BS or not?

Thanks guys. Gonna order two new tires this weekend, the rears are only a couple months old and have maybe 1500 miles on them. They still have full tread according to the dealer.

bobbywalter said:

the funny.....the t case is the strongest part of the ranger drivetrain.









no.








no. it is not abuse. there was a time it was recommended....like in the fuking owners manual recommended...... to briefly engage it a few miles per month. sure preferably on a dirt/gravel road...but a few miles here and there wont hurt it. it is not abuse.


so what he described as doing with that ancient t case design....is not abuse.


driving all over town and flooring it trying to do donuts or sharp corners and complaining about the torturous understeer would be abuse.

your a ford mechanic. you know this.


of course.....like you outlined...since this does not have lockouts...not really much point in doing it. though on a cad axle its still smart to exercise it.

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I agree that on something with an unlockable front axle it is wise to exercise it once in a while. It is a moot point on his truck. And as far back as my 87 the sticker on the visor with the 4x4 instructions says to not engage it on a hard surface.

Also, just putting it in 4x4 and driving in a straight line for a few miles is not going to damage anything, you are correct, but it will still wind up the driveline. How much is going to depend on how mismatched the tires are.

The abuse part is when he shifts it back out without taking the tension off the system first. Shifting it back to 2wd without backing up a bit to take the tension off the drive line is roughly the equivalent of yanking a manual trans out of gear while accelerating. It isn't the accelerating that does the damage, it's the half second when all that force is on the very tips of the gears as it comes out that does the damage.


Plus, yes the t-case design is ancient, but I guarantee the 1990 built one in my truck is stronger than the one in this guy's '11 because stuff was just built tougher back then. Better materials, better workmanship, less China.

adsm08 said:

I agree that on something with an unlockable front axle it is wise to exercise it once in a while. It is a moot point on his truck. And as far back as my 87 the sticker on the visor with the 4x4 instructions says to not engage it on a hard surface.

Also, just putting it in 4x4 and driving in a straight line for a few miles is not going to damage anything, you are correct, but it will still wind up the driveline. How much is going to depend on how mismatched the tires are.

The abuse part is when he shifts it back out without taking the tension off the system first. Shifting it back to 2wd without backing up a bit to take the tension off the drive line is roughly the equivalent of yanking a manual trans out of gear while accelerating. It isn't the accelerating that does the damage, it's the half second when all that force is on the very tips of the gears as it comes out that does the damage.


Plus, yes the t-case design is ancient, but I guarantee the 1990 built one in my truck is stronger than the one in this guy's '11 because stuff was just built tougher back then. Better materials, better workmanship, less China.

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I disagree about taking it out of 4x4 without backing up. That's kinda one of the points of having non-locking hubs up front. There's a reason why they call it "four on the fly". You're supposed to be able to engage and disengage it without stopping. That was the point of the design of the system, so people could engage the 4x4 and then disengage it if they ran into a slick or snowy spot on a road without having to pull over, get out, unlock the hubs, then put it in reverse to disengage everything. Personally, I like the old way better because when you unlocked the hubs, then nothing in the front drive line is spinning, which equals less wear and tear on the whole system.

If you only have it engaged on low traction surfaces, there should be little or no "windup" to worry about. I generally slow down and take my foot off the accelerator when disengaging. That way I am not putting stress on the gears when they disengage.

Be nice to your machine and your machine will be nice to you.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

ericbphoto said:

If you only have it engaged on low traction surfaces, there should be little or no "windup" to worry about. I generally slow down and take my foot off the accelerator when disengaging. That way I am not putting stress on the gears when they disengage.

Be nice to your machine and your machine will be nice to you.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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That's usually what I do too when I disengage it.

Assocracer said:

I disagree about taking it out of 4x4 without backing up. That's kinda one of the points of having non-locking hubs up front. There's a reason why they call it "four on the fly". You're supposed to be able to engage and disengage it without stopping. That was the point of the design of the system, so people could engage the 4x4 and then disengage it if they ran into a slick or snowy spot on a road without having to pull over, get out, unlock the hubs, then put it in reverse to disengage everything. Personally, I like the old way better because when you unlocked the hubs, then nothing in the front drive line is spinning, which equals less wear and tear on the whole system.

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They call if SOF (Shift on the Fly) because you can shift on the fly when using it in appropriate conditions. My comment was specifically aimed at a situation like the one you described being in where you have engaged it on dry pavement and caused wind up, an inappropriate condition. If you are on a snowy or icy road and were in 4x4 but now you are coming to a clear section and you are taking it out, no you don't need to stop and back up.

