!!!! I Need HELP!!!!!! This is a very challenging question!

[williams.cory]

I have a 1997 Explorer with the 5.0L. Best vehicle I could ever want! Well the other day I thought I would go have some fun mudding in it because it had just rained and there were some good puddles. Had fun that day and came home. Ever since then, if I accelerate hard it will do a clunking sound and it will do it rapidly and have like 7-8 clunks all at once. It only clunks if i take off from a stop or if I really romp on it and it shifts down to first. It will not make the sound after 30 M.P.H.. Only under hard acceleration under 30 will it making the clunking sound. It did it once in a while and now it has gotton a lot worse. Now I dont' have to accelerate as hard as previously and it will clunk 7-8 times. Its getting worse as time goes. It almost sounds like a chain slipping on the gears ( like a bike grinding gears under pressure ). I can brake torque it and having it almost floored I will hear all kinds of clunks. What could this be??? Thanks for your replys, I greatly appreciate it!

 

[Turdle]

Your front drive shaft is bad.

 

[Mbrooks420]

My guess would be you damaged the viscous coupling in the transfer case. You could eliminate the trans and rear end by pulling the front drive shaft.

 

[williams.cory]

If it is my Driveshaft, then why does it clunk when I have the brake pedal mashed to the floor break torquing it. Shouldn't it clunk only when the shaft moves, or can it clunk when it doesn't move? I know stupid question.

 

[williams.cory]

How could the coupling be damaged? I wasn't beating the snot outta it. Just wondering....How does something like that get ruined?

 

[Mbrooks420]

I had a front drive shaft totally fail, and it could be spun way more than it should. There was some intermittent grinding sounds before it totally let go. When I pulled mine it was obviously bad by looking at it.

 

[williams.cory]

How do I check to see if it is bad? DO i have to jack the front end up and put the truck in nuatral?

 

[Mbrooks420]

How many miles on the truck? Did you get stuck?

 

[joshuaj0214]

I have broken 4 of these couplers. Remove the shaft and the noise should go away. There are 6 8mm bolts and 4 T-30 torx bolts holding the shaft in.


BEWARE: the truck will not lock in park without the front DS in place!

 

[williams.cory]

It has 208,000 miles. I did not get stuck, nothing close to that. I was just going around hitting some large puddle with just a little mud in them. Nothing that extreme where I was spinning all 4 wheels

 

[IZwack]

Deleted your other thread since it was related to the same problem -- please don't double post.

 

[williams.cory]

I'm sorry, I didnt know what I was doing, I thought I did something. This is like my 2nd post. I'm getting better

 

[joshuaj0214]

They do not take a lot of abuse. I had 2 break on the highway, driving home from work. Mileage doesn't matter!

 

[williams.cory]

I was just telling the other guy how many miles it had on it. How do I check to see if the Driveshaft is bad ( besides the aweful sound )?

 

[joshuaj0214]

You will have to try to find one in a junk yard. They are not available from the dealer or through the aftermarket.

 

[williams.cory]

What I dont understand is why does it do a lot of clunking when the vehicle doesnt move? It clunks a lot if I basically have it floored with the brakes mashed to the floor.

 

[Turdle]

They are available at orielly's

first, take it out and have a looky at it. You need to remove it to look at the cv joint.

 

[joshuaj0214]

Easiest way is to remove the shaft, if the noise goes away you found the problem. Once the shaft is out, the end that bolts to the transfer case will probably fall apart!

 

[williams.cory]

If I take it out i wont be able to drive it. It is a AWD so if I take it out i wont be able to drive around, right?

 

[joshuaj0214]

the reason it makes the noise is because the brakes are holding the wheels, but there is nothing keeping the trans from turning. The DS is not spinning but the trans is.