I hope that this part of the forum is correct for this post....

regardless of however silly my reasons may be and however much of a waste of time the whole of it might be, im merely here with some questions for my four wheel drive to two wheel drive conversion.

it is a short bed single cabin four wheel drive 2007 ranger with four liter v6 engine. there is nothing wrong with the drive system but for my own reasons, i want to convert it to two wheel drive. but without modifying the transmission or getting a longer driveshaft. so i am considering removing the transfer case and doing some modifications to it.

it seems to me that if i remove the transfer case input and output shafts, reassemble and attach them in between the transmission output shaft and the original equipment driveshaft; supposing they all stay together once reinstalled that I could be able to do regular street driving without any of these parts falling apart.

specifically, pertaining to the following pictures, after removing the transfer case from the transmission and disassembling it; i will be reattaching part numbers 4, 2, 13-15, 19 (minus part 18) and 34-37.



i know that when i remove the transfer case from the transmission, some transmission fluid will leak out from the extension housing. when i reattach part 4 with a seal between it and the extension housing, it will make for less of a leak.

will all these parts play well together between the transmission output shaf and the driveshaft when reassembled??

thank you.

 

TBH, the rotational losses you'd recover would be minimal, at best.

If I was to do the same, I would just disconnect the front driveshaft and leave the transfer case as-is. If anything, you can remove the chain from the system to reduce weight and eliminate any link from the front end hub to the mainshaft.

 

Yes +1 ^^^

Remove front drive shaft and all that will be turning in the transfer case is the input and output shafts, same as a 2000 and earlier Ranger 4x4 with unlocked hubs

Transfer case has an oil pump so all the parts are lubed, so if they "wear out" then there was a problem in the system, reducing the number of parts may sound good but you will need to go through how the shafts will stay lubed without those parts, I don't know, just saying when you change something in a system that requires constant lubing you can change the pattern of flow and that can cause problems

 

well turismolover, im not quite bothered by rotational issues, but thank you. and i have already removed the front driveshaft

 

ron, i have already removed the front driveshaft few months ago. tho per your comment here about all that will be turning; with the transfer case already in two wheel drive mode, dash switch set properly, i was doing some work underneath the truck, and while accelerating. i noticed the output shaft for the front driveshaft on the front side of the transfer case was spinning. --and in two wheel drive mode. i thought that was very odd

the parts i identified in my post here, will be reinstalled by themselves and without the transfer case. i will be removing the transfer case, taking the parts i mentioned out, and 'reinstalling them as this picture suggests

there in being outside the transfer case and away from the oil pump and any other lubrication. literally being subject to the outside elements. --bare bones underneath the truck.... the front and rear driveshafts are both subject to the same elements. quite likely made of different materials, and maybe even with a special coat of something to protect them from quicker deterioration. --i dunno..... i may even apply something protective to those parts, being outside the transfer case in the event i want to put it all back together.

 

It was only spinning because there is nothing to keep it from spinning
Front drive shaft has a chain drive with a gear on the output shaft, in 2WD the chain's gear on the output shaft is not "meshed" with its drive gear on the output shaft, but the chains gear is still ON the output shaft, so will pick up the spin of the shaft if nothing is holding it from spinning
In 4WD the shift rod's fork locks the output shaft drive to chain drive gear and you have powered front drive

You could lock off the front drive connection so it didn't spin but in my opinion it would generate more friction inside than just letting it free spin, its not using power and its not under any load

 

okay Ron. Thank you. that makes sense.

so, what do you think Ron, bout the reassembly of the parts in that picture. with it all connected between the output shaft of the transmission and the rear drive shaft; would all those pieces stay together, or would they come loose somehow?

 

Only concern is the oil pump on the main shaft, and can it still lube the bearings, and I don't know its pathway for sending out the oil

If you open a passage then all the oil pressure is lost and..................toasted bearings

 

well ron, as i said earlier, the whole transfer case will be removed from the transmission. the case will be disassembled, and only the parts in the picture i posted in my last reply will be assembled and attached under the truck. so there wont be any oil to be 'pressed'.

i only just now noticed that parts 14 and 15 are bearings. will they be needed in the reassembly to connect 19 and 13 (the input and output sharfs) for proper motive power?

 

If there is a bearing then it needs to have an oil supply or it needs to be a sealed bearing with lube inside, called "lifetime bearing" but not human lifetime, unless you are very very unlucky and die young, lol, usually last 5-10 years or so, i.e. the new wheel bearing setup

But these bearing will be spinning at least 3.5 times faster, i.e. 3.73 rear axle ratio, even faster with a 4.10 ratio, so probably wouldn't hold up without full time oil supply exchange

 

baed on the illustration ive seen, it seems these bearings may be required afterall. i am considering getting a boot, similar to the one on the rear driveshaft assembly. --to put around the pieces that may require the bearing. or even looking for a closed bearing with the same inside diameter. but i still may put a boot around that as well to help increase life span. i may even get a full length boot to help protect the exposed splines of the input and output shafts that come together.

but it seems too that when these parts ive mentoined are all together that the two shafts wouldnt turn as a whole unit. they may need a screw or something to hold them inside each other. i dunno

 

I am still a little perplex with what you are trying to do

If you don't want a transfer case and don't want to change to a 2WD transmission then just make a longer drive shaft
You would still need a support bearing on the end of output shaft

 

This is the same guy that did a ABS delete, power steering delete, EGR delete, EVAP system delete and not sure if he ever got his PATS delete working.

 

LOL, may be trying to improve MPGs, deleting all that hardware & weight;
could try replacing wheels with Bicycle Rims+Tires!

 

For better MPG you need to improve the engine efficiency
Gasoline engines are only 25% efficient, so at $4 a gallon for gas, $1 is used to get you down the road, $3 is used to heat up the coolant and air around the vehicle, totally SUCKS
Some of the newer I4 engines are now just above 30%

Diesels were 30-35%, and newer designs are up to and just above 40% efficiency

Swapping in a more efficient engine would be much better than reducing weight as far as MPG

Electric is 90% efficiency, just FYI