4x4 engagement noise?

[nascar_intimid]

'94 4x4 engagement noise?

'94 eddie bauer and going 30 mph or so and engaging the 4x4 on a straight "dry" road the front axel makes a thud sometimes the left and sometimes the right...more of a thud than is normal but not extreme. I only engage it on a dry straight road for 5 seconds or so just to keep the system juiced up every now and then. When engaged from a stand still there seems to be no noise...anybody got an idea???

 

[jimbo74]

its normal.. the yway the vehicle engages, the rear is always spinning, but when you engage the front the transfercase trys to spin the front driveshaft that is not spinning and it has to catch up and mesh to the same speed.... thats why the clunk

 

[nascar_intimid]

4x4 noise

does everyone have this noise or just the older ex's...mine has 130 000 miles on it when I bought it so I don't know how it was treated all it's life, but I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't think it was sound...are these 4x4's durable as in it takes a lot to wear them out or are they delicate if not used right??? I would appreciate some feed back on the 4x4's durability I have a '94 4.0 thanks

 

[MrShorty]

It's just the 1st gen ('91-'94) that do that. In '95 they introduced the "control trac" 4WD system that uses clutches and doesn't use the same kind of hubs in the front end.

When I had auto hubs, I chose to slow down whenever I needed to shift into 4H with the hubs unlocked to minimize that clunk. I don't know that it hurts the t-case, and the auto hubs are weak, so I chose to minimize those "hard" engagements when the hubs were unlocked.

Try this little test:
1) Put it in 4H and drive it enough to lock the hubs.
2) shift it back into 2H, but don't back up to unlock the hubs.
3) Bring it up to speed and see if it's quieter going into 4H. For that matter, see if you can hear it at all.

In the end, it's usually normal. Whether or not it's good for the system is arguable.

 

[nascar_intimid]

noisy 4x4

It's just the 1st gen ('91-'94) that do that. In '95 they introduced the "control trac" 4WD system that uses clutches and doesn't use the same kind of hubs in the front end.

When I had auto hubs, I chose to slow down whenever I needed to shift into 4H with the hubs unlocked to minimize that clunk. I don't know that it hurts the t-case, and the auto hubs are weak, so I chose to minimize those "hard" engagements when the hubs were unlocked.

Try this little test:
1) Put it in 4H and drive it enough to lock the hubs.
2) shift it back into 2H, but don't back up to unlock the hubs.
3) Bring it up to speed and see if it's quieter going into 4H. For that matter, see if you can hear it at all.

In the end, it's usually normal. Whether or not it's good for the system is arguable.

I did that test and you couldn't hear any noise whatsoever when I re-engaged 4 high with the hubs locked...what does that mean???

 

[MrShorty]

That means everything is working as it should. Just wanted to check and be sure some of the clunk wasn't from hubs that only locked some of the time. That's one of the things the hubs like to do when they go bad.

Sounds like it's working right as designed.

 

[nascar_intimid]

greatly appreciated "mr" shorty...that is reassuring because aside from that the 4x4 works great...you can definately hear it when engaged by the extra noise in the front end ( all the axels and sprockets turning has a destinct sound) thanks again....