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Wrong Wiring Harness for Transfer Case

JFREEMAN

New Member
Joined
October 23, 2007
Messages
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City, State
Lawrence, Kansas
Year, Model & Trim Level
97 sport 5sp
Ok, So if you read any of my threads over the summer you know I've got some serious issues on my hands with my little time consuming truck. Here's the deal, I have a 1998 Ranger 4x4 that I bought as a project. When I got it, the engine had a blown head, so we put a 4.0L out of a 1995 explorer. The transmission that came with the truck was automatic and frankly junk. At the time I had a 1997 explorer with the manual transmission sitting around, so I went to swapping transmissions and ended up with an automatic turned manual ranger. Everything works, however the wiring harness for the transfer case has a different connection compared to the original. I believe this is due to the fact that the explorers had the auto 4x4 feature. Anyway, long story short, the wiring harness coming out below the drivers side seat does not and will not fit the harness for the transfer case. It has stumped me as well as the electrical shop its been at for the last month due to the cold weather in Kansas. What do you guys think, is there a way to make this transfer case work with this truck? Or should I look at getting a different transfer case that will fit the harness, and if so will the transfer case from a 1998 ranger manual transmission mount up to a 1997 explorer manual transmission?
 



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Your post is a bit confusing to me. Can we break it down to what is in the rig as it sits?
This is what I am getting out of your post.

'98 Ranger
'95 4.0 OHV
'97 manual trans
'?? transfer case??

Your asking if a '98 t-case will mount to a '97 man trans, does this mean that you have a '98 t-case in it now? 1354, & 4405 will mount to 4wd transmissions from 91-01. I am not up on years after that. That does not mean they will all work electronically though, they have the same mounting pattern is all.

All that aside. Once you swap to a manual t-case, that pigtail coming out of the floor is no longer used. It connects to the shift motor, the hall sensors, and the infamous brown wire in the control trac t-case. Those are all obsolete with a manual swap.

If there is a VSS in your man t-case, the connector for it is in the trans harness. Now, if you did not swap the automatic ECM, engine/trans harness to a manual harness, your going to have some wiring to do to make the VSS, & the reverse lights work.
 






To clear it up a bit

What the truck has currently as it sits:
1995 4.0L OHV (explorer)
1997 Manual transmission (Explorer)
1997 Control trac transfer case (from transmission donor Explorer)
1998 Engine wiring harness for automatic (from Original Ranger Motor)
1997 Explorer Computer

Hope this helps
 












If wiring schematics for both transfer cases will help just PM me your email address and I'll send them to you.
 






What to do?

Sorry its been awhile, Senior Year of College. Would I need the 1354E or 1354M? Also, Would it be possible to just make the control track transfer case work?
 






Yes, you could make the 4405 work if you wanted to badly enough.

In his post, Stadx2 goes over how to wire the 4405 into a V8 explorer that never had an electric Tcase, but you can just disregard that part. In your case, I would remove all of the old Tcase wiring, except maybe the constant power lead, and go from there...

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85487
 






Automatic transfer case on manual transmission?

So I just remembered that somewhere out in the garage I have the transfer case from the original automatic transmission from the truck. Would this work with a manual tranmission? The reason I swapped the transfer cases, in the first place, was due to the fact that the transfer case off the 1998's automatic transmission seemed to have some ATF that flowed between the transmission and the transfer case. Whereas the transfer case off the manual is dry. Any Ideas?
 






I don't see why it wouldn't work. You could plug the circulation holes in the transfer case with some silicone or rubber o-rings and a rivet, fill it with 2 quarts of Merc 3 and put it on.
 












hi guys,just bumping into a 2 yrs old post, but really interesting.second 4r44e that goes in my 95 explorer, and rather than give up on the truck I'll love to swap from auto to manual...first thing looking for its the tranny...explorer its 95 xtl 4.0 4x4 . not sure if a transmission for a 96 3.0 4x4 would fit or do i have to get the 4.0 one? also it is posibble to keep my transfer case from the auto and incorporated into the manual tranny?
got my eyes in a donor 97 explorer manual 4x4 as far as the shift stick,pedal assemb, harness to the transmission and any other stuff still attached to the donor vehicle, wich by the way no longer has the tranny on...i've been looking for a while and still got a lot of questions w/o response,althought this place its like the bibble of the explorers :) and the most complete about information on the web...thanks in advance guys...
 






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