92 4.0L M5OD 2wd to A4LD swap

[Duber15]

I'm looking at possibly picking up a 92 Ranger 2wd with 4.0L 5spd. Trans is supposedly busted. I have access to a 92 explorer 4.0L 4x4 auto trans that's been totalled.

Any big obstacles to overcome when replacing the 5spd with the A4LD?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Shran]

"why" is the first thing I'm asking.

You have a 2wd truck, and a 4x4 donor. Are you 4x4 swapping the truck?

Why not pick up both and trade the Explorer for a good 2wd trans? Or trade the truck for a good Explorer body.

To answer your question, you will need part of the wiring harness, steering column, pedals, shift cables, trans/t-case, and a new custom length rear driveshaft.

Then when it's all put together and running, you have a ton of time invested to end up with a weird hybrid that shouldn't exist and the worst automatic trans ever made. Totally pointless endeavor.

 

[Duber15]

Should have been more specific with the goal. Yes, convert the truck to 4x4, using all parts from the explorer.

Why the A4LD? The explorer was pulling/driving perfectly before being totaled.
I can grab the explorer cheap. If I could find a good m5od 4x4 to replace it, I would.
My concern with going auto was the trans wiring. Everything else is easy to me.


Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[BlackBII]

You may already be aware, but you will need to swap the engine crossmember in order to go 4x4.

As far as wiring goes, it's just a matter of swapping everything over to the Ranger.

 

[adsm08]

Using an Explorer harness in a Ranger is not quite plug and play, but it is close.

I have done this a couple times and have found the easiest way to deal with the minor differences in wiring is to swap the big cannon plug from the Ranger harness to the Explorer harness pin by pin. It is mostly a direct swap, with the exception of you leave alone the wires for the rear lights on the Ranger plug. Those pins are not in the Explorer plug as they run inside the passenger cabin on an Explorer, and outside along the frame on a Ranger.

I tried to just drill out the plugged holes on the Explorer plug and it didn't work very well. The hole did not come out straight.

 

[Shran]

OK, I'm with ya. I suppose if the truck is in good shape...go for it. You could always find a 4x4 M5OD, even if it's junk, and use it as a donor to build a good trans... they are real easy and cheap to rebuild.

Engine crossmember swap isn't a huge deal - just kinda time consuming.

My solution for the wiring differences was to use the entire Explorer harness - everything, literally, except for the interior lights and tail lights. The '94 Explorer dash was swapped into my '89. I ended up cutting the tail light plugs off both harnesses and soldering the wires together where I needed to since the Ranger tail light wire bundle went through the firewall and the Explorer one goes back and through the body.

I have some weird electrical gremlins now that I need to work through but the truck at least runs and drives.