Disconnected TRansfer Case Will this Hurt my 97 Explorer Sport TRac/Need Advise Fast

[jean42mi]

Hi, Its late and I also dont know nothing about all this ,(Im a 52 yr. female) but today my freind,, mechanic,, just disconnected the transfer case. He called it just making my 97 explorer sport trac a 2WD because I started having problems with the lights and the engaging once again. I forget the name of what he took off to do this (drive train, maybe)? Drive shaft? then somehow disconnected from the transfer case. I have been reading and I am worried that what he did may not be a good idea. What about the trac thingy? Will this work or hurt my truck? He said it was a way of getting around re building the transfer case. I think the reason my 4WD started acting up was my right wheel seems to look sort of bent/I think from my son hitting a large pot hole. My friend just put new hub bearings on both fronts but didnt notice the wheel. Would , could that have been the cause of my 4WD engaging? And now by disconnecting 4WD, its really not ?? The trac thing will still be sending messages? I dont want to ruin my truck. I never use the 4WD. I have owned it for 6 years and never once used it. Im really worried about this and dont want to mess my truck up. Please help. If you can give me info and if you need more info from me, let me know. Thanks much. Jean

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! The transfer case is still working, but will not turn the front wheels without the front driveshaft.

 

[IZwack]

I'm going to answer your PM on here so everyone else can contribute

I hope you can give some advise on this subjest, My friend/mechanec removed the drive shaft, 97 2 door sport explorer trac 4WD. The 4WD was engaged, last time this happened the shop put a new shift motor on and all was fine, about a year ago. My right front tire for the past two months looks as though my son may have hit a large pot hole, knocking it off the straight and looks like its bent and I beleive this is what started the 4 WD to start acting up again, but my friend said he didnt see this with the wheel when he put my new hub bearings on. I think hes a good mechanic but not familur with these type of vehicles. Now what do I do? I dont want to mess my car up. I dont use my 4WD but I also dont want to have one problem lead to other problems. Will this harm my truck? Please help, I can let him read this so he can do what needs to be done. thanks much in advance. Jean

1) No removing the front driveshaft wont harm the vehicle components (as long as you're not trying to do burnouts or donuts ).

2) Damaging the front wheel bearings or hub assemblies will not engage 4wd because the 4wd computer gets its readings from its own pair of sensors at the transfer case - not at the wheels or axles.

3) For the bent part, your mechanic should be able to tell whats bent. I once hit something large (no idea what it was) on my way to the ski slopes and it bent the passenger's side steering knuckle a bit. It was easy to spot after I got back home because the spaces between the suspension components were not the same and the tire was off camber a bit.

 

[jean42mi]

Thank you SO much for responding. I was/am really nervous because he was baffled when working on my truck with this 4WD so that made me wonder if I should have taken it in and just paid to have it fixed. So, your saying it will not harm the vehicle by removing the driveshaft and leaving it this way, disconnecting the 4WD, auto trac control feature, will not cause problems as long as I dont do burnouts or donuts (I drive it like my 84 year old mom, I baby it, so thats not a problem). It can be left this way causing no problems and Im good to go. Refering to #1.

I'm going to answer your PM on here so everyone else can contribute



1) No removing the front driveshaft wont harm the vehicle components (as long as you're not trying to do burnouts or donuts ).

2) Damaging the front wheel bearings or hub assemblies will not engage 4wd because the 4wd computer gets its readings from its own pair of sensors at the transfer case - not at the wheels or axles.

3) For the bent part, your mechanic should be able to tell whats bent. I once hit something large (no idea what it was) on my way to the ski slopes and it bent the passenger's side steering knuckle a bit. It was easy to spot after I got back home because the spaces between the suspension components were not the same and the tire was off camber a bit.

 

[jean42mi]

This is ok to do then? I dont use 4WD , never have. What about the trac feature. I just don't want other things to go wrong becuase Im taking the cheap way out of a problem, not the right way. (I guess)

Welcome to this forum! The transfer case is still working, but will not turn the front wheels without the front driveshaft.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

welcome

 

[jean42mi]

Wow, Im even more confused after reading this post about this subjuect I just found.
Has anyone ever agreed on this subject?

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174690

 

[jad2411]

I took mine off from my 97 like 2 years ago, not a single problem, I took it off due to the transfer case breaking, and the mechanic lost the mounting hardware, so I just left it off, it was my DD so no offroading then, now I have a DD so I'll start messing with the 97 hehe

 

[X6StringerX]

I also received a PM from Jean regarding a thread I made quite some time ago about drive shaft removal in my old '98 5.0 AWD. Your Explorer has a different transmission and transfer case than mine did, so just disregard my thread.

 

[jean42mi]

Thanks all. More repairs this week but these are not going to be out of the ordinary for my knowledge of cars/trucks.