OK, my wife's 98 SOHC has the over-aggressive GEM unit issue, wherein the magnetic clutch locks up too aggressively under moderate acceleration and causes herky-jerky bumps. At 85K, it's not worth arguing with the dealer's maintenance dept about it - they've been putting us off since it was new. About 5K ago, it started sounding REALLY loud, like a bang. I also heard a clicking in reverse in 4Lo, so I figured it was drivers' side CV joint. No big deal to replace and cheap, so I did - no improvement. I then shimmed the rubber mount on the axle gear housing, noticing it was shrunken and loose. No improvement. Checked the ujoints, they were tight, tightened the straps anyway (didn't have any takeup inthe bolts). I'm thinking it's time to pull it and put in a chain kit, or get searching on ebay motors for a replacement case. I'd prefer to rebuild it as I know the bearings have been treated decently, but I've not been able to find a kit that says "rebuild kit for 98 Explorer SOHC" out there.

The case has had new full synthetic put in twice since new, but I think the accumulated damage from the defective GEM unit has finally shown up. In 4wd, no matter high or low, under heavy throttle it clicks continuously. It's not doing anything else bad, but I dislike the idea of walking home.

I made a tape recently on a snow run, and there's plenty of noise. It's 2.7 MB, sorry, but if someone with a tuned ear would do me the favor of looking at it, it would be a huge help.

ftp://64.171.230.251/CaseNoise-small.wmv

Regards,
Brian in CA

I too have the "overactive GEM module" issue with my 97 auto track...

If anyone out there has a fix for this, please let me know.

The dealer already replaced the GEM once (I actually got them to do it!) but they continue to say that there is nothing wrong with the truck, "it is supposed to do that" and "you will hear some noise from this vehicle."

To that, I say hogwash and it is about time that someone with the means initiate a class action suit against Ford for this problem...