Will a Merc. Mountaineer work?

[desert dog]

Hey everybody. I need a little advice here. I'm about to become the ownere of an '87 BII. Anyway, not being able to ever leave well enough alone and because I like to do builds on my schedule rather than wait for something to break, I am looking sat swappiung in a 4.0. I have acess to a '99 Merc Mountaineer that got rolled and I'm not clear on what I've read weather or not this is a good donor for me. I can get the whole thing for $700. I'v e built early Broncos with 351wconversions etc just never a BII. I figured that if it works I should be able to use the motor, tranny and tc along with the axles. Am I wrong. A little advice her would be greatly appreciated.

 

[janderson4010]

my understanding on the 4.0 swap is the best thing to do is retain all the wiring from the donor vehicle, im swapping in a 4.0 from a 1st gen ex into my bII pretty soon, im pulling the m5od and tcase for my bII right now and im going to drive the rig w a 2.9 for a while. that would prob be the sohc which is pretty much the best engine for the swap from what ive read.

 

[desert dog]

Thanks for the help. So...there is not a problem with this year drive train? I was concerned because all that I've read about this seems to just point to the 93 or04 explorer. I just figured if I could get this Merc for this money it might work. Do you know about the axles? Thanks again.

 

[janderson4010]

the front is prob ifs, the rear will be a 8.8 which will be perfect. yeah I think it was 410fortune that had a sohc 4.0 in his rig and my understanding is its just about the perfect 4.0 as far as being able to go in and having good power, i have a 92 ex that im getting my 4.0 out of. coincidentally the mountaineer stuff is pretty popular among the explorer guys i think, maybe you can salvage some parts and make some money for your build.

is it an auto? prob the A4ld, ive heard mixed reviews on them, you would have to research and get someones opinion that has messed with them more. ive only dinked around with the manual transmissions

 

[janderson4010]

actually its a 5r55e, i have no idea on those. i have a buddy who is a mod on the for sale forum that has a 01 ex that has a sas and an atlas mated to a 5r55e, its seems to do just fine.

 

[4x4junkie]

IIRC, the Merc has an AWD t-case with no low range. The front is an A-arm IFS, which is not swappable into your BII (you wouldn't want that anyway).
The disc brake rear 8.8 axle out of that Merc would be the only real desirable item from it IMO.

For the rest, a '91-'94 Explorer makes a much easier donor to pull parts from. These won't have the SOHC motor, though the OHV motor holds it's own pretty good (especially in a light BII).

 

[desert dog]

4X4, thanks for the advice. sounds like I should just keep shoppin' huh.

 

[janderson4010]

yeah thats true, you would be searching for rest of your drivetrain, trans and tcase and front axle whatever you decide. depends on what price your getting it for, the disc brake 8.8 is actually pretty desirable. and u really can swap in that sohc 4.0. price is prob everything on this one.
i got my explorer parts rig with everything i need on craigslist for 300 bucks, kid hooked the solenoid up backwards lol