will my 97 speedometer work with a 98 axle

[wes1019]

I just changed the transfer case in my 97 ex with a 98 model. I will change the rear axle now and was wondering what i will need to do to hook up the speedo to the rear axle. Can I just tap into the wires for the sensor wiring that went to the original transfer case? If so will the speedometer be anywhere close to accurate?

 

[Turdle]

No. I'm afraid you need the 97 sensor in the original location, the 97 axle sensor should also be swapped to the new axle.

98 -up used the axle sensor as the speed sensor, the 97 engine computer will not be able to "understand" the 98 seed sensor. They give different types of signals.

 

[wes1019]

Wonderful. Speedo is not a hugh deal. But, after putting in the 98 transfer case, now my transmission is slipping in and out of gear. does the transmission depend on the speed sensor in the transfer case to know when to shift? I can't find anything that I had to disconnect from the tranny when changing the transfer case,

 

[Turdle]

Yeah, I think the transmission needs the vss signal too.

 

[wes1019]

kind of looks like it. 97 transfer cases are kind of hard to come by around here. Looks like plan B. whatever that is. I saw a post where someone took the back half of their 97 case and put it on the front half of a 98. I am looking into that now.

 

[wes1019]

Well that was easy. I pulled the transfer case and swapped the back half of my 97 onto the front half of the 98. No lights in the dash, speedometer works, 4WD shifts fine, transmission shifts fine. So far so good. It only took about 20 minutes to do the swap.