the weird thin metal rings and springs are here along with the plastic what you call it broken next to the springs
I apologize if I posted this in the wrong place. While I was trying to take apart the front end of my ranger to replace the wheel bearings and rotors. I encountered a plastic ring with small groves cut into it but it was broken in half. Next were some circular springs and some very very thin discs. needless to say im a bit dumb and ill be honest i started this project with hope and happiness and ended with me chiselling off parts that definitely shouldnt be chiseled off

 

Is it a 4x4?
That plastic part looks like 4x4 part

Article here with pics of 4x4 Auto Hubs: https://www.therangerstation.com/tec...ub-conversion/

Thread here on 2WD front bearing replacement: http://www.fordrangerforum.com/how-t...rings-2wd.html

 

it is a 4x4 automatic thank you

 

You may want to get Manual hubs vs trying to repair Auto hubs, parts are hard to find for the Auto hubs and getting scarcer, lol

Manual hubs are more reliable, and you can leave them Locked thru winter and still "shift on the fly" into 4WD as needed and back to 2WD
In 2001 and up all 4x4 Rangers had full time locked front hubs, no way to unlock them, called Live Axle

 

is there anything id have to worry about with leaving the manual hub engaged. for example the manual hub is engaged but my electric shifter isnt will it break my electric shifter or could it be engaged in 4x4 and not tell me. Sorry if these are dumb questions im not very savy in this field. Im trying but not there yet by a long shot

 

No such thing as a dumb question, but have seen some dumb answers, lol

No, it can't hurt transfer case leaving front hubs locked in 2WD or 4WD
You should have both sides Locked or both sides unLocked, wouldn't hurt anything but would make a "HUMMMM" noise at higher speed



The Locked Manual hubs just mean the axle is locked to the wheel same as your rear wheels are always locked to the axles
So differential will turn when wheels do(like rear) and front driver shaft will spin, like rear drive shaft, when wheels turn

Inside a transfer case the front drive shaft has a sprocket with a chain, the main output shaft has a sprocket also on the chain
In 2WD the sprocket on output shaft is not connected to the output shaft, spins free
When you select 4WD a gear/collar on the output shaft moves to engage the sprocket and that locks the front and rear drive shafts together, it much like changing gears on a manual transmission, except it just has Neutral and 1st, so its either In gear or not in gear

4low is different, that's done with Planetary gear set and not related to 2WD or 4WD, except you can't shift to 2WD LOW because of the way the shifting works, lol, not because it would hurt anything

Picture of inside of transfer case: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1G1hfjlw4mo/maxresdefault.jpg

Finger is on the output shaft
Green thing is the shift fork, it moves the sprocket collar to engage or disegage sprocket to output shaft
Upper left is the front drive shaft sprocket
Heavy duty chain, lol

 

Thank you I feel a bit more comfortable with going to manual hubs i just hope more stuff doesnt break along the way

 

Only other things in the front that wear out are the lower ball joints, and when you need to change these you should also replace the U-Joints on the front axle at that time because you will have access to them
Or you could change ball joints and U-joints now when hub is disassembled, the parts are not expensive, you don't have to change the upper ball joints but its a good idea, although I have never had an upper ball joint wear out, but that could just be luck, lol