Hubs or Differential? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Hubs or Differential?

phxdale

New Member
Joined
July 4, 2007
Messages
6
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City, State
Phoenix, AZ
Year, Model & Trim Level
94
I have a '94 Explorer that I recently replaced the automatic transmission and while I was at it, replaced the busted plastic washer in the shift motor. Last weekend I had it up on jacks to rotate the tires and figured it would be a good time to test the 4 wheel drive. Started it up put in nuetral hit the 4 wheel drive button. Heard the drive motor turn off for a second or so, put in drive and saw the back wheels spinning and looked under neath and the front drive shaft is turning but the front axle is not turning. Same thing when I put in 4 low.

THe way I thought it worked was if the front shaft is spinning then the front axle should then spin and the hubs automatically lock, or if you have manual hubs you have to manually turn them to lock.

So I figure I have a problem with the front differential but a frined of mine tells me that my problem is with my hubs??

It is a problem with my front differential isnt it??
 



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I just got done converting my hubs to manual, even though only one was bad. I found all the parts I needed to fix my bad hub from a guy here on the board, Kris (KrisGuilbeaux [kguilbeaux@cox-internet.com]).

The good news is that they are real easy to test. With your Ex in 2wd, crawl underneath with a pair of gloves, a long screwdriver, and a flashlight. Turn the front driveshaft and watch the axle shafts coming out of the front differential. You should see the axleshafts turn a liitle bit then feel a "click" as the hub clicks itself locked and then the shat won't turn anymore (unless you've got the tire off the ground in which case the wheel sould turn). If one side clicks and the shaft stops turning but the other side still turns then that's the side with a broken hub. Now jam the screwdriver in the u-joint of the one that is broken and see if the good hub holds so that you cannot turn the driveshaft any more. Of course, if you've put a locker in the front diff then you can't check them this way. If you have a front limited slip then you may be able to get enough muscle on the driveshaft to get the clutches inside the diff to slip, thus acting like an open differential.

Now that you know if your hubs are good, check your t-fer case. While under the vehicle, have someone switch the ignition to the run position (do not start it up). After all the electric noises stop, have them push the 4x4 button while you have your bare hand on the t-fer case shift motor (looks like a power window motor). You should feel it whir and hear it hum as it activates. Now turn the front driveshaft again. If it is in 4x4 then it will only turn a little then stop. If it still turns like before then the case is still in 2wd. Ask your helper if the 4x4 light is on - it shouldn't be if the motor didn't move. Try thumping the motor a couple of time with something while your helper pushes the button and see if anything happens. If you take the motor off, you can get a pair of pliers or vice grips on the shaft coming out of the transfer case and rotate it ccw (I think) to manually put it in 4wd. Also, with the shift motor out you can have your helper push the button again and see if the wheel inside turns. The contacts that lights the dash LED's, and tells the controller what position the wheel is in are located on this wheel and is what most often gets dirty and causes the t-fer case not to be engaged.

Sorry for the long post, hope it helps.

_______________________________________________________________

An even better way would be to leave the X on the ground in 2H.. Crawl under and rotate the front drive shaft (either direction). You should see it rotate the front axle shafts going to each wheel. After a few revolutions the hubs should lock and you will not be able to rotate the shaft anymore. If you can still rotate the shaft after 10 revolutions it indicates one or both hubs are bad (the bad hub will be the one whose axle shaft is still moving). You can confirm this by rotating each axle shaft separately. If the shaft continues to move the hub is bad, it it stops the hub correctly locked.

DeRocha

Aloha, Mark
 






I'm pretty sure my transfer case is now working. Before when you hit the 4x4 button nothing happened. Now you hit it and it lights up the 4x4 light on the dash,I hear the motor go for a second or two and it turns the front drive shaft. Hit the 4x4 low and the 4x4 low light on the dash lights up and the front drive shaft spins there also. Take it out of 4 wheel drive and the front drive shaft no longer spins.

This was done with all 4 wheels off the ground, since your supposed to rotate back to front and front to opposite back (right front goes to left rear)

Regardless of whether my hubs are working or not, when the front drive shaft spins it should turn the front axle, correct? I cant turn front axle in 2 wheel drive,4 wheel drive or any gear park, nuetral, reverse,o,1,2,3.

THen if I have bad hubs when the front axle turns the wheels wont turn, if good they click in and turn with the axle.

I checked the front differential to see if it had oil and as soon as I got the plug off it poured out watered down gear oil. Previous owner had a boat they towed up to the lake and I think it filled up with water and rusted up is now stuck. I haven't checked the back yet, its probably full of water too.



My confused friend was trying to convince me that when the hub is working it would make the axle turn or that it spins on the inside of the axle. But what about the ujoint? He did not give an answer to that.
 






If you look inside the axel as the 4X4 is in the front driveshaft should spin, which yours does, also one of your axel half shafts should spin. If one of them doesn't spin then I am afraid something is wrong with your differential.:(
As for the transfercase, it sounds like you have fixed that problem it sounds like it is working to me.:thumbsup:
 






It sounds as if your T-Case and shift motor are correctly working and sending power to the front drive shaft. The Front drive shaft would then send power to the front differential which would send this power to the L/R axles.

You indicate you cannot rotate either driver or passenger axle shaft :confused: This would be the case if the hubs were locked with the tires on the ground. If you raise the driver's side tire off the ground you should be able to spin the tire and see that the axle shaft also spins..
 






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