'97 V8 with 4406 and problems...

[MickeySpiers]

So the wife's ride now has an electronically switched 4406. Sooo nice driving that thing in the snow now. However, it has a few problems. First, the speedometer is way off. It reads much faster than the truck is actually moving. The tags on the 4406 read D 10 7 3 which I assumed matched the 3.73 gears I have, but it's obviously off. The Expedition I pulled the case from had no motor (no front end at all), transmission or axles. Just a transfer case sitting in the skidplate with a front driveshaft & wiring harness attached... The speedometer gear housing on the new case was broken, so I pitched it and swapped my old housing with gear onto it. It was a different color, tho at the time I wasn't smart enough to pay attention to which was what so now I have no idea. I'm guessing that my transfer case is setup for a 4.10 equipped Expedition. The driveshaft didn't fit, so I'm guessing the Expedition had a 5.4. Anyhow, can I just go to Ford and ask for a speedo gear for the 4.10 Expedition & be back on the road, or do I need some fancy calculations because the axles don't match what the transfer case thinks it is?

Next thing is the horrid drivetrain shake that came along with bolting up the front driveshaft. Driving around with only the rear driveshaft, it was shake free 'till highway speeds - I assumed this was because I'd accidentally whacked the rear shaft with a sledge while removing the junkyard U joints and knocked it out of balance, which didn't show until about 70. The front shaft looked good, tho it shakes and shimmies from 0 to about 50 now, leaving my wife with a nice ride from 50 - 70 only (which is, apparently, about 35 - 55 real world speed since the speedometer is off). Anyone know how I can test a driveshaft for true or balance, short of taking it to a shop & paying more than I did for the shaft from the boneyard?

Thanks for any ideas...

 

[410Fortune]

Is your 4406 t case outfitted with a speed sensor on the rear tailhousing? If so you can replace the plastic drive gear with the correct unit and get your speedometer back
in shape

I detailed the speed sensor and drive gear in my 96 4x4, 4406 conversion, found in my signature below

I would remove the front d shaft, and re-install it carefully, you should also try rotating it 90 degrees

Make sure you get the U joints seated properly, especially the conversion U joint in the front of the shaft

Check for play in your front pinion when you have the shaft out also

 

[Mutineer]

Did the Expedition have a speed sesor on the rear Diff? this could be the issue as some of them are controlled by several inputs... The rear end I got from a 2003 E350 for Mutineer has the speed sensor in the rear diff...

if it is a mechanical speedo(with the plastic gear), then you should be able to drop the right gear in it and it will work..

I have the same truck that had the AWD (junk) and I cant go look under it right now cuz Im not at home...I think ours use the speedo gear, but my 2003 Mustang is electrically controlled using a sensor in the tranny and one on the rear diff...

As far as the shaking... I would pull it and take it to a driveline shop, since they can spin test it... rolling it on the ground on a flat surface will tell you if it's bent but it wont tell you if it threw a balance weight or something...

 

[Mutineer]

...I would remove the front d shaft, and re-install it carefully, you should also try rotating it 90 degrees

Make sure you get the U joints seated properly, especially the conversion U joint in the front of the shaft

Check for play in your front pinion when you have the shaft out also

X2 on the 90 degree thing, didnt think about that...

 

[MickeySpiers]

Is your 4406 t case outfitted with a speed sensor on the rear tailhousing?

Yes it is - I read your writeup on how to retrofit the tone ring into a newer case, but finding a '97 Expedition seemed the much easier way!

I would remove the front d shaft, and re-install it carefully, you should also try rotating it 90 degrees

Make sure you get the U joints seated properly, especially the conversion U joint in the front of the shaft

Check for play in your front pinion when you have the shaft out also

Everything seemed to seat nicely when I put the joints in, but I'll doublecheck. The vibrations do not seem to change if the truck is in Auto, 4Hi or 4 Lo, so I don't think it's the transfer case, but who knows... Thanks Jamie.

