1997 Ford Explorer - V8 - 5.0 - AWD

Hello Explorer Fans.

I have been on the forums for some time and have extensively read many threads. I have enjoyed the forums so far. Now I have a question of opinion for you all.

I currently own 97' V6 SOHC Sport and I love it. I was going to SAS it, but Id rather do it to a V8 Explorer, plus, manual TC's are readily available for the swap.

To get to the point, I'm looking at a 97' 5.0 AWD Explorer (166,000 miles) (for a few hundred bucks). It's a solid vehicle, straight but its flashing a few codes. I looked up the codes here on the forums and it appears to be a "simple" fix. It idles well, but has an obvious 'lumpiness' to it. When you accelerate under load, you can sort of hear and feel it. The codes I got were P1132 - Lack of Oxygen Sensor indicates Rich and P1131 - Lack of Heater Oxygen Sensor indicates Lean. Both appear to be O2 sensor issues which may not be that big a deal. The trans seems to shift well with no obvious issues.

I'm very mechanical in nature (I work on my own cars/trucks) and fabrication of all I want to do...is what I do.

I just wanted a few opinions on the success of fixing this issue and any potential things I should look for before i pull the trigger and pick this thing up.

Thanks everyone.

 

[WormsExplorer]

6 days on and off the floor. I will pull the unit and put it on the bench next time. UGH!

Yeah that is how I always did it was on the Floor. Used the Box to write on and kept the shims on. Next time I plan on doing gears I will do what you said Pull them out and put on a work bench. But I am planning to get 4.10's from junk yard explorer or ranger.

 

[toypaseo]

That center console re-do is stellar...

 

[Spudhut]

Well...I pulled the beast out and in the first moments of motion, I heard a clunk from the front end. It scared the jeebeez and I thought I busted the ring gear. It has a lunchbox locker so I know they can be noisy and click'y sounding.

With out hesitation. I put her back in the garage and pulled the cover. With luck, nothing looked broken but I noticed the wear pattern and I am not rvery happy with it. Any advice on how to correct it? I confirmed backlash is around .006 - .007. I'm probably over thinking it. Thank you.

I'm determined to get this spot on. After more reading, I think I need to put the pinion closer to center on ring gear, reset backlash. The only issue i may see is the large oil slinger may bump the ring gear....

@WormsExplorer
@turboexplorer
@johnny499

 

[Spudhut]

Coast

Drive

 

[Rick]

Yeah it definitely looks like it could use more pinion depth.

 

[Spudhut]

@Rick

I jumped on it last night. I did more reading and did some pattern comparisons and came to a conclusion that the pattern showed that pinion might be a little too far towards the center of ring gear.

I pulled about some shims at several attempts, about .015 total and the pattern moved deeper into the ring gear and more to the center, giving me 3/4 of surface touch to the drive and coast sides. I put the backlash around .0055 which is on the tight side, but from my research, this is okay.

This has certainly been a frustrating learning process as i have little knowledge on doing this (not including i have had the diff in and out 50 times) - I pulled the diff out to pull off the bearings, I grabbed a support bearing to flip it on the bench and it slipped 3/4 of the way off. So...looks like I need a new diff.

Thank you for the feedback.

 

[johnny499]

I forget which way to move the pinion to produce the desired change in the pattern. That pattern does look like it is driving too much to the outside and maybe not deep enough. It's a juggling act. More of a concern is the loose bearing on the carrier. the fun part will figuring out which is the issue bearing or carrier.
On the bright side it's not a one ton diff that weighs twice as much....

 

[Tif0ez]

From the wear on the indicator paint I would have thought the pinion was too "deep" into the carrier and you might need a shim or so on the driverside to get the ring closer to the pinion gear.. I will say at first when I seen the wear patterns that the ring and pinion are not a matched set..

Any time that I have adjusted a diff I had to watch how the ring and pinion interacted while rotating the assembly to figure out my "next step" in adjustment..

Anyhow, love the build, I'll definitely be following
Wishing you luck & support on the PITA diff..

 

[Spudhut]

@johnny499 & @Tifoez & Lavinia

Thank you for your input. With both of your advice I was able to get some progress.

Indeed its a PITA to do but you have to have patience until you grasp the concept of what is going on.

@Tifoez & Lavinia - After really studying the patterns, I thought the same. I figured what the heck and pulled shims to back the pinion from the center. I started to see significant pattern movement from the outside into the center of the drive/coast sides of the ring gear teeth.

I would equate this to like deciphering a foreign language and understanding that if you walk backwards, your really moving forward. Sounds dumb, but until you do it, you'll understand.

Thanks again Explorer Forum -

After to getting to this point - Ill have to do it all over again when I get my new Differential in to swap it over again. Its a blessing in disguise that I decided to re-do this. Finding that the carrier was bad before breaking it in and taking it on the road - had disaster written all over it!

Anyone have a spare D30 front differential carrier laying around?

 

[Tif0ez]

"I would equate this to like deciphering a foreign language and understanding that if you walk backwards, your really moving forward. Sounds dumb, but until you do it, you'll understand." Priceless quote of the year..


That is awesomeness that my brain was able to dig up the info from all the times I've set a diff, it has been a few years since I've shimmed, slept several times, and have gotten hit in the head more times than I can count but it just "made sense" to me somehow..

Anyway, can't wait for more!!

..meanwhile I am looking at my build like..

 

[Kirby N.]

The way I understand it- and I have done about 25 sets at this point- you dont worry about if it contacts the center of the tooth from the carrier inside part to the away from carrier outside part- instead you look at how it lands on the face of the tooth- from the crotch to the tip. A perfect pattern is an egg shape with out a flat side. From your pics, you have a flat side on the inside need the crotch, which leads me to believe it needs less pinion depth (not more). You can't change this by adjusting backlash. Backlash should be a constant in the given acceptable range. Make a small adjustment and check it. Then go again until it looks right.

If it has some miles on a bad setup, and you change it you will get noise because it wears into the bad setup and then will force its way back. My brother had a poorly setup rear and we reset it and it made a racket until we put it back.

 

[Spudhut]

@Kirby N. - your right on the money. I ended up moving the pinion back from the center and started to see significant results in the pattern. Thank you for your feedback

 

[Kirby N.]

You bet. Wished I chimed in sooner.?

 

[arkmountaineer]

fantastic build sir ..... read thru it all.... my favorite part? honestly? the interaction and involvement of your son in your project/hobby.... nothing can replace that.....great work sir!!!!

 

[410Fortune]

the interaction and involvement of your son in your project/hobby.... nothing can replace that.....great work sir!!!!

I second that motion

 

[Spudhut]

fantastic build sir ..... read thru it all.... my favorite part? honestly? the interaction and involvement of your son in your project/hobby.... nothing can replace that.....great work sir!!!!

Thank you. I try to get them involved as much as I can, especially in this TV/Game world we live in. It saddens me that they miss great opportunities to learn new things over a controller and screen time.

I appreciate the good comments!