04 Mounty Full time awd to 4x4?

[jtrasap]

I have a few gears in my head turning and a few questions to ask. Last week, I purchased an 04 Mountaineer as is with a front end/TC binding issue. It has been driven for quite some time with mis-matched tires, and I am suspecting that I will need to replace the viscous coupling, but I'm a bit low on funds after purchasing the truck so I'm going to remove the front drive shaft until I can afford to fix the TC and buy a new set of tires.

The truck is full time AWD and does not have the "control track" option. I would really love to have the option of 2wd and 4-lo if possible. I noticed that the 3rd gen Explorers have the ability to switch between 4wd auto, 4hi, and 4 lo, and, with the "brown wire mod" can be made to disable 4wd all together. Has anyone done a swap or mod to a Mounty to give it these options?

Does anyone know the differences in the TC's and would it just take a TC swap and add the switches? What complications I might run into? Any input at all would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Jason

 

[tabezic]

this is very funny to see. i have a 2002 mountaineer with the awd. just recently my transfer case died out. prior to this happening, i had all that binding and clunking goin on in the front end. i thought it was just the front axle. but it turns out it was the TC not allowing the front diff to slip and it basically had the front diff locked. so when i would turn it would bind up and the tiers would hop.

to answer the question of taking the front drive shaft. my mechanic said that it would make the TC worse cause ur TC splits the power 65% to the back and 35% to the front. it would try to send power to the front but it wouldn't work.

i also wanted to put an explorers TC in my mounty but since i have the v8 it wouldn't fit. they said that in 2002 and 2003 the trans and engine would not accept it.

Good luck with what ever you end up doin!

 

[jtrasap]

this is very funny to see. i have a 2002 mountaineer with the awd. just recently my transfer case died out. prior to this happening, i had all that binding and clunking goin on in the front end. i thought it was just the front axle. but it turns out it was the TC not allowing the front diff to slip and it basically had the front diff locked. so when i would turn it would bind up and the tiers would hop.

to answer the question of taking the front drive shaft. my mechanic said that it would make the TC worse cause ur TC splits the power 65% to the back and 35% to the front. it would try to send power to the front but it wouldn't work.

i also wanted to put an explorers TC in my mounty but since i have the v8 it wouldn't fit. they said that in 2002 and 2003 the trans and engine would not accept it.

Good luck with what ever you end up doin!

Mine has the 4.0L-6. You shouldn't have any ill effects of removing the front drive shaft other than needing to engage the parking brake if you park on an incline or decline. This is due to 35ish % of the TC drive being front weighted, and nothing being there to hold. I took my drive shaft out earlier this afternoon and just got back from a 130 mile round trip in it. It made a night and day difference. No more whining from the front end, and no more binding up in tight turning situations. One more thing; in most of what I have read on here, people were not reporting any change in fuel economy, but I was getting around 17-18 on the highway prior to removing the drive shaft and I averaged 21mpg on this trip today.


Think of it this way....if your front end is binding up then you are putting undue stress on a whole lot of not so cheap parts in the front end. The binding is most likely due to a locked up viscous coupling keeping it in permanent full on AWD. This could be due to a mis-match in tire circumference between the front and back. If it has been driven this way for any lengthy amount of time, the viscous coupling could be permanently locked. By removing the front drive shaft, you will take the undue stress off of the front end and avoid tearing up anything beyond the already damaged viscous coupling.

I'm going to leave mine off for a few weeks until I can afford a full set of tires, then I will replace it and see if it's stuck, or the matching tires allowed it to release. If it's still stuck, then I will pull the drive shaft back out, and start looking into the TC swap and other things I mentioned in my first post.

 

[tabezic]

all my tires r the exact same size. and i still get the binding. it sux but at least i know im not theonly one out there with this problem. let me know wat u end up doing.

 

[jtrasap]

Have you measured their circumferences? A difference of just a half inch in circumference between front and back can cause binding. I removed my front drive shaft today and it made a night and day difference.

 

[hayabusa211]

i have 2003 explorer xlt V8 not sure if its same but i took out the two 20amp 4x4 fues's from under the hood and that completly disengaged the 4x4

 

[jtrasap]

I haven't really done much digging around on the truck. The day before yesterday I serviced the front dif and checked the front hubs, bearings, ball joints and so-on, but beyond that and removing the drive shaft, I really haven't looked any further into anything. I'm going to try and pick up a shop manual in the next week or so and start seeing how things work as far as the AWD system goes. The main thing I'm wondering is how it differs from the explorer.

 

[hayabusa211]

not to sure how diff they are....mine is also the AWd model but i can switch from 4hi and low also but ever since i removed the fues's its completly RWD......so far i dont see or hear anything hurting my truck

 

[jtrasap]

not to sure how diff they are....mine is also the AWd model but i can switch from 4hi and low also but ever since i removed the fues's its completly RWD......so far i dont see or hear anything hurting my truck

Yeah, my truck doesn't even offer the option of 4hi-low or anything. Everything is left up to the truck to decide....

 

[gavin]

not to sure how diff they are....mine is also the AWd model but i can switch from 4hi and low also but ever since i removed the fues's its completly RWD......so far i dont see or hear anything hurting my truck

that isn't AWD (all-wheel drive).
That's A4WD (automatic 4-wheel drive).

 

[tabezic]

the mountaineer is a full time all wheel drive system. it doesn't wait to have the back tires slip to engage the front. its constantly powering all the wheels.

jtrasap......
i haven't measured the tires but all 4 were bought at the same time. so i dont see how they would b different sizes. i will do that when i get it back. its probably gone b another week to get the new TC. but i will let ya know how that goes.

 

[jtrasap]

jtrasap......
i haven't measured the tires but all 4 were bought at the same time. so i dont see how they would b different sizes. i will do that when i get it back. its probably gone b another week to get the new TC. but i will let ya know how that goes.

The front will wear differently than the rear, so if they've been on there for any length of time, there will be a difference in size. This is the reason for them needing to be rotated front to back regularly; otherwise, under most circumstances, the front will wear faster than the rear and eventually be outside the threshold of the AWD system and it will act as if a wheel has broken traction locking up the viscous coupling.

 

[tabezic]

i have been rotating them when im supposed to. im just not sure what it could be

 

[jtrasap]

i have been rotating them when im supposed to. im just not sure what it could be

Measure the circumference of your tires. If there is a difference of more than a half inch between the front and back, you should replace them. I took out my front drive shaft to buy some time until I can afford a set of tires. It's pretty simple to do, and no problems whatsoever with the truck, so far; and it cured the binding in the front end.