Also wanted to ask this.
Quite often on here and elsewhere I see discussions about the 8th brown wire for the TCSM connector, that goes to the clutch/synchro that allows you to shift-on-the-fly. My motor did not have that when I removed it, do some years not have it or am I missing something?
The Brown wire for the electric clutch inside transfer case is only needed if front hubs are Auto Lock and Unlock
"Shift on the fly" requires front and rear driveshafts to be spinning at the same RPM so chain drive(front drive shaft) can be connected to main output shaft(rear) to get power from the engine/trans in 4WD
Without the electric clutch there would be grinding noise, electric clutch is similar to a Synchro-mesh setup, it matches RPMs of main shaft and chain drive gear
2001 and up Ranger 4WDs have front axles bolted to hubs so always locked, no clutch needed for shift on the fly
Front and rear drive shafts are always at the same RPM inside transfer case
If Manual hubs are locked then front drive shaft will always be spinning at rear drive shaft RPMs so no electric clutch needed for shift on the fly
If manual hubs were unLocked then there would be no point in shifting into 4WD on the fly, lol
One version of Auto Hubs were used from 1983 thru 1997 on Ranger 4x4s
These were Torque Locked and unLocked and needed the electric clutch
The front drive shaft needed to be "activated" first to Lock these type of Auto Hubs, and "deactivated" to unLock
In the hub a cam would cause the locking gears to release the front axle if hub was being "powered" by the tire/wheel, 2WD, unlocked, axles and front driveshaft are not spinning
When front drive shaft and axles got "power" from transfer case the axles would start to spin and that torque would move the cam and engage the axle to hub Lock, 4WD
When you shifted back to 2WD the axles had no "power", the wheels were now powering the hub so cam would release the axle
But not always, lol, you could hear a "click, click, click" from one or both front hubs
You would then need to back up 50-75ft and hubs would release
1998-2000 Ranger 4x4s use PVH Auto hubs, technically these wouldn't need the electric clutch, as the Vacuum Lock should be applied a few seconds BEFORE shift motor is activated to change to 4WD, so with hubs locked the front drive shaft would be spinning at same RPM as rear driveshaft
But it didn't work very well
So they have/need an electric clutch
The brown wire is part of transfer case it doesn't "unplug" from transfer case
So having it connected with the 7 wires for transfer case shift motor is a PITA
It was a separate wire/connection is most years as far as I have seen
But it was added to the 8 pin connector is other years, so if changing shift motors you need to unpin it from old shift motor connector and repin it to new shift motor connector
But I would just cut the brown wire off the 2 connectors and add your own single wire connector or just butt splice them and if you ever do need to drop transfer case cut the wire again
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