Project Vulture

[DintDobbs]

@DemonMudder Yeah, gave me some thing to think about. Right now I'm thinking about how to get that stupid hex bolt (looks like a Torx head) off the speed sensor, what's wrong with just using a normal bolt there, Ford? Were neighborhood kids going around stealing wheel speed sensors in the '90s?

In the interest of negating garage fees, will a small socket do the job? I don't want to damage the thing, or I'll be paying $300 for extraction plus replacement, in stead of $100 at the shop, for replacement.

I've found threads upon threads of people replacing front wheel speed sensors, but never saw any hint of what tools were involved.

 

[DemonMudder]

Who knows, engineers just have to make things difficult. Not sure if theres a special tool or not, dont have much knowledge of the VSS beyond things you've mentioned in here. Would think a standard socket would be fine, but I could be wrong

 

[joney]

Had a scare to day, reality check moment.

As you all know, I've been pushing off replacing that right front wheel speed sensor and rear VSS for a while. It's not my daily, I'm trying to save money with the holidays in full swing, leave good enough alone, the rest of the arguments.

To day, I changed my mind.

Slick curvy roads and high speed limits have ways of making you regard life more highly. I hit some tight curves too fast and ran off the right side of the road. These Nittos grip better on grass than on slick asphalt, so when the tread bit with the front wheels turned, it sent me back onto the asphalt. Bumping back onto the asphalt jumped the right front wheel and it lost grip, and the whole truck started spinning counterclockwise across to the left side of the road. I countersteered, so when it went off the left side, it bit again and sent it spinning clockwise off to the right side again. This occurred twice, counterclockwise, clockwise, counterclockwise, across the road, before it came to a stop, with the truck perpendicular to the road, front wheels in the grass on the oncoming side.

I have no idea how I got around that corner without hitting the ditch on one side, the trees on the other side, or any cars. Jesus Christ must have been holding it down like a Hotwheels, and thank God there were no cars in the oncoming lane.

It's a foreign experience to me, not being in control of the vehicle. I think that if the TOD had kicked in, that power to the front wheels would have prevented them from losing grip on that curve and I'd have never hit the grass. I've been around that curve many times, in different vehicles, and never slid out before. Got used to that TOD for 4 years and when the muscle memory hits, I have to remember it's a RWD now. But, not for long.

TL;DR: When you decide to live without TOD, prepare to dismiss all prior experience with driving the vehicle and start over. You can't drive a RWD like a AWD.

Glad you didn't hit anything, scary ride! Drove RWD until about 2005 but nothing that tall! They do slide out on you (no ABS) !
Hope you get your 4x4 working quickly!

 

[DintDobbs]

@DemonMudder Yeah, I figured. Not worth the risk. Think I'll shell out the $100 for a pro installation... RIP, my bank account.

@joney It felt like using an extra life, or tearing a free lottery ticket.

Hopefully the front and rear speed sensors will fix this issue. Will update, when progress is made.

 

[DemonMudder]

Wish ya luck! Hopefully that's all it is and that's that, dont need things to be any more complicated.

 

[DintDobbs]

@DemonMudder Thanks, I'm gonna need it!

One thing that confuses me still, is that the ABS seems to function correctly, despite the rear center VSS and the right front WSS both reporting faults (C1230 and C1234, respectively). Shouldn't this interfere with the ABS functioning? Whatever, though...

 

[DintDobbs]

(Dual post also in Hazey's thread.)

I swapped Hazey's suspect G-switch into The Vulture to test it.

First test drive: The Vulture. Ran to parts store, scanned for ABS codes. Pretty sure it was hooked up correctly, because it still pulled The Vulture's OBDII DTC's fine, but The Vulture's ABS codes were gone. The Vulture's 4WD lights still flashed. Not sure what would have happened to get rid of the ABS codes, but will investigate.

Second test drive: Hazey. Nothing changed there, ABS still disabled, still has both codes.

So... The Vulture's rear center VSS seems to be functioning correctly, and the right front wheel speed sensor seems to be functioning correctly, according to both codes being currently absent. But the 4WD Hi/Lo lights flashing means there's still a problem there.

I have two matters to resolve. Firstly, codes don't disappear when no system reset or battery removal was done, unless the issue is (however temporarily) corrected.

Secondly, if those ABS issues weren't causing the TOD disable, then something else is.

Going around the loop with this one, but I'll trust the process and see if those codes return before replacing the right front WSS and the rear center VSS. Might goof around with sensor placement and see if I can deliberately cause the codes to return.

 

[donalds]

If I ever meet you I'm gonna give you a laptop with ford scan on it And a elm327

Lol

 

[DintDobbs]

@donalds I think that can be arranged, give me about a year to earn some vacation time, ha ha!

The annoying matter here is that intermittent codes could be a fault in the wiring, a wiring harness, or individual components. Multimeters can only do so much, but pair one with a wiring diagram and they're like the Super Mario Brothers... but electricians.

 

[DintDobbs]

Swapped in a brand new rear center VSS and test drove, no change. Scanned for ABS codes, also no change (still no codes). I'm beginning to think that the issue is elsewhere, but will still swap in a new right front WSS since that has caused the C1234 before.

If that doesn't correct the issue, then it might be time to swap in a new transfer case.