 

[MickeySpiers]

Did the Expedition have a speed sesor on the rear Diff? if it is a mechanical speedo(with the plastic gear), then you should be able to drop the right gear in it and it will work..

The rear axle was gone when I found the truck, but the tailhousing of the 4406 had the remains of a speedo gear in it, so I think I'm good. From what I've read in all the other 4406 swap threads, the speedo won't work at all if your 4406 isn't so equipped, so the fact that mine works but is just fast I believe just means I need to figure out the right color gear to buy from my friends at Courtesy Ford.

 

[Mutineer]

The rear axle was gone when I found the truck, but the tailhousing of the 4406 had the remains of a speedo gear in it, so I think I'm good. From what I've read in all the other 4406 swap threads, the speedo won't work at all if your 4406 isn't so equipped, so the fact that mine works but is just fast I believe just means I need to figure out the right color gear to buy from my friends at Courtesy Ford.

Bingo. were on the same page.

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

With 3.73 gears and 31" tires, a Black speedo gear was perfect in my 4406. If your speedo is faster than actual speed, you need MORE teeth on your driven gear.

Did you swap in the whole Electronic 4406 like me? Glad to see another one - the electronic awd is pretty great in the snow, on the street.

 

[410Fortune]

Mickey make sure you use the math formula to calculate what gear you need, Matt at Courtest will help you get it, tell him I say hello!

I have a collection of gears also, when you figure up your color let me know I may have one you can have, I am in Littleton

 

[MickeySpiers]

With 3.73 gears and 31" tires, a Black speedo gear was perfect in my 4406. If your speedo is faster than actual speed, you need MORE teeth on your driven gear.

Yup, the speedo leads you to believe that 4406 turned the X into a rocket ship, even tho you're keeping pace with traffic. I actually went back to the junkyard I'd gotten the transfer case from, and tho the guts of the axles were gone I sifted through the parts on the ground & found an ID tag - the Expedition had 3.55 gears. I just so happen to have a 3.55 gear in my '91, which with 32's & 4.10s isn't even close to right, so maybe I'll swap that in & see what happens. I also found the selector knob from the Expedition, the guts of that fit perfectly into the Explorer's bezel - wonder what it would take to wire that up so we have a selectable 2wd option as well?

Did you swap in the whole Electronic 4406 like me? Glad to see another one - the electronic awd is pretty great in the snow, on the street.

Yes, swapped the 4406 with the TOD and all the other goodies. I read posts from you, Ray, Jamie, Jon, and several others and for the most part it swapped in with relatively little drama. I really wanted to retain the "AWD" feel of the truck for her so the auto 4wd was the perfect solution. Losing the bigger fuel tank was a bummer but we'll live.

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

wonder what it would take to wire that up so we have a selectable 2wd option as well?

No need, just do the "brown-wire mod" that's outlined on the site and in my thread. It cuts the power to the front clutch, giving you 2wd.

 

[MickeySpiers]

Mickey make sure you use the math formula to calculate what gear you need, Matt at Courtest will help you get it, tell him I say hello!

OK, I found an old 4 Wheel Parts magazine with a forumla of: New Teeth = (Current Teeth x Speedo Reading)/Actual Speed so I'll bring the GPS on the trip tomorrow to Courtesy & see if Matt agrees with my math. Thanks!

I have a collection of gears also, when you figure up your color let me know I may have one you can have, I am in Littleton

Thanks for the offer, I appreciate it! I've actually bought a couple of speedo gears from Ford for my '91 that I haven't gotten around to swapping yet, so once I figure out which I need for my Explorers to have accurate speedometers maybe we can work a trade!

 

[MickeySpiers]

No need, just do the "brown-wire mod" that's outlined on the site and in my thread. It cuts the power to the front clutch, giving you 2wd.

