A while back I mentioned that I had an idea for converting the electric shift motor for the Explorer Transfer Case into a manual drive unit.

Here is a write up with some pictures of my first attempt. Perhaps this can spark some curiosity and engineering efforts amongst the Explorerforum crowd.

Total cost of the parts for this particular build up were limited to the cost of the epoxy kit (about $4.95) and the crank (about $3.00) the rest of the parts were things I had on hand.

So here goes:

The first picture is the parts as I disasembled them and prepared them for the conversion. You can see that I clipped the wires, pushed the drive shaft out of the armature and cut the end of the armature off of the main part to be used later as a bushing. Also pictured is the large washer I used to hold the bearing later - and the piece of emergency brake cable that I used as a driveshaft. The shaft will drive right out of the armature with some "gentle" persuasion with a Ford wrench (hammer) and a punch.



The second photo is the driveshaft, along with the washer, the bushing I made from the place where the brushes ran on the armature, and the top cap, which holds a bearing inside of a spring clip.



The third picture is a close up of the end cap with the bearing in place. I broke off the little teeth that hold it in. The clip breaks easily by prying the teeth off of it (I could not save mine). {sorry about the fuzzy picture}



The fourth photo shows the partially assembled drive shaft for the motor with the large washer in place and the bearing and bushing in place. These need to be used to hold the shaft into the worm gear to keep it from walking out when it turns against the force of rotation. I let the bearing find its own home by pressing it onto the shaft, then pressing the shaft into the worm drive housing - and allowing everything to align where it needed to be.



The fifth picture shows the driveshaft sitting inside the worm gear housing - with the bearing and washer in place. I ground two of the edges of the washer for case scew clearance (the through screws that hold the end caps on the motor case). I also countersunk the inside hole of the washer a bit to give the bearing a positive place to ride (note, I'm calling it a bearing - it is just a bushing in actuality, and it is fixed to the shaft and just rides on the washer. I lubed it with lithium grease throughhout).



The sixth picture shows an end view of the drive shaft assembly with the washer relieved for screw clearance. As you can see - no rocket science here - this is a rough draft to see if it will work.



The seventh photo is the adaptor that I made to fit both the drive shaft and the cable that drives it. I cut a section out of a soft 1/2" carriage bolt, drilled it all the way through with the size that fit my cable, then half way through with a "Q" (letter drill bit - perfect press fit!) for the worm gear drive shaft. I was going to tap it for set screws, but the adaptor was too thin, so I pinned it instead by drilling it for some small nails I had laying around, then drive the nails in through the adaptor, cut off the ends, and hammered them like a rivet to set them in place. It is a very secure drive system that is adaptable to almost any size shafts.



The next picture shows everything assembled and ready for final testing. Note the pins for the adaptor in this shot.



The ninth picture shows how I secured the end of the drive cable into the end cap of the motor with epoxy. I used JB Weld and let it set up over night. I also took some of the epoxy and sealed up the holes where the wires came through the case housing.



The tenth picture shows the assembled unit with the crank and locating washer in place. I took advantage of the fact one end of the emergency brake cable had a metal fitting in place where it went into the bracket that held it on the donor vehicle. I used another of the large washers (which just happened to fit perfectly) - tacked it in place with the wire feed (epoxy would work perfectly) and also drilled it to mount it inside the cab somewhere. I also installed a window crank with a set screw (puchased at Lowes). I used the ball that came on the end of the cable to attach the crank by grinding it to size (my kid spun the cable while I held it to the grinder to keep it round). I then just slid it into the crank and assembled everything.



The final step is to install it on the truck - but you'll have to wait a few days for that. I am going to drill through the firewall and run the cable to the footwell on my left side near the emergency brake and attach it with a bracket under the e-brake handle. It should be out of the way and yet be accesable for shifting.

It takes a number of cranks to get it to turn enough to engage 4-hi and 4-low, but it does it - and the cost was minimal.

After this first go round, I might consider a better drive cable for another version... The e-brake cable was never designed to spin and there are likely better systems out there. I may just pop for the few bucks it takes for one of those cable drill drives - and use that instead for a smoother turning action. I am also thinking about anchoring the bearing in a more postive way, but so far it seems to work.

So, there you go...

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98 ford ranger lifted 6inches with 33 boggers