So I did a few things over the last few days. For one I removed the basket from the top cause I never use it and therefore its a waste. I removed my entire interior, doors, lots of wires that I don't need. Some that I will have to run new ones (radio wires). Replaced a front hub AGAIN. Had to run some new wires for the rear locker cause mine got crushed and cut. But most of all I got rid of that PIA Electronic 4x4 crap and installed a manual shift transfer case. So if anyone needs a transfer case I have one available.....the case is fine it was just the electronic shift stuff that kept giving me problems. Anyways here is a small write up I did on the swap.
Ok guys I know this has been done by a few people but I thought I would share my experience. My electronic shifting transfer case quit shifting for me for the last time. I was tired of having issues with it. So I went to the scrap yard and got a BW1354 Manual shift transfer case with shift linkage and swapped it out. I tried to do a pretty detailed step by step job with pictures but I did kinda get into a few other things as the project went on and I may have missed a pic here and there but I can take more pictures of whatever anyone needs if they want more. HERE GOES.
First and foremost don't forget to be safe doing any work guys. Saftey glasses when working under any vehicle is a very smart idea cause there is always stuff falling. You should remove the negative cable from the battery just in case. The truck should be either chalked so it cannot roll or on jackstands. OK now on with it.
First I had to remove the shifter, Starting with the knob. Mine was an aftermarket knob that had a few allen screws holding it on others screw off some just pull off.
Next was the Shift boot. There are 4 screws holding it down. They are Phillips head screws and you will likely need a shorter driver to get to the back ones under the dash. There are 2 screws at the top of the boot and 2 at the bottom.
Then the boot should pull right up.
Next is the bolt that holds the shifter on the trans shaft. This bolt can be confusing to someone who hasn't ever dealt with it. As it sits here the nut is tightened up on the back side to pull the bolt through the hole.
If you take the nut off this side and tighten it on the other side it will pull the bolt out. The size of the nut here is a 17mm.
This shows the bolt and how it wedges in to stop the shifter from pulling off the shaft.
After the bolt is out the shifter should pull right up with ease.
Next you remove the rubber cover to expose the trans tunnel and trans.
Next you have to pull the carpet back to get to the bolts for the trans tunnel cover plate. You can pull the carpet back enough to get to the bolts without pulling seats and or console if you don't mind fidgeting a little. Honestly it wasn't too bad....... There are several things holding the carpet in place that need to be removed for ease of pulling the carpet back and reinstalling it. First up is the kick panel on the drivers side. There are 2 screws and one clip holding in on. The first screw is right between the door and the dash.
Next is the front most screw on the door sill trim piece.
To remove the rest of the door sill trim piece there is 1 screw on both sides of the B pillar between front and back doors and you have to remove the front most screw of the back sill piece...
Now at this point I opted to remove my drivers seat because its fairly easy and would give me a little more flex in the carpet to get where I needed to be. So to do this there are 2 bolts on the front of the seat rails
and 2 on the back of the rails
as well as one for the seat belt buckle.
The bolts are 13mm or 1/2" and the seat belt bolt is a torx bit T45.
Having all that removed you should be able to pull the carpet back enough to expose the 4 bolts holding the trans tunnel cover plate on. These bolts were an 8mm and they were all easy to get to at this point except the farthest back bolt on the passenger side. It was still easy enough to get to for removal but not easy to get a picture of it.
Here is a picture of the cover removed the 4 bigger holes in the corners are the ones that held it down.
At this point everything you need exposed from up top is done for the time being. Keep in mind that even an automatic transmission will have this cover over the tunnel it just will not have a hole for the shifter.
Next up is removing the rear driveshaft.
There are 4 bolts holding the front flange to the transfer case and 4 holding the rear flange to the axle pinion. These bolts are 12 point 12mm.
Next I removed the speedo gear. The one bolt holding this in was an 11mm.
Next was the skid plate. There are 2 10mm bolts on each side of the plate holding it up to the frame.
Here is a view from the back of the transfer case. At this point I had already cut the wires and removed the shift motor on the trail so I could manually put it in 4 LO. There are a few bolts that hold it on I believe they are 8mm and there is one connector, and a few other wires. pretty easy to take off when you look at it.
Next I removed the front drive shaft from the transfer case. these 4 bolts are 12point 8mm.
Next up was a bracket bolted to the transmission for the vent line off the transfer case. This just happens to be right where the shift linkage for the manual transfer case bolts up. this was a 15mm bolt.
Next there are 5 bolts that hold the transfer case onto the transmission. I was able to get a picture of 3 of them and I put a red dot on the picture by them. There are 2 more towards the top that I couldn't get a good picture of. These bolts were 13mm or 1/2". After you take these bolts out the transfer case will be essentially loose. It may take some gentle persuasion to slide it back and off the trans output shaft but be careful and be ready so you don't drop it.
Here is a couple pictures to show the small difference of the 2 cases. which is just where the manual linkage ties in.
This is the point where I started to get distracted and didn't get many pics of it going back together. However it goes back together exactly the way it came apart with the exception of the linkage and where it bolts onto the trans. Like I showed before it bolts right onto the same place that the bracket for the vent line previously did. the linkage and shifter has a spot built into it for the vent line..
Here is a picture of the shifter and the linkage. The bracket I am holding in my hand is the vent line bracket.......the bolt that held it on goes through the hole on the shifter linkage that I circled in red.
The red dot on this picture shows where that bolt goes. There is one other bolt that holds the linkage together and gives it a pivot point. I am not sure of what size the head is cause I used channel locks to remove and install it.
Now I should have grabbed the trans tunnel cover plate from the donor vehicle but I didn't so I had to modify my current one a little to make room for the new shifter. But all in all it wasn't to hard.
Well there ya have it I no longer have electronic 4x4 to break on me when I want/need it the most. I hope this helps someone down the road at some point. And I sincerely apologize for my ADD getting the best of me so I wasn't able to take many pics of it going back together. However if you took it all apart using this then putting it back in should be a snap.
Thanks for reading...........Happy Exploring everyone.
