94' Hub Problem?

[earli]

Howdy, I have a 94' XLT w/ 131,000 miles w/ original hubs. I'm starting to run into a funny issue with them. Parked, NOT in 4 wheel, I'll start to drive and it feels like I'm in 4 wheel and there is a loud whirring and clunking sound. I'll hit my 4 wheel button, the light comes on, the clunking and sounds stop, I'll hit the button again and then I'm fine. It did it this morning, I drove the rest of the way to work, 10 miles with no prob. Worked for the morning and when I left to go to lunch, it did it again.
Any insight as to what might be going on? I've heard that once an Explorer gets this many miles on them, a lot of people are changing to manual hubs.

Thanks, Earl

 

[earli]

RE: '95 Hub Problem?

They do have automatic hubs.

 

[Jason_25]

Earl, is your explorer the old style or the new style? It sounds to me like it's the old style since you mentioned a 4x4 "button".

 

[earli]

RE: Hub Problem?

Sorry folks, I'm brain dead, it's a 1994 XLT.

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[Jason_25]

ohhh well that clears it up. It definitely sounds like your auto hubs are going.

 

[NoBoundaries]

Hey Earl:

Went back and cleared everything up in order to get the thread back on track. Good luck with the hubs!

 

[earli]

RE: Hub Problem?

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[TSTONE]

you might want to take a look at these links:
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otherwise it's generally the concensus to switch to manual hubs:
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good luck
todd

 

[crossman]

My '91 Explorer had a similar problem, but one front hub would start clicking while driving down the road. A spring broke inside one of them, so I replaced both sides with manual hubs and have had no troubles since.

 

[earli]

'94 Hub Problem

Well, it does look like an issue with my hubs. It snowed here the other day and I engaged the 4 wheel drive. Taking off slowly from a stop, I could feel all wheels pulling. As I accelerated, there would be a loud clunk and I'd be back in rear wheel drive. I slowed down almost to a stop, repeat the process and the same thing would happen. 4 wheel drive, clunk, rear wheel drive. So, I'm going to pull the hubs and see if there is grease or other foriegn objects in there, but, I imagine I'll be looking for replacements here soon. The price of the manual hubs sounds nice, but I really like the ease of the automatic hubs. What fun,,,

 

[park1]

automatic hub noise

I just ran into the same problem with my '94 also. Took it to the dealer, they said hubs were bad so I had them replaced. It still made the same noise after the replacement, so I took it back. They then tried to explain to me that my outside u-joints were causing a bind and trying to engage the 4-wd. They replaced the u-joints and the noise has not come back. Hmmm...makes me wonder if the hubs were bad in the beginning, or if they were jacking me all the way around.
Unfortunately, I had the work done before I found this site and had auto hubs put in...still kicken' myself for that...*sigh* I will say though...they didn't charge me for the outside u-joints (parts or labor) after I complained enough about not giving me an option for manual hubs, and the fact that they told me the hub replacement would take care of the noise the first time.

 

[Hotweels]

My auto hubs are so worn that all they do is grind and bang...........hmmm? maybe i should get a set of milemarkers?