Replacing transfer case YL54-AA
 

Going to be replacing the transfer case in my 2000 ford ranger XLT 3.0

The transfer case I have in mine is a bw1354 YL54-AA

Does the transfer case I buy to replace mine need to match the YL54-AA? Yes I know a manual t case would be the way to go but honestly it's already hard enough for me to find one at all locally.

I just need to know if the replacement t case needs to also be a YL54-AA or

No, it doesn't, but it does need to be a BW1354 from a 1998-2011 Ranger or Mazda B-series, these years have the propeller joint connection for front drive shaft

Shift motor never changed, even F-150s used same shift motor on larger transfer cases

You have a 2000 Ranger so you do not need the "speed" sensor on transfer case

Okay so as long as it is a transfer case from a 1998-2011 model it will hookup properly? I had read some threads saying that the internals are all the same but the external hookups change on the different BW1354 models YL54-aa etc

literally any 1998-2011 BW1354 will work and hookup without anything missing?

Yes, any

The front drive shaft hook up was different for 1997 and earlier, that might be what you read, but you could still use one with 1997 or earlier front driveshaft if you needed to

Thanks again Ron, you're a knowledgeable feller.

Just old :)

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ran...d52fcf66e5.jpg


Wish me luck, found one off of an 03 from a local place for $125, everyone else wanted $200 + tax. this place has a warranty if it doesn't work as well.

Also any suggestions for cleaning this up? thought about painting it as well

Should be fine

Rust is all on the shift motor

The vibration damper, just below the motor, can be taken off, you can leave it off if you want, personally I have never noticed a difference
Drain the fluid and refill

Just soap and water should clean it up, there is a VENT on the front side, you can see the nipple in the pic, plug it when cleaning
If you want to paint it you can, but thats a personal choice

Thanks again for the info Ron.

I got the new (used) transfer case bolted up today and the old one taken out, the old one sounds like it has loose pieces inside and makes an awful clicking and catching sound when turning by hand lol.

Did have some issues with the Gasket for it, I bought a new one and it's the paper type gasket, had to re-seat it to try and prevent the initial leaking. I wanted to use a gasket instead of RTV so hopefully it's sealed tight now, i'm going to wait until tomorrow to reattach the driveshafts to make sure there's no leaks. Also had to buy a new housing bolt for the top most left side, the one I removed had aluminum or something of the sort in the threads that would not come out. Hoping this fixes my 4wd with no further issues.

So I ran into an issue on the last step... The rear driveshaft hookup is a 3 inch bolt pattern while the old one is 2.5 inches from center to center. Do I need to try to swap the rear hookup from the old transfer case to the new one? Or buy a new rear u-joint flange to fit the new t-case? didn't even know this is an issue I could have and didn't even think to measure the bolt patterns before buying the new one lol

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ran...d7929fa610.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ran...3946349ae8.jpg

OK, thats an odd one

2000 and 2003 should have the same rear flange, 1998 and up used 3", I have read 1998/9 can have 2.5" but never seen it myself

3 things you can do
Swap whole drive shaft, wrecking yard, need to match regular cab or extended cab length

Swap rear flange, need 30mm thin walled socket and puller, and new rear seal

Swap u-joint flange, not sure if they used same size u-joint, so may have to get dual size u-joint

Well I could just take this transfer case back, get my money and then order a YL54-AA from ebay. That's what was removed from mine initially and it has the 2.5" pattern so i'm assuming the rest of them would as well? Sounds like the least work and not much more money.

Well you can, but YL54-AA should have the 3" rear flange, so check first

my YL54-AA sitting on my porch that I removed and is broken has the 2.5" rear flange LOL that's how I ended up in this predicament.

Going to message a few sellers before buying.

Yes, thats why I never brought it up, it should have a 3"

I'm messaging sellers on e-bay now and they're all giving me attitude saying "if you have the same model # then why wouldn't it be the same?" ..... this is going to be fun lol

It's really hard to find information on the specific bw1354 # variations but from the info i'm getting from these ebay sellers it's leading me to believe that the YL54-AA models specifically have the 2.5" spacing for whatever reason. Just got these pictures from ebay sellers with my specific model


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ran...22b403449b.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ran...264558d6d0.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ran...b8ba4e8c71.jpg

I would go for it then

Went ahead and bought from the seller that sent me these images, here's to hoping I don't have anymore issues lol.

After getting the new transfer case from Ebay, it's installed and good to go now. After some more research and info from all the sellers I could contact that had the YL54-AA's I can confirm they ALL have the 2.5" bolt hole spacing. Must be just this specific model.

OK, good to know

Glad you got it working, sorry for the out of date info

Not a problem at all Ron, you're not the only person who gave me the same info. No way to know unless you've encountered it, apparently it's only on the 2000-2003 models so a small window. You've helped me with many problems with my little ranger, thanks again.

:bigok:

For what it’s worth, I just received a rebuilt t-case for my 1999 4.0 OHV 5spd. I found this thread when it was en route to me and had a day of wondering, but when it arrived I found to my relief that it matched my original 2.5” bolt pattern rear output shaft flange.