4x4 Popping

[ZcrackerZ]

hey yall, when i put my truck in 4hi or lo and i start driving it feels like its winding up, it gets harder and harder to drive, then it pops and starts over. I took the front drive shaft out and it stoped, any ideas???
98 Ford X sport
auto trans

 

[taxx]

Check out your CV joints. it could be very possible one of them is binding and that is what it will do (sort of). You have any form of lift on that thing?

What I would do is jet it up off of all four, in the front make sure the jack stands are out as far as possible on the lower control arms, to make sure the suspension is still sitting at normal ride height and turn your wheels by hand with and without it engaged (make sure when 4x4 is engaged it is in nuetral and see if you can cause it to bind. If not try funning it in 4x4 while it is on the jacks and see if you can see anything (that is a 2 man job, for safety make sure someone is in the driver's seat while it is running). Let us know what you find.

 

[taxx]

P.S. welcome to the site.

 

[ZcrackerZ]

o.k ill try that thnx

 

[ZcrackerZ]

im not sure but now that i took off the front drive shaft, whouldnt it be the same affect as what u said to do, because i put it in 4x4 and it sounds perfect now, is cause theres no torque on it, or do you think it could be the hubs. which bring another question, how do the auto hubs ingage?

 

[Jason_25]

You dont have autohubs.


The first thing you should do is change the fluid in the transfercase.

Mine did the same thing and binded up and made a grinding noise until a couple days ago I put new fluid in it. What a difference!!!

 

[ZcrackerZ]

i dont have auto hubs? i dont have to turn anything on the hub to get it in 4x4, what kind of hub do i have?

 

[taxx]

Your front end is always engaged. the CV shafts are connected to the outer hub/bearing assembly and always turning, then they go into the front diff again always turning, which outputs to the driveshaft that is always turning. The only thing that engages and dissengages is the output of the t-case. without the shaft the t-case has no presure on it in 4x4 if that is where the problem is, hence no cluning. The CVs act the same way. without the truck in 4x4 they are just spinning cause the truck is rolling, no pressure on them. in 4x4 they are pulling the weight of the truck, hence pressure and more chance to show something is wrong.

Before you go too far, it might be a good idea and take Jason's suggestion of changing the t-case fluid, cheap and easy and may solve your problem.

 

[Robert]

What kind of road surface were you on when the popping occured? If it was related to your CV joints, the problem wouldn't have went away when you took the front driveshaft out. Your CV joints would still be turning.

 

[taxx]

I gotta disagree with you on that one Robert. My CVs act different when in 2x4 than when in 4x4. When it is in 2 wd yeah they are spinning but not driving anything so there is no pressure on them. But is 4x4 they are actually working and you can feel a problem that you didn't feel before, may not seem logical, but I have found that to be true on my X.

 

[yob_yeknom]

You shouldn't be in 4wd when on surfaces that have good traction. (pavement, packed dirt roads, etc...) Doing so can and will break something. 4wd is for low traction surfaces only. (snow, mud, etc...)

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by taxxman2k
I gotta disagree with you on that one Robert. My CVs act different when in 2x4 than when in 4x4. When it is in 2 wd yeah they are spinning but not driving anything so there is no pressure on them. But is 4x4 they are actually working and you can feel a problem that you didn't feel before, may not seem logical, but I have found that to be true on my X.

It depends on the type of failure with regards to the CV joint. If it is a bad joint then you should feel it whether it is getting power from the transfer case or not. That is why one of the recommended test procedures is to jack the wheel up and spin it by hand. If your tire doesn't spin smoothly and feels like it is binding, it is a sign of a bad CV joint. If the problem is fairly minor where you can just barely feel it while getting power, then you probably won't feel it without power. Think of it as being similar to a bad 'U' joint on a front driveshaft. You will feel it whether you are in 2WD or locked in High since the joint will bind just from rotating around. Of course you can remove a front driveshaft to eliminate a bad 'U' joint. You can't very well remove a CV joint and go for a drive.

 

[taxx]

I think we were crossed in what we were saying. yes it is always there, however a lot of times it isn't really noticiable in 2x4. But very prevelent in 4x4. should have thought that out better when I was talking before. not trying to discredit you