Requirements for carefree fording?

[Chapap]

I’m finding very little about fording on here. Is there another term? Wondering if there’s a way to make the truck not care if it gets dunked.

Things I’ve found are:
1: extend axle and trans breather tubes.
2: air intake mindfulness/ extension, of course.
3: Repack wheel bearings (and U joints?) after submerged). That’s a pretty non-carefree task.
4: cooling fan ought to be electric and deactivatable.
5: electrical fun

Does this sound about right? What’s the lowest electrical component to worry about? how many air vents are on the engine, tranny, and diff (evap comes to mind)?

edit. Changed egr to evap. I didn’t think it sounded right.

 

[bobbywalter]

Have you ever seen my junk?


You are pretty much dead on.

Fording is fording.

Generally...the biggest misnomer is exhaust.


A modern rig with just intake management... Pretty much do well.


Many have checked breathers on cases and axles.

 

[RonD]

Water crossings would be another term

Yes, air intake above water height is a must

Yes, E-fan is also a good thing to use, better than mechanical fans in any vehicle, not just for fording
Mechanical fans can soak the upper engine bay and all electrical connections in the upper engine bay

No carpet in the cab, very very hard to dry it out

Depending on the year you will have an EVAP system with air vent, that should be dealt with
It can be in the engine bay or behind the gas tank
It has a hose that sucks air out of the gas tank and into the engine.....................so could suck in water from a broken hose

Any electrical connectors you see can be unplugged and then outside coated with di-electric grease, and plugged back in
Di-electric grease doesn't conduct electricity which regular grease can, so do not get it on the metal connections(pins/slots) because they are suppose to conduct electricity, lol
The grease is used to seal the connection to prevent water intrusion

Fresh water doesn't easily conduct electricity, salt water does
The dirt on/in the connections can conduct electricity if it gets wet, so clean connections are best before they get soaking wet

If you have a 1994 then the computer will be low down on drivers side of engine bay, may want to pull it out and mount it a bit higher

 

[bobbywalter]

Ahh. Evap is the Achilles heel of modern rigs... especially rangers.


This requires study and planning in the same manner though ..but most are out of sight now...easy to miss

 

[daniel3507]

I feel like the electrical system is more of a concern than intake and such a lot of times. So many connections and sensors. For example, the 2019 and up Rangers you can have whatever snorkel you want, but the fact is you will kill your alternator before water even reaches the stock intake.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Oh. Not what I thought you meant with the title.

Carefree fording usually means getting a Dodge.

 

[RonD]

That would be carefree dodging

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

That would be carefree dodging

When you and alwaysFlOoReD are dead, I will be able to hate Canada again.

But until then, y'all are alright.

 

[bobbywalter]

Blame canada

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Blame canada

I do.

 

[snoranger]

I set my ‘94 explorer up for deep water crossing:

- Snorkel
- Extend all vent hoses (trans, T-case, axles, EVAP)
- Relocate important modules (I extended the wiring and mounted the ECM, T-case control module, and power lock module to the headliner)
- Adjust power seat one last time (It was an Explorer limited... it had all the bells and whistles.)
- Disconnect and seal EVERY electrical connection on the truck with dielectric grease.
- Hope for the best.

I drove it though water deep enough that it would have been smart to keep scuba gear in it.

Don’t expect anything that got wet to work ever again. If it does... you got lucky. I really didn’t care, it was a $150 truck.

 

[pjtoledo]

skip ahead to 9 min for the water footage

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Most people that do it in third world countries prefer a mechanical fan for reliability. They seem to do fine with them.

 

[That_4.0_ranger]

Ahh. Evap is the Achilles heel of modern rigs... especially rangers.


This requires study and planning in the same manner though ..but most are out of sight now...easy to miss

this is probably a REALLY stupid question especially as the son of a mechanic but whats Evap

 

[RonD]

Back in the 1970s some people thought that gas fumes inside the gas tank were a source of "air pollution"

So the Evaporative emissions system was invented, EVAP for short

Gas tanks had a Vented Gas cap up to that point
So gas caps were change to un-vented and a hose was run from the top of the gas tank to a PORTED vacuum source on the carburetor
Ported vacuum has very little vacuum at idle and then gets higher vacuum as RPMs go up, so opposite of regular vacuum, and not as strong
Gasoline in the tank creates more gas "vapor" when its sloshing around, vehicle moving, which is why Ported vacuum was perfect, it sucked in more vapor when vehicle was moving, which was the point of the EVAP system
And the vapor was just burned up in the engine like the gas from the Jets(or injectors)

Then a Charcoal canister was added on the hose to gas tank, so fumes/vapors would be filtered even when vehicle was sitting and off

Then when vehicles got computers the powers that be decided that this ported vacuum method could be refined, and more expensive parts should be used, lol, many many more parts

And we have this now-a-days: https://www.motor.com/wp-content/uploads/evap1_0317.png

Computer uses the purge valve to control regular vacuum sucking fumes from gas that thru charcoal filter
Computer has a vacuum pressure sensor on the gas tank to make sure pressure is not too high or there is no pressure so a LEAK in the system("Check gas cap" light on the dash)
And then a computer controlled Vent valve to pull in fresh air to charcoal canister as needed

This diagram has flow indicated: https://s3.amazonaws.com/rparts-sites/3c6bf818a2c9a12c8c6d6483752dc1f9/images/custom/parts-and-vehicles/evap-system-diagram-500x.jpg

So what started off as a nice simple system with one hose.......................well engineers MUST engineer, lol
Rube Goldberg machine comes to mind