Is it at ALL possible to wire in a 4wd tranny/tcase using 2wd wire harness??


treeguy

treeguy

15+ Year Member

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Sep 6, 2009
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Shelton, WA
Vehicle Year
1990
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Manual
Is it at ALL possible to wire in a 4wd tranny/tcase using 2wd tranny wire harness??

I am stuck against a brick wall. . . no local junk yards seem to have a Gen II ranger 5speed & manual t-case to steal the wiring harnesses for both to wire in my project 2wd to 4wd 1990 . . . I am trying to mate a mitsu fm146/bw1530 to a 1990 ranger 2wd wire harness and can't figure out how to wire in the necessary stuff to at least get it functional :dunno:(ie out of my sisters car port) any ideas or input . . . . both trucks are 2.9L 5-speeds with the donor 4wd being an 88 . .. arrgghh . ..:annoyed:
 
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well, other than making it look good, do you really NEED to wire it in? if it's manual shift it shouldn't matter one way or another.
 
My main concern is the tranny . . . I want to neutral sensor to function (makes it idle nicely I've heard) and the back up lights would be a plus ... t-case can wait till later if need be . . .
 
The back up lights would be a definite plus.

I've never heard of a neutral position sensor effect idling. As far as I know, it only effects starting (won't start unless it's in neutral). Which I guess is ok. When my friend Mack got his J10 (which had a stick) he nearly ran me over twice because he left it in gear when he tried to start it. And because he had only driven automatics, he forgot about that 3rd pedal...

Shouldn't that all still be on the transmission though? Similar connectors even? (or did you use a different transmission than the one that was in it?)

All I have seen are on the transmission top cover (neutral switch and reverse lights). Don't take this as insulting your intelligence, I get the feeling they're in fact not where I think they would be.
 
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the neutral safety switch for starting is on the clutch pedal on my 95 - I had it bypassed for awhile when I did my swap, but finally wired it up.

The 2wd tranny should have the wires for the reverse lights and for neutral to the computer if you need that, Youd just have to test them to find out where to splice the new tranny wires into. the 4wd setup should have extra wires for showing when it's in 4x4, but I don't see it being too hard to get everything working.

are the plugs totally different?
 
The truck was originally 2wd, it is a 1990 Ranger XLT extended cab with a 2.9L 5 Speed trans. I just got the 4wd crossmember welded in, and front axle mounted. AllenD mentioned the neutral sensing sensor and that it seems to tell the engine when to idle down in neutral. The donor 4wd parts came from a 1988 Ranger XLT 2.9L, 5 speed man t-case . .. I will check the plugs . . .
 
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