How to: Manual Transmission in 4.6 V8 4X4

[whiteknight1982]

Awesome- I'll print them off and show them to my buddy at work Monday.

Thanks so much!

I will get some pics up this week during my lunch hour.

 

[cmellios]

bump, what happened with this?

 

[Styx]

Ya this sounds awesome but whitenight hasn't been on here in 2 years...

 

[Smithsidebar]

Extra Bump......I've been thinking about putting something like this together next spring as I have been researching cams and turbos/superchargers etc etc etc.......

I think and tape measure and some Mustang GT Parts may go a long way here......shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[whiteknight1982]

Wow- it's been a busy few years...

Funny this comes up now soon after someone posts that I've not been on here for two years...

The job I was at in 2013 was a depression causing downer, that sucked all of my time and made me hate waking up on weekdays. I hated it, and it made me withdraw from a lot due to stress. I have since changed jobs, I am doing another swap, have other projects... too many projects I think.

To update- I've been driving this truck as my workhorse for the past two years- awesome!!

Just got new snow tires for 2015, first time ever WITH STUDS!! For the Canadian winters. I can drive in 4wheel drive in sh*t weather like I do with my car on dry pavement. OMG I love this truck!!

The slave cylinder failed this summer, probably because I didn't have the aluminum spacer plate between the engine and bellhousing and I surmise that dirt got in there and caused premature failure. (I also used an aftermarket slave from Rockauto, which may have been a contributing factor.

Also the concentric slave is a god awful design. Internal? Is there any advantage to this over an external one?

So this time I replaced everything with as much Ford OEM parts as I could.) With everything out of the truck, I replaced the rear mail seal, resurfaced the flywheel, replaced the clutch, pilot bearing pressure plate, throwout bearing, slave, front and rear tranny seals and front and read Tcase seals, as well as the front diff seal, which was leaking. I figured I didn't want to be doing the removal again anytime soon due to a 20 dollar seal, or other part.

When I put it all back together, it got even better. I learned more about the hydraulics. When I first built it, I bought the ranger clutch pedals from a wrecker and they gave me the clutch master cylinder with it, so I just installed that. Mistake. So this summer I replaced it with an F150 master cylinder which has a larger bore- 18mm vs 16mm for the Ranger, which equates to about 25 percent more fluid flow when you push the pedal. The Ranger is a smaller engine, smaller clutch and weaker fingers on the pressure plate. I didn't figure that into my original thought process when I did the original build.

I also learned how to bleed the clutch properly, outside the truck, upside down to have absolutely no air in the system.

That's why I posted that it drove like a truck. The pedal had to be right to the carpet, 'cause I wasn't pushing enough fluid, and I had residual air in the hydraulics. It would engage the clutch if I let it up 1mm- I had to always be careful when I was driving, and if I got lazy, it could grind gears.

As a result of these two improvements, it has a more car-like feel now. Much more refined, civilized. Easy and fun to drive now.

I also have a friend who is a genius- he made me a small computer controller module that allows me to use the factory buttons on the dash for the T-case shifter. He has the plans had a few extra circuit boards made when he did mine, and he might be willing to make more if anyone else does this swap.

I think I never posted pictures because in 2013 because I couldn't figure out how to post pics from my computer. I just posted two on the SHOforum (where I spend a bit more time) since I can post from a file on my computer. (I hope they don't get removed from there cause they are unrelated to the post I put them in.)

Here are a two I had on my phone from when I was done, with the 1- 1/2" body lift and the Ranger wheels with bigger rubber.

That's me beside the truck- I can't wait until I get my licence !!

 

[whiteknight1982]

(OK that is actually my son!)

 

[ANTHONY-GATLIN]

I wish I could just order this mod from you or somebody

Wow- it's been a busy few years...

Funny this comes up now soon after someone posts that I've not been on here for two years...

The job I was at in 2013 was a depression causing downer, that sucked all of my time and made me hate waking up on weekdays. I hated it, and it made me withdraw from a lot due to stress. I have since changed jobs, I am doing another swap, have other projects... too many projects I think.

To update- I've been driving this truck as my workhorse for the past two years- awesome!!

Just got new snow tires for 2015, first time ever WITH STUDS!! For the Canadian winters. I can drive in 4wheel drive in sh*t weather like I do with my car on dry pavement. OMG I love this truck!!

The slave cylinder failed this summer, probably because I didn't have the aluminum spacer plate between the engine and bellhousing and I surmise that dirt got in there and caused premature failure. (I also used an aftermarket slave from Rockauto, which may have been a contributing factor.

Also the concentric slave is a god awful design. Internal? Is there any advantage to this over an external one?

