Converting the Electric Transfer Case Shift Motor to Manual

[410Fortune]

A window crank? hahaha classic!!

 

[mynameisaric]

i was looking at the mcneil explorer, and i dont get it. i mean.. i understand the concept, i just cant figure out what materials they are using. particularly the rod that goes through the tube that is flexible enough to not kink and stick, but strong enough to transfer torque in both directions. i know its not alor of torque, but its enough to mess up most flexible driveshafts, and most of the ones i saw at home depot, lowes, menards, etc. can only go in one direction. i found a flexible ratchet drive that looked perfect. it was really flexible and went both directions, but i could only find it in an 8" section, and it was 20$ i think. i'll see what glfrederick's idea is, and use that, or fabricate something with this 90 degree drill head that i have. The drill head is similar to the 90 degree gear thing pictured halfway down on page 2.

 

[410Fortune]

Post the pictures here. I remember looking at it, but I think they used like a simple piece of rubber hose, I am not sure it is any sort of sleeved rotating cable?
I cant remember.

 

[mynameisaric]

Guy, I searched and found the pics Rick took of the shift mechanism on the McNeil Explorer at Truckhaven the other year.
http://www.explorerforum.com/data/showphoto.php?photo=8367&sort=1&cat=500&page=2
T-case hookup, very basic. They welded a bolt onto the shaft!

RangerX found the pictures and linkd to them on page one. i do like the mcneil set up. its super simple. and i think my truck MIGHT be going 90% trail rig(street legal enough to get it to the parks)..... if and only if i can get my boss's supra and the insurance and such dont murder me. so i'm not to concerned about a shaft sticking up in the backseat.

btw, its a 89 turbo in mint condition with only 60k on the clock. been sitting here in the garage at work for like 3 or 4 years. and i did the math, and if i get at least 15 mpg, even with premium gas i'll be saving money when i go to the pump. i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[RangerX]

Here's some other pics of the McNeil's shift cable.

 

[RangerX]

Here's one from Rick's gallery.

 

[Hotweels]

bwahahahahahahaha now thats funny....

a grease gun hose..... now thats usein yer noodle!

 

[glfredrick]

A couple of things I discovered...

1. The window crank was not substantial enough -- I replaced it with a T-handle.

2. The flexible drill shafts did only work in one direction -- that is, until I used some serious lock-tite on the threads that went into the flexible shaft.

3. Everything has to move smoothly in order to move, or the torque is too much for the drill shaft that I used, but it does indeed shift.

Otherwise, it works.

 

[SuperEx91]

Couldn't you just use a 90 degree gear like on page 2 and weld it to the triangular shift rod thing and then make a bracket to solidly mount it and then weld a rod to the other gear and run it up to the cab? it would only require it to turn what it would take if you used pliers. I think that would be reliable. And actually if you could find a gearset the had like a 1:2 ratio you would only have to turn it part way. that would be awesome. you could make a fancy bracket in the cab and label it. I just might have to try it but i dont know where i could find that kind of gearset.

 

[mynameisaric]

thats basically what i'm going to try and do and the following picture is what i have to work with. its just too cold to try and fabricate stuff. the cold makes me very lazy. its not hard at all to reach my hand under the cab and turn the knob for now tho.

 

[glfredrick]

Couldn't you just use a 90 degree gear like on page 2 and weld it to the triangular shift rod thing and then make a bracket to solidly mount it and then weld a rod to the other gear and run it up to the cab? it would only require it to turn what it would take if you used pliers. I think that would be reliable. And actually if you could find a gearset the had like a 1:2 ratio you would only have to turn it part way. that would be awesome. you could make a fancy bracket in the cab and label it. I just might have to try it but i dont know where i could find that kind of gearset.

To do that, just use the gear that Ford already gave us. Replace the electric motor with a shaft of some sort and you have a beautifully engineered worm drive gear that takes minimal effort to turn. That was my first design, and it works well, except that I got tired of turning it so much to get everything done.

 

[mnealuf]

I read this post outta curiousity......I am not an off road guy and use my 4 wheel drive for about 50 ft at a time to pull boat outta the water but was curious what the manual conversion was.

You can buy flexible cable assmeblies premad ein differnt lengths for just this type of thing. Or with a right angle drive and a couple minature universal joints or couples you could put the knob whereever. Check out: http://www.smallparts.com/ and McMaster Carr for parts like this, both very handy for such projects.

 

[mynameisaric]

the electric motors get dirty and stop working, or in my case, i dont have the wiring to run the 1354. the manual 1354's are rediculously expensive around me because they are rare(no red neck pull-a-parts ) so i just put a electric shift 1354 since they are basically the same thing, just different shift mechanisms. for right now i just pop the gear from the old motor onto the shaft and shift into 4lo, but it would be nice to shift from the cab, and have something to hold it in 4hi at the same time.

 

[srudolf]

what about this

It's a 98 Ssangyong Korrando 2.9D.
I have use a kilometer cable for driving the eletric motor shaft. It's working fine,
I have to turn the knob 13 times ccw for 4wdh and then 32 times for the 4wdl.
Do not work with a direct link ( flexibil shaft welded to the disk gear). I needs to much torque,
and I can't solve properly the 4wdh position.

 

[srudolf]

more pictures

 

[glfredrick]

My next incarnation will be to use 1/4" ratchet wrench parts -- universals and extensions, all tack-welded together to make a mini drive shaft. But, anything that will turn the wheel, whether slowly through the electric motor 90* drive or quicky through direct drive will work fine and let someone use an electric model T-case without needing to replace or retro-fit an expensive and difficult computer-controlled shift mechanism.

I'm retrofitting an electric T-case to a 2WD cab on my latest Ranger build and though using a manual shift 1354 case is preferred, they are hard to find for low $$$ these days and I already have 2 electric cases laying around.

 

[Dignan]

Any updates on the 1/4" ratchet setup? I haven't been able to figure out why my motor won't shift to 4lo. I have been trying and trying, but I guess my shift motor is still confused by the 700R4 cause it hasn't worked since that went in. I am a manual shift fan anyway, so I would definitely be interested in some pictures if you have done it. If not, I will try it and let y'all know how it goes.

 

[glfredrick]

I am building this setup right now for my Ranger truggy. Looking good so far!

 

[Dignan]

I am building this setup right now for my Ranger truggy. Looking good so far!

Pictures?

 

[glfredrick]

Soon as I get a chance! It turns out to be easier than I thought.

I pulled apart the old shift motor, cut off the motor part (anyone need a good magnet?) and silly-coned the old hole where the drive gear went.

Then, I stripped the internals from the part that actually twists the input shaft (left the circuit board, not in the way), and drilled a hole that corresponds to the size of the 1/4" 3" extension that I am using to drive the mechanism. I also drilled through the cap that comes off to expose the electrics inside the drive mechanism so the extension can poke out, large side out.

I then bored through the metal gear until I just hit the triangle that drives the T-case. I also ground the small square end of the extension some to make it match the triangle drive of the T-case mechanism, then coated it with epoxy and shoved it into the gear. The rest is just stacking extensions, and adding universals to get the driveshaft into the cab in a reasonable spot (between the seats, just to the rear of the seats) which I will probably lengthen with round rod to save $$$. I will also probably add a washer where the 1/4" driveshaft pokes up through the floorboards to seal up that area. I purchased an inexpensive T-handle 1/4" drive for the inside-the-cab handle to turn the mechanism.

So far, what is done only took me half an hour and it is as fool proof as crwling under the rig and twisting the T-case selector with a vise grips... In other words, it works every time!