Clunking and jumping on highway

[Groundwater]

hello, i've got a 2004 explorer, with a 4.6 185xxx km's. From my understanding (which is pretty vague) they run 2wd until they sense whatever that kicks them into awd. Now, when i'm driving down the highway just steady speed it seems like its kicking in and out of something, or somethings slipping. It's pretty aggressive, now i don't know if it has anything to do with the 2wd/awd system, which i don't fully understand. It seems to usually happen when its snowing, which leads me to believe its caused by the lack of traction, and its simply kicking into AWD, but why so aggressive, is this normal ?

 

[Exproblems]

It's pretty aggressive, now i don't know if it has anything to do with the 2wd/awd system, which i don't fully understand. It seems to usually happen when its snowing, which leads me to believe its caused by the lack of traction, and its simply kicking into AWD, but why so aggressive, is this normal ?

You answered your own question, "lack of traction"! The "Auto 4x4" system which is always turned on, kicks in when the system senses any kind of wheel slippage. It is perfectly normal to hear a popping/binding sound in the front end as the front diff and wheels are engaging into 4x4 mode. If the roads are covered in snow, I recommend driving in "4x4 high" mode and that will eliminate the popping sounds from the auto 4x4 mode kicking in and out numerous times as the wheels continually slip due to the snow. In 4x4 high mode, you may also hear some binding and popping if you are turning slowly and sharply into a parking space or some other type of slow turn, it is also normal to hear that.

 

[Groundwater]

You answered your own question, "lack of traction"! The "Auto 4x4" system which is always turned on, kicks in when the system senses any kind of wheel slippage. It is perfectly normal to hear a popping/binding sound in the front end as the front diff and wheels are engaging into 4x4 mode. If the roads are covered in snow, I recommend driving in "4x4 high" mode and that will eliminate the popping sounds from the auto 4x4 mode kicking in and out numerous times as the wheels continually slip due to the snow. In 4x4 high mode, you may also hear some binding and popping if you are turning slowly and sharply into a parking space or some other type of slow turn, it is also normal to hear that.

I guess i did haha, but i never thought to try that. It makes sense just seemed like the 'kicking in and out' was pretty aggressive, but i guess it makes sense at highway speeds kicking in it's not gonna be super smooth. i'll be in '4x4 high' from now on, and hopefully that's the whole thing. Thanks !