I had the cutters on that brown wire when I did the 4406 swap, but stopped at the last second; I hated to slap a very obviously out of place switch on her dash someplace. The message center removes the possibility of hiding a switch in the cubby holes (tho in case anyone is wondering, banging the snot out of the center console to get at the top two tranny bolts does break the solder on that dumb LOM rendering the headlights inoperable) and the Limited has every option so there's no blanks to modify, so a brown wire switch would wind up tacked onto the radio bezel, and I just couldn't have that in an otherwise stock looking Explorer... That Expedition switch, tho, would pop right in... May be worth some tinkering with!

 

[V8BoatBuilder]

Can you post a photo of the rear of the expedition switch? How many wires are coming out of it?

If it's a simple 5 wire design, where there is a common and then 4 individual leads for each position, then with a basic relay you could get it to control the brown wire...

 

[MickeySpiers]

Can you post a photo of the rear of the expedition switch? How many wires are coming out of it?

Four wires, same as the Explorer; different colors, but the circuit board pinout is identical, with the addition of a fourth selection to the far left.

If it's a simple 5 wire design, where there is a common and then 4 individual leads for each position, then with a basic relay you could get it to control the brown wire...

It looks like it may be able to be modified in that way, tho the resistors or whatever have different values. In the photos, the blue housing and blue lightbulb are the Expedition knobs and the other is an Explorer knob.

 

[CDW6212R]

Mickey, does the Expedition switch have the mounting points in the same place as the Explorer?

I thought that the Expedition had a very large switch, as I had seen in pictures. Evidently there were 4x4 options fro Expeditions which ended up with different switches etc.

I learned that the resistance of the Expedition switches is different than the Explorer. Only a GEM from an Expedition could interpret those. I thought that I may try to isolate the 4x4 functions from an Expedition GEM. I have a 2003+ switch that also may work but the two rear mount holes are clocked differently than the Explorer. Will yours just bolt in, please check that?

Was that Expedition a 98 model, and might the GEM still be there? I had not begun to look for that yet. I'm almost done with the fuel tank from my 93 4dr. to fit into my 98. I just need to make a hole for the pressure sensor and make that work. Regards,

 

[CDW6212R]

Mickey, I took my switches apart just like you did there above. I see that the old Expedition switch also has the mounting holes in the wrong place. But, I couldn't swap the front section for mine because the internal parts(shape of housing) were different.

Can you look at yours a little harder? It appears that you may be able to do what I wanted to. Swap the blue front section out with the black Explorer portion. Then it may bolt onto the bezel without more changes. I was about to cut a steel ring to have four mounting holes, two for the bezel, and two for my 2003+ switch. Maybe what you have is the first step. I liked that the Expedition switch could point to the three stock 4WD functions, and the 2WD is off to the left of those, unmarked.

 

[MickeySpiers]

Mickey, does the Expedition switch have the mounting points in the same place as the Explorer? I thought that the Expedition had a very large switch

Hey Don - no, the Expedition's blue housing has different mounts than the black Explorer one. However, it looked pretty easy to crack out the Dremmel and change that on the inside, or worse comes to worse could cut off the mounting tabs from the Explorer piece & glue them onto the Expedition housing, since the internals are the same. The Expedition knob itself is larger, but the metal post is the same size & the Explorer knob fits right on. I got the indicator portion from the Expedition bezel, with the four positions, but there's no way to gracefully swap that onto an Explorer bezel.

I learned that the resistance of the Expedition switches is different than the Explorer.

That makes sense, you can see in the photo's that the resistors have a different printed value on them. Perhaps some fancy swapping of resistors from one circuit board to another would correct that issue? Prolly not too much different than getting an LOM to work correctly...

I have a 2003+ switch that also may work but the two rear mount holes are clocked differently than the Explorer. Will yours just bolt in, please check that?

Nope, mine's different also, but mounting tabs would be pretty easy to relocate if we sorted all the electronic stuff.

Was that Expedition a 98 model, and might the GEM still be there?

Honestly I don't know - whoever pulled the engine did so by cutting the entire front off so there is no radiator support with a date code. The drivers door is there, but the sticker has been defaced so I can't read anything on it. The 4406 had a speedo hole in it, which I think I read they stopped doing after '97, but I dunno. I can go back & look for the GEM to see if it's there, where is it located in an Expedition? Same as ours? Prolly need the TOD relay too?

