Front end grinding??

[coltman]

My 99 explorer has a wierd grinding noise coming from the front end. It only does it when in 4x4 and when turning. The noise is worse when turning right then when turning left. It does not do it all the time but is very erittating and I don't want it to break when I am off road and realy need the 4 wheel drive. I replaced the u-joint in the front shaft and added new mobil 1 to the cv joint on the drive shaft. A sugestion of were to start now would be great.

 

[TPLYNCH]

What type of road surface are you driving on when you hear the noise?

 

[banbro]

I have a similar issue with my '96 except mine does it 100% of the time. I can really notice it if I am in line at a drive through and it echos back off of the wall. My father-in-law's '98 does the same thing and I have not been able to figure out what it is yet. I thought I had it figured out as being the emergency brake not releasing correctly and after working on that it helped but did not resolve it completely. As a note, both the "96 & '98 are AWD so there is the similarity with yoru 4 wheel drive occurance. Anyone else run across this??

Thanks....

 

[coltman]

!

It does it when I am on or off road. It only does it when I turn so I would guess a cv shaft but I don't want to spend a $100 on a guess. Thanks for the help and keep the replys coming.

 

[TPLYNCH]

Well, if you are using 4x4 on pavement or a hardpack surface, you will hear noise... lots of it when the driveline unbinds cause all 4 wheels are moving at different speeds when turning, but the driveline is locked at one speed front and back. If the tires can't slip easily, that pressure is transferred to the drivetrain and loud noises are the result.