So this time I replaced everything with as much Ford OEM parts as I could.) With everything out of the truck, I replaced the rear mail seal, resurfaced the flywheel, replaced the clutch, pilot bearing pressure plate, throwout bearing, slave, front and rear tranny seals and front and read Tcase seals, as well as the front diff seal, which was leaking. I figured I didn't want to be doing the removal again anytime soon due to a 20 dollar seal, or other part.

When I put it all back together, it got even better. I learned more about the hydraulics. When I first built it, I bought the ranger clutch pedals from a wrecker and they gave me the clutch master cylinder with it, so I just installed that. Mistake. So this summer I replaced it with an F150 master cylinder which has a larger bore- 18mm vs 16mm for the Ranger, which equates to about 25 percent more fluid flow when you push the pedal. The Ranger is a smaller engine, smaller clutch and weaker fingers on the pressure plate. I didn't figure that into my original thought process when I did the original build.

I also learned how to bleed the clutch properly, outside the truck, upside down to have absolutely no air in the system.

That's why I posted that it drove like a truck. The pedal had to be right to the carpet, 'cause I wasn't pushing enough fluid, and I had residual air in the hydraulics. It would engage the clutch if I let it up 1mm- I had to always be careful when I was driving, and if I got lazy, it could grind gears.

As a result of these two improvements, it has a more car-like feel now. Much more refined, civilized. Easy and fun to drive now.

I also have a friend who is a genius- he made me a small computer controller module that allows me to use the factory buttons on the dash for the T-case shifter. He has the plans had a few extra circuit boards made when he did mine, and he might be willing to make more if anyone else does this swap.

I think I never posted pictures because in 2013 because I couldn't figure out how to post pics from my computer. I just posted two on the SHOforum (where I spend a bit more time) since I can post from a file on my computer. (I hope they don't get removed from there cause they are unrelated to the post I put them in.)

Here are a two I had on my phone from when I was done, with the 1- 1/2" body lift and the Ranger wheels with bigger rubber.

That's me beside the truck- I can't wait until I get my licence !!

 

[Smithsidebar]

(OK that is actually my son!)

Glad the new job worked out, funny Im in the same spot!!!

There is some good info in here!! I have a mountaineer and have thought of doing this a bunch of times. That's a good heads up on the transfer case issues, Ive read the mountaineers may be different (awd vs 4x4??), I figured worse comes to worse..........2wd and the ability to do burnouts........

 

[Limited02]

Glad the new job worked out, funny Im in the same spot!!!

There is some good info in here!! I have a mountaineer and have thought of doing this a bunch of times. That's a good heads up on the transfer case issues, Ive read the mountaineers may be different (awd vs 4x4??), I figured worse comes to worse..........2wd and the ability to do burnouts........

Mountaineers are more common with AWD, but a few did come with selectable 4x4.

OP - Pics aren't working? If you can paste the link of where they are on the SHO forum, I can help you paste them here.

 

[Smithsidebar]

Yeah, would love to see how everything worked out. Once winter is over, this is something I'm going to look into. I think I start sourcing parts.......RIGHT NOW!

 

[whiteknight1982]

Can you not see the photos? They show up in my browser or phone when I open this page.

 

[Josh P]

Can you not see the photos? They show up in my browser or phone when I open this page.

I do not see any photos, I'd love to see it.

 

[whiteknight1982]

I would like to share the info on this site, cause I got a lot of info from members here when I started the build.

I can also make a list of the parts I used so it gives anyone else a jump start.

I will try get around to that this weekend.

 

[whiteknight1982]

Here is the post in the SHOforum that I posted the pics of my truck when I finished... But it doesn't show anything for the how-to. Just the truck when I put it on the street for the first time after the conversion.

http://www.shoforum.com/index.php?threads/1993-to-1995-passenger-airbag-wiring.131068/#post-1440249

I'll try to get the photos off my old PC this weekend and show a bit of a tutorial.

 

[whiteknight1982]

Crap- i guess you need to be logged into the shoforum to see them full size.

I will find my pictures and figure out how to get them online and do a tutorial this weekend

Dave

 

[whiteknight1982]

I found my pictures, and created a picassa account to store them online- So I'll continue this thread that was started in 2013 !! I hope everyone can see these pictures.

I will write a tutorial with the understanding that anyone considering this mod has some mechanical skills. I won't detail the minutiae of how to fix your truck, because that is already covered elsewhere on this awesome, helpful forum... I'll just post what I did in order to do this swap so hopefully I can help others not repeat my mistakes, and learn from what we did. And to know that this is easier than you think.

I can answer questions here- I have subscribed to this thread, but I don't get the updates and for some reason the instant messages that were sent to me were going into my spam folder in gmail. Anyone know how to stop that?

