Broncobill78
New member
I was just out pulling the driveshaft so I could pull the xfer case so I can swap in my new(old) tranny. Now maybe someone here can enlighten me because the post 87' Bronco's are really not my forte' and I've never had one with auto hubs much less an auto xfer case. When I hop in the truck there are two large rectangular buttons to the right of the steering wheel. The upper says "4x4" & the lower says "Low Range" and with the auto hubs, silly a$$ that I am I've been figuring it to have the electric shift BW1356 transfer case. I mean, wouldn't you ? Now I've noticed that pushing those silly buttons doesn't do jack, no lights come on, nothing makes any noises, nothing at all. So again, being foolish I figure there's probably a problem with the electric shift since the freaking thing is a basket case anyways (well, aren't *most* $400 trucks ? I really only bought the thing to build with my sons & give to my oldest in another couple yrs when he starts tooling around). As per one of the other threads someone mentioned that the electric 1356's had a square 3/8" hole in the case so it could be shifted manually if the electrics died. Soooo, I'm under there just now with my worklights looking for this supposed manual shift hole and I'm not finding anything. Nothing at all, nada, zip, zilch. So I take a moment to start looking at it a little more closely wanting to know where the electric shift motor is. Can't find that either. Hmmmmm. I get out another light to brighten the situation and keep looking. My attention is now drawn to the very mechanical looking linkage that seems to have a shift arm attached to it running up to a hole in the transmission tunnel. This is odd, I've certainly never seen it before. Grab the linkage and follow it back to the transfer case & then back to the hole in the floor and damn if this doesn't LOOK for all the world like a manual transfer case as seen from underneath. I slide the creeper out & open the door to take another look in the cab because, hey, maybe I've just never *noticed* a big transfer case shifter sitting on my floor. Nope, no xfer case shifter there and the electric buttons are still there on the dash where I remembered them being. Ok, put the beer down & get back on the creeper to take another look. Yeah, just like before there's NO electric *anything* bolted to the case and there's still that same mechanical looking shift linkage going to the hole in the floor that I can see from down here but NOT from up top. So I'm back out from under and looking in the cab again and this time I probe the carpet right about where I think the hole is. Sure enough there IS a freaking hole there, it's just covered by the carpet which for some odd reason does NOT have a cut-out in it NOR does it have a shifter sticking out of it. Pick up my beer again & pull back the carpet and yup, there's the hole & there's the manual shift linkage, just no shifter. Oh wait, where's that box of junk the guy tossed in the back when I picked it up. He put a dead old battery in there for me to use as a core when I bought my new battery and there was some other crap in there wasn't there ?!? So I find the box and Lo & behold there's a shifter & boot in there. So I hack a quick hole in the carpet and take a few moments (well, ok, it really took closer to a few beers) and now PRESTO, I have a manual shift BW1356 in my truck. I'm just *waiting* for the wife to come home so I can brag about what an amazingly talented mechanic I've become.
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. More like someone swapped out the electric shift one for a manual shift one.