 

[valenciaismail]

you used for the front lift and the rear springs you ordered? I have a 98 sport and after 5 years of ownership I’m ready to lift mine. Thanks man, I’m excited to see your progress

Speed Test​

 

[Fix4Dirt]

you used for the front lift and the rear springs you ordered? I have a 98 sport and after 5 years of ownership I’m ready to lift mine. Thanks man, I’m excited to see your progress

Speed Test​

i sont know if he used the superlift k494 or whatever the explorer one usrd to ve, im pretty sure ge used the ranger lift. in the rear he used the OME CS042R leave and a shakle. he can provide more detail on the setup

 

[DintDobbs]

@valenciaismail Thanks for asking! I updated it in my profile.

The front lift is a Superlift K357 4" for Rangers, plus RTZ 1" re-indexed torsion bar keys, B-code torsion bars, and Rough Country front drive shaft for its 5" lift (same dimensions as Superlift's front shaft, but cheaper and with better reviews). The rear is Old Man Emu 1.5" lifted springs with the overload leaf removed, with RTZ 2" lifted shackles. Shock absorbers are Superlift Shadow gas, part of the K357 kit.

I hear that some early 2nd-gen Explorers (I believe 1995-6 or -7?) were not compatible with the differential drop kit from these K357's. I forget which years, just be sure to search it up once.

My fenders are also trimmed very extremely, to clear those tires.

Best wishes for your build! Spend wisely, and have fun. And post pics, we love pics!

 

[DintDobbs]

In other news, I'm thinking that the issue with my TOD might in fact be in the mechanicals of the transfer case. The old gal is long overdue for a rebuild (or replacement) any way. My skill set, tool set, and available time are not such that this is a task I would want to attempt. However, it would be educational to keep the old T-case just to see what the guts look like, and play with taking it apart and rebuilding it, for educational purposes.

There's a really nice T-case rebuild thread that @Glacier991 made, which discusses many of the functions of the case as well.

Before getting into the real fun, I feel that I should, for good conscience, order new front and rear drive shaft speed sensors just to be sure that the problem isn't the easy stuff. It seems that the Control Trac uses a separate front shaft sensor, rather than the ABS wheel speed sensors, to determine when slippage is occurring. This means that damage to the ABS should not interfere with the TOD, and in turn, damage to the TOD should not interfere with the ABS. The latter is the issue I am experiencing.

We shall see what comes of this.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

@valenciaismail Thanks for asking! I updated it in my profile.

The front lift is a Superlift K357 4" for Rangers, plus RTZ 1" re-indexed torsion bar keys, B-code torsion bars, and Rough Country front drive shaft for its 5" lift (same dimensions as Superlift's front shaft, but cheaper and with better reviews). The rear is Old Man Emu 1.5" lifted springs with the overload leaf removed, with RTZ 2" lifted shackles. Shock absorbers are Superlift Shadow gas, part of the K357 kit.

I hear that some early 2nd-gen Explorers (I believe 1995-6 or -7?) were not compatible with the differential drop kit from these K357's. I forget which years, just be sure to search it up once.

My fenders are also trimmed very extremely, to clear those tires.

Best wishes for your build! Spend wisely, and have fun. And post pics, we love pics!

my guess, just spitballin is 95-7 Xs probably not compatible if so since the tbar key changed for 98 with the seperate kevlar pad. not sure of other diffs

 

[Fix4Dirt]

well boys after a few months of troubleshooting ext license issues and connection issues on forscan i can read the i fo but once i trybto write a new tire size it says incompatible config. will try more later to see if i can figure this out. maybe i have to mess woth the as built format.

 

[DintDobbs]

@Fix4Dirt RIP... Thanks for staying true to your word, though! I'm sure any thing you learn will be useful to the folks around here, so keep us posted when you start playing with switches!

 

[Fix4Dirt]

y

@Fix4Dirt RIP... Thanks for staying true to your word, though! I'm sure any thing you learn will be useful to the folks around here, so keep us posted when you start playing with switches!

ep first had an issue with forscan not working rights on the computer, got past that and then had an issue with not getting proper data, fixed by deleting and remaki ng vehicle profile, then now this. will play around with a bit more and see.

 

[DintDobbs]

Well, after finding a nice sand pit along one of my usual runs, I decided to give the TOD a good test, just to make sure it still operates at speeds under 30 MPH, which it does. So, my current work-around until I can get those sensors all replaced (need a warm day when it isn't raining) is to cut the engine and restart it, which reactivates the TOD until the self-test is triggered.

I did not bother to trigger the self-test and play with it after TOD is disabled, but I should have... for science.

@valenciaismail After using it for a few years on varied terrain, I have considered that the B-code torsion bars are certainly not optimal for every application. C or D code would probably be better for low-speed heavy wheeling, but road manners would suffer.

As you can see in the stationary flex pics, these B-codes are very stiff and while they take the severe thrashings I give them like a champ, they really don't articulate much unless they take a sudden load. I love 'em and I'm keeping mine, but a good grasp of what kind of wheeling you're going to do is helpful when designing your setup.

 

[DintDobbs]

Well, to day I went to the sand pit and finally tested the TOD while the 4WD lights were flashing, and the TOD was indeed disabled. Cutting the engine does reset it, and until 30 MPH is maintained for 10-15 seconds continuously, TOD works as it should. No new news, but I wanted to play with true 2WD before attempting to fix.

Still got to isolate the speed sensor, still haven't poked around the T-case. Spring is on the way, though, so I gotta hurry up and get her ready for the Uwharrie run later this year!