Borg Warner 1356 Transfer Case
When this truck was built in Kansas City, MO in June of 1987, Ford had recently made several design changes. One of which was the replacement of the 1345 transfer case with the much stronger and heavier duty Borg-Warner model 1356. Not wanting to waste inventory on hand, several ’87 model year trucks ended up with a 1345. This one is among them. I decided to upgrade to the better, beefier unit and in doing so, also decided to switch to the electronic shift style in order to eliminate the shift lever in the cab. This was to allow us much greater flexibility in the configuration of the center console and electronics later in the buildup.
I was extremely fortunate to have a master transmission mechanic in the metro area. I contacted James Schiele & Sons in Afton, MO and explained what I was looking for. Jim Schiele was tremendously knowledgeable and helpful in our quest. Not only did he have what I sought, the unit was nearly new with little to no miles on it.
Because this truck uses a cable driven speedometer cable and the replacement did not, a dimple had to be cut for the small ‘ball bearing’ that holds the speedometer gear in place. Therefore the last step before the tail housing was installed was to carve the dimple in the output shaft using a carbide bit on the end of a Dremel tool. It took about an hour and a small bottle of Marvel mystery oil but I managed to get it make it work.
The last hurdle was to find the wiring and the electronics for this transfer case. Fortunately for me, there was one Bronco out at Miller Auto Salvage in Owensville that still had what I needed. In fact, Mike told us that usually they just cut the wiring when the transfer case and transmission are removed. On this Bronco the wiring harness was still in place and I was able to get it removed without any damage. I still needed the control box. I could buy one from Ford or fine one online, but again, I got lucky and found another Bronco in the salvage yard that still had the control box in place (just no wiring). So between the two, I got what I need to make the transfer case work.
Now as much as I’ve bemoaned the lack of parts from Ford for this truck, I were very pleased to find that the wiring in this truck was configured from the factory with all of the available options. So I was very fortunate to find the harness plug, up inside the dash behind the heater controls, that was designed for the 4×4 electric shift switches. Instead of having to kit-bash my own harness, the entire installation was completely plug-n-play. It was a very refreshing change of events.