410 thanks for your response. I may not be following everything you said perfectly by I do appreciate the response and all the data, and I am glad to be in the same alley as you. I started to rethink what I said about being able to go down the highway in 4H in the snow, and wanted to clarify. I am building this not as a daily driver, but as a trail/camping/overlanding rig, so performance off road is most important. What I set out to do initially was to build a rig that would enhance the capability of the explorer off road, without detracting from its on road adverse condition capability. I quickly realized that would be impossible, but just exactly how impossible has taken a little bit of time, and digging. It seems to be more of an either or situation.
Now on to the parts. I currently have a 1998 Ranger front axle housing, and a freshly rebuilt electric shift 1354.
Ranger front axle housing - I intended to use this with the Torsen LS, and without the vacuum hubs.(did think I would use the aftermarket manual hubs) Obviously I would have to use Ranger hubs with the aftermarket kit to get there. Truck has the 4" super lift knuckles on it. Open to not going there if I can see a good way around the no full disconnect issue.
1354 electric shift t-case - I was going to use this with a manual shift kit from Behemoth, then I read something that made me think this wasn't the greatest idea, and Behemoth said their manual shift kit would work on the 4405 as well. My 4405 is also freshly rebuilt.
My stock front axle housing needs to be rebuilt no matter what I do, so if I use it or the Ranger front axle housing I have to go through an axle housing. I now have all the parts.
Rear end was gone through about 10K miles ago and had got a new LS diff at that time, but I have a new elocker for it.
New 4.56 gears for both.
See questions comments below. Cap locks just for differentiation. No emphasis.
A traction device in your front axle, yes you will slip all over, the truck will not want to go straight in snow or otherwise as long as you have it in 4x4
Trying to put the power vacuum ranger hub system in the explorer but bypassing the vacuum hubs and running the cheapo 98-99 Ranger manual hubs may sound like a good idea on paper, but in my opinion it is not.
SO FROM READING DOWN BELOW, YOU RECOMMEND USING THE RANGER FRONT AXLES TO GET RID OF THE CAD. I'M GOOD WITH THIS. WHAT I DON'T KNOW ABOUT IS SPINNING ALL THAT RUNNING GEAR ALL THE TIME BECAUSE IT HAS NO DISCONNECT.
Yes you will run into issues running 4x4 hi on a snowy highway with a front traction device, the best front diff for this situation would be a open front diff, not locked or limited slip
The 98-99 hubs available aftermarket are cheap and weak and will not hold up well on a 4500#+ explorer. With a traction device in the front diff you will need some sort of hub so you can send the power to one wheel.....but then this defeats the purpose of a traction device because its job is to send power to both wheels.
I HAVE DECIDED NOT TO WORRY ABOUT THIS, AND CONCENTRATE ON OFF ROAD CAPABILITY.
To delete control trac consider running either a manual shift 1354 t case
or a 1354 e shift and wire in the motorolla 4x4 control module from a 02+ Ranger This way your dash switch and wiring harness can stay in place. You can bypass your GEM module and the truck will be fine with it. WHERE WOULD ONE FIND THE DETAILS ABOUT THIS WIRING?
WHAT IS THE PRIMARY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE 4405 AND THE 1354 E-SHIFT? THE 1354 HAS HAS THE ELECTROMAGNETIC CLUTCH, AND BROWN WIRE LIKE THE 4405. IS IT TOUGHER?
Vacuum servo and solenoids, all vacuum lines can all be removed from the ranger PVH axle
FUNNY THE AXLE I PICKED UP HAD NO VACUUM ANYTHING ON IT. ON THAT ASSEMBLY IS THE VACUUM STUFF ALL AT THE HUB?
I often delete:
98-99 Ranger power vacuum hubs WHAT HUBS DO YOU USE THEN?
95-96 explorer CAD I'M WITH YOU.
96-01 Explorer Control Trac AGREED, AND THAT IS THE DIRECTION I AM HEADING.
So this thread is right up my alley