Remember the description I gave earlier, about drive line wind up comparing your drive shafts to the rubber band on the balsa wood plane? It is accurate. Bobby's description of the T-case as the strongest part of the drive line is also accurate. I have seen vehicles that were accidentally dropped into 4-hi by accident at 65MPH+ towed in with shattered t-cases, broken diffs, and pretzel-shaped drive shafts. And the first one that comes to mind is an F-550.

Now think about what happens to the propeller of that plane when you wind it up and let go. It releases that tension and goes spinning. If you have your drive shafts wound up like that and suddenly disconnect them from each other, releasing that tension, they pop back to normal. And they release that force. And all that force, which was spread over the very strong, full length of the engaged gears in the t-case is, for a split second, held only by the not nearly as strong tips of those gears. This is where physics and geometry are not your friends. PSI is a funny thing that way, because it depends on surface area. Lets say you have 200-300 PSI spread across the surface of those gears when fully engaged. Now suppose that the engaged surface area at the very last moment of disengagment is 1/100th (I am making up number at this point to keep the math easy) of the fully engaged surface area. 300 PSI spread over 100 inches is fine. That same applied force when brought down to one inch will strip the ends off the gears.

The dealership tech probably drained your t-case fluid through a strainer or a coffee filter, came up with little chunks of gear, and then checked to see if a whole transfer case was going to be covered under your extended warranty.

Oh, and for the record, that same instruction book also says that if the system shifts into 4x4, and then fails to complete the shift back to 2wd you are supposed to put the selector back in 4-hi, back up a few feet, and try again. They know that if you wind the system up far enough to motor can't pull the gears apart.

rumble strips and pot holes are your friend when disengaging 4wd, the bouncing wheels allow the stress to be relieved.

ericbphoto said:

If you only have it engaged on low traction surfaces, there should be little or no "windup" to worry about. I generally slow down and take my foot off the accelerator when disengaging. That way I am not putting stress on the gears when they disengage.

Be nice to your machine and your machine will be nice to you.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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I have had mine for 17.5 years, I have heard about windup but have never encountered it. Never back up before disengaging it either.

Both my trucks have manual 4wd, and both shift in and out the same every time. I only use it when needed and usually only as long as needed which probably is a factor.

the setup on my ranger, I have to kick it in to neutral and coast to a stop. 1/2 the time I still have to back up to unlock the hubs. but that is dana 60 stuff on brand new matched tires...

I rarely had the problem with the d35, but the d28 always was bound up and required reverse. I hated that d28....all I did was bust it constantly.

my bronco 2 has a d44 and works really good. it also has an electric shift t case. I run on the hard ground in 4x4 no problems with 33 in radials. but it is hard on the u joints in the front axle. i don't know what the previous owner broke...but we busted 5 outer stubs4 inner shafts 1 front drive shaft, 2 9 inch pigs with spools,rear shackles, 2 transmissions,broke the centers out of 3 clutches total ripped the traction bar off the axle...broke the rear spring after that....and some other shit.....


all of that crap on the same transfer case. went thru 4 208's on the ranger in the same stretch of time. though those issues were varied.


I also in the past regularly run intentionally mismatched tires. boggers rear and tsl's front.

cruising in 4wd you will feel the bind unload at regular intervals on dry pavement. it (the driveline bind) will easily over power the traction of the tires above 10 mph and not beat up these systems too bad at all.

most of the time my spare is undersized. this is to minimize weight and maximize space. with open diffs you can get by fine till you can get the tire fixed. just one more reason to love selectable lockers.


the idea of tire wear causing any issue with a part time 4x4 system is comedy to me.

on awd systems that use brake bias and viscous couplers and clutch posi's along with data from the wheel speed sensors to operate torqe bias...tire size is imperative. change all 4 for damn sure.


thus my initial statement.

while i disagree what the op was doing is abuse...
i agree that for the op...exercising that system is moot.

85_Ranger4x4 said:

I have had mine for 17.5 years, I have heard about windup but have never encountered it. Never back up before disengaging it either.

Both my trucks have manual 4wd, and both shift in and out the same every time. I only use it when needed and usually only as long as needed which probably is a factor.

Click to expand...

I have gotten both ends of this stick. I think it is largely due to imperfections in tire sizes.

My truck winds up in about 10 feet and starts hopping. My B2 I can, and have, driven 8 miles to work on dry roads in 4-hi and not even noticed until the last sharp turn into the parking lot.