine is seized and cannot rotate

The crossmembers are the same I believe

You can always cut the exhaust, makes life easier if the bolts wont come out

 

[Scotts96sploder]

I hope they come out. I already did a cat delete and added a flow master (i think) with the built in X. But if not, whatever, nothing is sacred.

I grabbed some nut/bolt extractors in metric and sae. Plan is to heat it a little and pound on the 14mm. I didn’t even consider leaving the converter in place! That means you would need to rotate the whole tranny right? Also I should mention I’m doing this in my driveway on jack stands . If I have to cut it, whatever, I have another converter, but it’s untested. Which now that I think about it, I should swap out for this one since I know it’s good.

I am not a mechanic, I’ve never done something like this. Once I get the new combo in, I want to fill them and test them. Can I just kinda guess at how much fluid is in the tans? Or should I pull the pan and fill it to spec? The plan is to pull the pan and change the filter etc. once I know it works. I know the xfer “works” from bench testing. Also can I just jam it in there, fill it, and throw the thing in 1st to see if it rotates at idle, or does it NEED a shaft installed?

 

[Scotts96sploder]

GOOD NEWS!!
Had a few minutes before the gym, got the torque converter nut off first try, so I figured I should take a crack at the exhaust. I must have been planning ahead because it appears I used anti seize on the exhaust parts I put together. The other exhaust bolts will need to be replaced but I didn’t have to cut anything!
Free and clear to pull this transmission. Just need to disconnect the cooler lines and dipstick tube , and then unbolt it from the block. I don’t want to jinx it by saying anything yet
I’m assuming I have some kind of rear main seal leak that I should probably fix while I’m in there. It’s not gonna happen. But maybe I’ll have some exhaust made that won’t be in the way and make it easier to fix later.
Should be able to get really close to dropping this tomorrow, if not Saturday morning.

 

[Scotts96sploder]

That was a productive morning! It’s all installed! Well, the big chunks anyway.
Next on the list is to fill both with some cheap Walmart brand fluid that I’m going to use as kind of a flush and also to test to make sure they both rotate. I’ll run to the yard tomorrow and see if I can find a straight enough rear shaft from a 97-01 expedition/nav and take it for a load test.
Still on the to do list is:
Poke a hole for the shifter.
Modify the tank bracket at reinstall.
Pull the case back off and put a proper seal in it.
Breather lines
Extend the wiring for the vss and eventually get the fancy box @410Fortune suggested wired in and tuned.
Drain/clean/new filter in the transmission. Probably drain and refill the case also.

Any good tips for used transmissions? Anything to watch out for?

Once all of that is happy, it will probably be a minute before the front end goes under the knife. Still trying to decide on leafs for the cheap or a DT4link kit from rock slayer, but that’s $$$$!

Looks like the stock crossmember may need to change. Appears to be right in the way, but I’m not entirely sure yet.

This website is awesome! That’s everyone for all the advice so far!

Sorry for the crappy pics. It was noonish and the sun was blasting right before a storm.

 

[410Fortune]

MERCON V only in the trans
Mercon III in the t case

 

[Scotts96sploder]

I bought all the V they had a Wally World which was only 6q. I guess the system holds 14 or so. Not knowing how much I spilled I just threw it all in and fired it up. Everything spins under no load, but the transfer case doesn’t shift to 4H, just makes a noise like it’s trying to engage but isn’t, but it does shift to 4L. Got a O/D OFF flash warning that I assume is from the fluid being super low, and I also got a CEL which is probably from the VSS being unplugged. I hope anyway.
May or may not go find a shaft tomorrow, today was a lot of work and I can’t drive it till I buy a boatload more atf, which I could do tomorrow also I guess. Probably should do some of that dad stuff and not play with my toys the WHOLE weekend lol.
Butchered in a hole for the shifter. Very pleased with where it ends up and how it fits me and the truck! It did sit a little close to the console, so I gave it a little heat and beat to move it out slightly. Not sure I’ll use the F150 boot or that doorman(or whatever company) part number someone has posted here. Considering fabricobbling a bit of a box I can remove to access that 10mm bolt because there is NO room underneath.