I'm almost done with the fuel tank from my 93 4dr. to fit into my 98. I just need to make a hole for the pressure sensor and make that work.

Will that fit? The tank in my '91 is plastic, and a different size than what I had in the '97 so I assumed the tanks changed across the board in '95 - my sport tank is from a '97.

I took my switches apart just like you did there above. <snippage> I was about to cut a steel ring to have four mounting holes, two for the bezel, and two for my 2003+ switch. Maybe what you have is the first step. I liked that the Expedition switch could point to the three stock 4WD functions, and the 2WD is off to the left of those, unmarked.

I'd have to do that also, the Expedition switch housing won't plug into the Explorer bezel, but the Expedition guts will swap over just fine I found. As a side note, the 4406 transfer case has the ability to lock the sleeve for "real" 4-High, as it did in the Expedition (as opposed to just using the clutch as it does now), so perhaps separating the 4x4 duties from the Expedition GEM would allow us to figure out how to get that to work in the Explorers... Me likey...

 

[CDW6212R]

So the front guts of both switches are the same? That means that you/we can swap just the front plastic mounting cover from the Explorer switch to the Expedition switch. Then it will bolt on, that's a first good step. I checked with Ford, the 98 Expedition switch is about $55 to me. With that at least the switch is easy to do, I was about to spend a good chunk of time making the later switch work. The later switches also have a different connector, Ford doesn't sell it, so a used pigtail would have to be found.

I think only the Expedition GEM could work with that switch, due to the different resistance values. That GEM is mounted behind the fuse panel under the dash, which is at the bottom left of the steering column. Basically the fuse panel needs to be loosened to get to the GEM. The TOD modules should be identical, like the 4WD module.

I knew about the locked 4HI of the 4406, which is a main reason that I'd like to be able to do that. The clutches in the 4406 will wear at some point, and not using them for 4HI may help.

I am working on my old 93 gas tank because I had it when I bought a 99 Sport tank. I had them close enough to notice that they looked to be the same length. They are, the old 4dr. tanks are the same length as a 95+ Sport tank. Other than the fuel pickup assembly and the pressure sensor of later tanks, it will bolt in with the late Sport skid plate. I have the pickup assembly done, I'll mix the wiring from a spare 98 pickup that I have, and work on the hole for a pressure sensor.

The GEM issue is a bigger deal I think. I think it will take comparing the wiring schematics, and hoping that power and ground can be run into the Expedition GEM, with the Explorer 4WD wiring. There are front diff. vacuum wiring, but they may have no affect on the 4WD functioning. We'll see, I'd love to find that the 4WD functions are not mixed in the GEM, pick them out and transfer them.

 

[MickeySpiers]

So the rear guts of both switches are the same? That means that you/we can swap just the rear plastic mounting cover from the Explorer switch to the Expedition switch. Then it will bolt on, that's a first good step.

Well - yes they will swap right over, the portion with the plug and even the internal circuit board are identical, but the indents in the Expedition housing are needed for the knob to turn correctly, and the circuits themselves are different. Explorer only has three indents (auto, 4hi, 4lo) and the Expedition has four indents. So we still need to use the Expedition housing, or at least the very rear of it, and the circuit board from the Expedition, or modify the Explorer one. The wiring harness is the same so no pigtails needed.

I think only the Expedition GEM could work with that switch, due to the different resistance values.

I'm going to try & sneak back over there today to look for it. It snowed last night & is now warm so it'll be a muddy disaster, that'll be fun. I'll verify the TOD & 4wd modules too.

The old 4dr. tanks are the same length as a 95+ Sport tank.

Huh. Wonder if that means I can use the 21 gallon tank I pulled from my '97 in my '91? There's plenty of room, I looked. Of course the tank mounts on my '91 are riveted to the frame, like everything else under there, so that will be exciting to drill out...