Atlas II or Stak in a 2nd gen 5.0, What should I know? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Atlas II or Stak in a 2nd gen 5.0, What should I know?

bronchole

Driveway flexing!
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
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City, State
Los Angeles, CA
Year, Model & Trim Level
1997 Monsterneer
Callsign
KI6MCO
Atlas II or Stak in a 2nd gen 5.0, What should I know?

We were on dirt/snow for about 10 minutes when my wife asked if I would put it in 4WD because she didn’t like the way the a$$ was sliding around on the ice/snow. I made the gyrations necessary to get the 4406 in to 4 low and moved on. About 300 yards later I was climbing a little icy hill just giving it enough gas to move up the hill, not even spinning the tires. All of the sudden there was a rather loud crabunk. I instantly let off the gas and hit the brake. We were doing about 2MPH forward then this happened. Hitting the brakes was enough to break the traction and have me slide down the ice about 15’. As we are sliding the smoke started pumping out from the hood. By the time we came to a stop I was looking at a large red patch on the ice where we stopped, NOT GOOD! Got on the radio to tell the guy I was wheeling with to come up and around me, it was safe.

So we crawl under the Monsterneer and take a look. It looks like the 4406 case split in to about 4 or 5 pieces. It looked like the portion of the case around the input to the rear output was still intact so we unlocked the hubs and I was able to shift the case in to 2WD, that surprised me. I was able to back it up and turn it around. We headed out and made the 50 mile drive home at modest speeds.

I have spent a few hours researching Atlas II, Atlas 4, Stak and Stack 3 speed. In all my experience wheeling my Early Bronco with the 4R70W, 3.15:1 low range, 4.88:1 gears and 35” tires I have been very happy with that combination. My Monsterneer has the same trans and tire size, but 4.56:1 gears. I don’t think that having more than 2 speeds in the transfer case (if the low range is at the correct ratio) is worth having to deal with the extra shifter in the cab and the extra cost. It’s more of a bragging right or for stick rigs.

I am leaning towards the Atlas II with 3.8:1 low range. I am looking for input from the masses and more specifically anyone with experience installing an Atlas II in to a 5.0 V8 2nd gen Explorer/Mountaineer.

Here is my application information:
1997 Mercury Mountaineer
5.0L motor
4R70w automatic transmission
Blown up 4406 transfer case (speed sensor on T-case, not in rear axle)
Ford 8.8 rear end from a F150, 4.56:1 gears, Detroit locker
Ford Dana 44 high pinion from a 78 Bronco, 4.56:1 gears, open diff
35” tires
Driven to/from trails
Driven on long raod trips
Will be driven on hard trails like Rubicon and Dusy Ershim, maybe even a hammer trail or so.
 



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bronco2guy ran an Atlas behind a 5.0 with the same trans,, maybe look him up ,he is a great guy and he will sure be able to help out,,
 






I'd say Atlas II
 






bronco2guy ran an Atlas behind a 5.0

I'll try a search for posts by him and "atlas" and see what comes up. My searches so far have not found much in the way of specifically related installations.
 






Does the Mounty have 4.56 or 4.88 gears?

I have nothing useful to add but your post above has conflicting info unless I'm reading wrong(I've been know to be a little dyslexic). Just thought I'd point it out so the people with useful info are correctly informed.
 






The conflicting info has been fixed, thanks.

I searched posts by bronco2guy and "atlas". Got a page of threads and looked thru them. No real help there. There was another guy that bronco2guy commented on that did this, but he doesn't look like he is active anymore.

All of bronco2guys threads are for v8 conversions or v6's. I didn't find any of them that were for a 4 dr v8 atlas install, unleass it is burried in one of those 10+ page threads that this site seems to love to do. I can't stomach sifting thru that much bs and crap to find this type of information.

I looked thru every thread that came up just searching "Atlas" back to about 2009, still not much to help.

I am really looking to see if there is anyone who has one done to get feedback of what issues may come up.
 






OK, I am getting a little more comfortable with the idea of the Atlas II or 4. I found a thread that briefly mentioned that a guy did the Atlas 4 in a simmilar application to mine: Fusion 213
His is a 98 so the primary difference is that his should have the speed sensor in the rear axle.

The speed sensor that AA offers with the Atlas cases is simmilar to the 98 and newer stuff. I am wondering what I am in for attemtping to make that work with my 97, speedo gera driven setup.
 






I'd save your money and headache and get another 4406..

If you want an Atlas
Be prepared to cut your floor up more to get shifters all setup right. I never really did front digs, so twin stick didn't benefit me much. However my brother really liked that option so it's personal preference.
Mine was a crawler, so i didnt worry about speedometer issues. Also mine was in a Ranger with 5.0 and Auto, I did have one in a 5spd 4dr Explorer.
You will need new driveshafts cause lengths will be different.

Unless you really wish you had lower crawling ratio, I would stay cheaper and get another 4406. I have 2 by the way.

Side note the Atlas's are super strong, and very nice but $$$
 






The 4406 low range was probably acceptable. I have not really had a chance to go crawling with it yet so its hard to tell. I sent you a PM asking for a price on one of the 4406 you have. It sure would be allot simpler and FAR less expensive.

I just want to make sure that it will be reliable when crawling on the trails out in the middle of nowhere. Every year I go on a week long full off-road camping trip where I tow literally almost a ton of camping gear behind it in my off-road trailer. It sucks to break down and mess up several other peoples trip having to scramble around to get you repaired and back out.

I guess what makes me nervous is why did the 4406 that I have blow up? I guess it could have been the chain letting go. I need to go crawl under there and pull out the pieces and see if I can determine the cause of the explosion.
 






Well it looks like bronco2guy has taken pity on me and I will be buying one of his transfer cases, now I just need to figure out how ti get it from Columbia MO to Los Angeles.
 






I think they cost about a hundred bucks to ship Fedex freight.
 






I worked the numbers, its less than $100 without my companies corporate discount so it will probably be around $60 going UPS ground. I just Paypalled Brad the money and he hopes to get it shipped on Saturday. As long as it gets shipped by Monday I should be able to install it next weekend :)
 






hah, even better
 






It will ship saturday :)

I'm going to drain any fluid that is still in it, so don't forget to put new fluid in.
 












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