4R70W with Winters Shifter

[76Bronko]

On to the next issue. Have an EFI Guy harness and looking to install a Winters shifter. Had no idea that this is going to require draining and dropping the transmission pan. Seems like they could have just designed a bracket to replace the existing one....

Can anyone confirm that the linkage arm in the kit will work with my stock harness connector? As in it will plug into it, and tell the ECM what gear I'm in?

Thank you. Mel

 

[nvrstuk]

What's a "stock harness connector"? No Bronco ever came with a 4r so we must assume you mean with the wiring harness that is included with the US Shift controller or an Exploder? IF you use a US Shift controller, then if you used a Winters shifter and bought the parts for the Winters that were designed to connect to the 4r then yes, it will plug into the 4r if you have the correct Range Sensor for the 4r. If those assumptions are correct then yes, after you pull the pan, install the new parts then your Range Selector will tell your US Shift controller what gear you're in.

You are asking about an "ECM". What setup do you have, a complete 5.0 from an Exploder complete with trans, coil packs, ECU??

Need more info.

 

[lars]

I'll take a stab at it.. The stock gear indicator switch doesn't change with the Winters shifter lever, and so switching to the Winters lever has nothing to do with the connector on either the switch or the harness.

The problem you may have is clearance between the Winters arm and the front driveshaft when the suspension is fully compressed. And in my case, with the cable looping backwards out of the shifter, down through the floor then forwards to the shift arm, was interference with the transfer case. The minimum bend radius of the cable was too big to allow a straight horizontal shot (parallel to the bottom flange of the transmission) to the shift arm. I had to angle it, which meant figuring out the geometry so the notches on the shifter console would match the shift detents as the arm rotated. And mine still barely clears the front driveshaft at full stuff.

Pics show my solution. Others here have been successful doing it differently but I couldn't see how to make the other solutions I saw work for me.



Another option would be to run the cable forward, then loop back to the shifter arm. Then you could use the stock Explorer arm and have zero driveshaft issues. That would've seriously complicated my shifter console so I chose not to, but in hindsight I probably should have given it more thought.
One member's solution here: https://classicbroncos.com/forums/threads/4r70w-shift-lever-arm-question.314407/

 

[76Bronko]

Thank you all for the help. I have the shifter in now. Still needs a little tweeking, but it's "mostly" working now.

Thank you