4x4 t case motor 7 or 10 wires?

[Sdude2008]

Should be 7 wires on all Ranger shift motors, the 8th wire is the Brown wire, its for electric Clutch inside transfer case, NOT a ground.
It was on the connector on some years and other years it was just a separate wire, just splice 2 brown wires together if connector to only has 7 pins.
The electric clutch is not part of shift motor wiring which is why it was not included on the connector on all years

Post year of the Ranger, always, and engine size for best help

Hello Ron. I have the 8th brown wire incorporated into my tc motor plug. Every replacement tc motor I see has no brown wire. If I use one of these (7 pin) motors as a replacement should I just re pin the 8th brown wire into the plug? Pic of the ‘extra’ wire. Thank you in advance.

 

[RonD]

The brown wire is for the electric clutch inside the transfer case
It is only used on 4WD vehicles(Rangers) with Automatic front locking/unlocking hubs

If you want to keep it then just get a single wire weather proof connector and make it a separate connection from the 8 pin connector
If you have Manual Hubs you may not needed it anyway

How it works
If you have automatic hubs that are unlocked then in 2WD the front drive shaft is not spinning, so the transfer case's chain drive and its gear on the output shaft is also not spinning
If you want "shift on the fly" from 2WD to 4WD with Auto hubs then there needs to be a way to engaged the gear and chain drive to output shaft without "grinding the gear"
The electric clutch, when engaged, causes gear/chain and front driveshaft to start spinning at output shaft RPMs and the gear is then engaged to output shaft, no grinding, then electric clutch is disengaged

There were 2 kinds of Auto hubs, 1997 and earlier used Torque Activated hubs, if the axles(driveshaft) were engaged(4WD) then the axle's torque/power would cause the axle gear in each hub to engage to the hub gear, locked
If put in 2WD the axles no longer have torque/power so the rotation of the wheel/hub caused the axle gears to disengage, unlocked
These were a little finicky for lock and unlock but did work and were "fairly" reliable if maintained

In 1998-2000 Ford used Vacuum activated Auto hubs
When 4WD was selected Vacuum was Pulsed to each front hub causing axle gear to engage hub gear, in theory the Vacuum was activated before shift motor moved to engage 4WD, but Ford left the electric clutch circuit in place
These were "fairly" UN-reliable


If you have Manual Front hubs that are left in LOCKED position thru the winter or when you think you will be using 4WD then front driveshaft, chain and gear will always be spinning at output shaft RPMs even if not in 4WD
So to engaged 4WD no Electric Clutch is needed, no grinding, because everything is spinning at same RPMs

In 2001 all 4x4 Ranger's got Live Axles, always LOCKED front hubs, so electric clutch was dropped, 2001 and up transfer cases do not have the Brown wire

 

[Sdude2008]

The brown wire is for the electric clutch inside the transfer case
It is only used on 4WD vehicles(Rangers) with Automatic front locking/unlocking hubs

If you want to keep it then just get a single wire weather proof connector and make it a separate connection from the 8 pin connector
If you have Manual Hubs you may not needed it anyway

How it works
If you have automatic hubs that are unlocked then in 2WD the front drive shaft is not spinning, so the transfer case's chain drive and its gear on the output shaft is also not spinning
If you want "shift on the fly" from 2WD to 4WD with Auto hubs then there needs to be a way to engaged the gear and chain drive to output shaft without "grinding the gear"
The electric clutch, when engaged, causes gear/chain and front driveshaft to start spinning at output shaft RPMs and the gear is then engaged to output shaft, no grinding, then electric clutch is disengaged

There were 2 kinds of Auto hubs, 1997 and earlier used Torque Activated hubs, if the axles(driveshaft) were engaged(4WD) then the axle's torque/power would cause the axle gear in each hub to engage to the hub gear, locked
If put in 2WD the axles no longer have torque/power so the rotation of the wheel/hub caused the axle gears to disengage, unlocked
These were a little finicky for lock and unlock but did work and were "fairly" reliable if maintained

In 1998-2000 Ford used Vacuum activated Auto hubs
When 4WD was selected Vacuum was Pulsed to each front hub causing axle gear to engage hub gear, in theory the Vacuum was activated before shift motor moved to engage 4WD, but Ford left the electric clutch circuit in place
These were "fairly" UN-reliable


If you have Manual Front hubs that are left in LOCKED position thru the winter or when you think you will be using 4WD then front driveshaft, chain and gear will always be spinning at output shaft RPMs even if not in 4WD
So to engaged 4WD no Electric Clutch is needed, no grinding, because everything is spinning at same RPMs

In 2001 all 4x4 Ranger's got Live Axles, always LOCKED front hubs, so electric clutch was dropped, 2001 and up transfer cases do not have the Brown wire

I had the vacuum hubs but they were not working before I got the truck so I do manually lock the front hubs when snow is expected etc. like you suggested. I just cut the brown wire and connected it also as you suggested. I appreciate the response and thank you for sharing your obvious wealth of knowledge.