My 97 Explorer was used last winter for plowing snow only. Before that, my wife drove it daily for a few years. Before that, a friend of mine had it since new so I know it's complete history.

At the end of last winter, it started shuddering on occasion, and then soon I only had 2 wheel drive. After some troubleshooting, I figured out the electromagnetic clutch in the tcase is shorted out. Even if you wire it directly to the battery, it was blowing 40 amp fuses. My snowplow has a resettable 100 amp fuse, and it kept blowing that as well. (just testing it).

So, I will probably pick up a good used transfer case at the local auto-wrecker, but I wonder, since I plow in 4Lo all the time (not in AWD), that the clutch might not be designed for full time use? Although, if you have the option of 4Hi and 4Lo that it should be able to take full time use, no?

The vehicle does have 300000kms on it, but runs and drives great. Not abused, even plowing snow (it has more than enough power/weight). I used to plow with a VW bug before this. ;-)

Thoughts?

 

Considering that an Explorer is not designed to plow snow at all, I don't see why you want to take time and money to sort this out.

It was never designed to handle that kind of use. If you do want to proceed, I suggest getting a manual transfer case, so you can lock it into 4LO manually, rather than hoping that the electronics can do it.

 

I found this quote:

"Sounds like you want a 13-54 manual from a 90-97 Ranger or a 91-94 Explorer. "

And this with color pics:

4405 to 1354e to 1354e with Manual Shift - Ford Explorer & Ranger Resource "Serious Explorations"®

At that forum. Lots of mod'd Exploders there, lots of tech threads, lots of pics.

Best I can do.....

 

I would presume, by your comment, that you probably have not ever taken thetime to properly mount and prepare a vehicle for a snow plow.

Once you have the plow on a vehicle, in my opinion, repairing the vehicle isa preferable option.

To follow this line of logic, anyone who has a plow on a 1/2 ton truckshould not endeavor to fix their vehicle either; furthermore, every plow on a3/4 or 1-ton truck should be removed as well, unless it came from the factorywith the "snow plow prep" package, as that is what makes it"designed to be used with a snow plow"

To say that the explorer was never designed for a plow is true, but at thesame time misleading. There are plows that have been designed to work with theexplorer, thus making it a viable option. (I have thought about it myself). Thereare, after all, a ton of jeeps wearing snowplows serving homeowners well fordecades. The short wheelbase and tight turning radius of an explorer isextremely attractive for plowing.

I would agree that if you are going to use it as a plow rig, you are lookingat aftermarket modifications to keep it in working order.

While you are changing your transfer case, install a Trans temp gauge aswell. When worked hard you need to know what is going on or you are going tocook something. As I understand it, the 5r55, 4r55 (A4LD) are not know for theirrobust disposition. A transgo tugger shift kit would be wholly appropriate inyour application.

 

meborder, you are very wise, and your description of the Explorer having the short wheelbase with tight turning radius is one of the reasons I like plowing with it. My Beetle had a better turning radius, but the 4 wheel drive, cupholders, working rear defrost, and a rear wiper make for a comfortable unit with the Explorer.

When I plow snow, I hardly even touch the gas. The vehicle is in no way working hard, or ever going to overheat. I usually go out and start up the explorer, wait five to ten minutes (the colder it is outside, the longer I warm it up) and I plow my driveway. I finish mine before the thermostat opens. Then I do my two neighbors driveways and that takes another half hour. Never get over 10km/h, and the engine never gets over 2000rpm.

Been looking around and there are quite a number of explorers in the local autowrecker so I'm going to take my chance with the same transfer case. If that one blows in the next two years, then I'll look at a manual one, but I suspect I should be ok. I did some research and they are designed to run in 4x4 all day long. I just had a bad clutch, thats all.

Thanks for your input.