Anyone planning this should already be aware how to disassemble and reassemble stuff... so this won't be "step by step instructions on how to remove your transmission and transfer case." (I didn't take pictures of that anyway.)

So if you are mechanically inclined, and are sick of your slushbox ATX tranny, and want to consider maybe winding up with this in your near future...

I just took this photo, that shows the shifter in place with leather shift boot.

so to quote Benedict Cumberbatch from the Star Trek- the Wrath of Khan...

Shall we begin?

 

[whiteknight1982]

Step one- Remove this crap from your truck.

 

[whiteknight1982]

Then get one of these. As Jeremy Clarckson would say... "A proper Gearbox".

Mine is from a 1998 Ford F150. Works great, but I'd recommend you get one from a 1999 instead and you'll see why as I post up the pics from the build.

 

[whiteknight1982]

-The manual transmission is from a 1998 Ford F150- an M5R2;

You will need to use F150 starter to fit flywheel ring gear (Explorer's will NOT work)

Remove the flexplate, and you see the rear main seal. Mine is a Romeo block, so it's a 6 bolt. Yours might be an 8 bolt.

New F150 pilot bearing and flywheel

You need bolts for a manual F150- the flexplate is thinner than a flywheel, and the bolts from the Explorer ATX are too short.

Clutch, pressure plate. All bolts, alignment tool come in the clutch kit from Rockauto.

Release bearing and slave cylinder from Rock Auto- all for a Ford F150 4.6 litre V8 manual. Direct bolt onto the transmission.

Remove the center console inside the truck.

Then you'll see that the truck has an access panel.

See the marks on here? I figured all I would have to do was cut it out and the shifter would sit right up in the cab!

I was wrong! Here's the bad news... you need to cut the floor in front of this to allow the shifter through. And guess where it ends up... It comes out underneath the dash!

Here's where it had to be trimmed.

I found out later that a 1999 tranny has the shifter top box about 1 1/2 inches further back. That wouid make the conversion easier- as you will see when i show how i needed to modify the shifter to work in the Explorer.

The green overlay is the newer 1999 gearbox
Note that the light grey/brown silhouette is a rear wheel drive tranny, so the tailshaft housing is smaller, set up for a driveshaft, not a transfer case like the green overlay with the larger tailshaft housing... This is just to show the location of the shifter compared with an earlier tranny.

Its the same gearbox case, just the shifter is further back.
I couldn't source the top plate seperately, so I had to make mine work.

So now that there is access- the tranny can be finally lifted in place and bolted to the engine. Here is my fried Blaine- who helped me do most of this swap, including the stuff I couldn't have done without him. I think he's happy we were done test fitting the transmission and we didn't have to keep lifting it up and down!

We'll get back to the shifter and interior mods later- first we need to get the drivetrain working.

-the transfer case is from a 1999 F250, an electric-shift borg warner that is not automatic all-wheel drive like the explorer was. (which I prefer)

Mine was not this nice- this is a stock photo.

I got mine at a local pick and pull cheap, from this.

I can't remember why we lifted the cab. I think we had trouble getting to the top bolts... for whatever reason, we took it out from the top. I figured a F250 would be heavier duty. I don't know if this is true now. But 2 years later its still going strong without a hiccup.

I paid $150.00

Clutch master cylinder and pedals are from a 2006 Ranger. (could not source out explorer pedals- rare) The Ranger pedal assembly replaces the existing Explorer brake pedal assembly and is a direct bolt on, but you have to cut a hole in the firewall for the master cylinder to go through. I can't find the photos of that right now. Its a tight fit, blocked by the brake booster.

I started off with a custom hydraulic hose, but I would not recommend this. I'll explain later.

-Needed to do a 1 1/2 inch body lift to clear the larger transfer case, and still needed to do a (small) mod to the floor.

Here's the T-case hanging down, not rotated to where it should be because it would hit the seat channel

After doing the body lift, it was still a no go. I had to cut back the heat shield. The seat reinforcing channel is the square tubing at the top of this picture.

Ok- That's it for now.

I'll do more tomorrow.

Dave

 

[whiteknight1982]

Glad the new job worked out, funny Im in the same spot!!!

There is some good info in here!! I have a mountaineer and have thought of doing this a bunch of times. That's a good heads up on the transfer case issues, Ive read the mountaineers may be different (awd vs 4x4??), I figured worse comes to worse..........2wd and the ability to do burnouts........

What are you talking about? With the F150 transfer case- its NOT auto 4WD like a stock Explorer. That's part of the point!

I want to shift gears myself- just like I want to decide whether I am in 4Hi; 4Low, or of course- rear wheel drive.

I can do burnouts all day long in 2wd! And I have one busted rear rim in my garage from doing a 180 and hitting a curb to prove it.

(So to clarify- I don't do 180's anymore. )