manual hubs on control trac?

[DrPhibes]

Greetings all! I am new to the board, and was wondering if I might get some of your thoughts on this.

I have a '97 Sport w/Control Trac, auto trans, V6 that was exhibiting chatter in the ABS during low speed stops. Off it wen't to the shop for what the mech said was a new front sensor. This did not solve the problem, so off it went to the dealer, who says it needs hubs, he has asked if I want manual hubs installed. This doesn't make sense to me, since it would defeat the AWD capabilities of the system.

Questions:

1: After searching around the board, I haven't seen a thread on such a conversion, is it possible?

2: If it is possible, are there any advantages/disadvantages?

Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this.

 

[JoshC]

Hey Doc, welcome to the boards, i hope we can help you out here.

You were right about being confused about putting manual hubs on a 95+ (second gen) explorer. You can't. We don't have hubs, we just have a sealed bearing until. Not having hubs means that the front diff and the front drive shaft spin, when the truck is moving, where at is you had manual hubs like a first gen explorer (91-94) you can unlock your hubs and your shafts won't turn. It would be nice to have the option for manual hubs, but you can't have anything.

If your ABS is shuttering, then your ABS light would come on. If the light doesn't come on then i would venture to say that that isn't it.

Happy trails!!

 

[tenikiwon]

My $0.02

There are more that one speed sensor. There is one on the front and rear driveshaft. Also I think there are two ABS sensors, Again one on the front one on the back. I could be wrong, or the speed sensor may be used by both the AUTO 4WD and the ABS.


You mentioned the AWD System. I have a '97 XLT and it doesn't have AWD, just AUTO/4WD/4LO. When I flushed my t-case and cleaned the speed sensor the Auto 4 wheel drive stoped kicking in when it wasn't needed. I haven't noticed anything with ABS except when I've went romping out in the snow for a while.

Can you describe the chatter any more? The ABS system by design needs to reset or reinitialize after each uses. There is a sort-of vibrating noise when this does it. I noticed after using it a lot in the snow, that the noise is more pronounced.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[DrPhibes]

Thanks for the quick replies!

tenikiwon,

My impression of that Auto4WD setting is that it is by most standards an awd system or should I say on demand awd. (B/W 4405 viscous damped) correct me if I'm wrong.

There was no ABS indicator apparent on the dash, there was a check engine light. The ABS actuator would create a chatter of sorts under light braking/stop condition. It does not do it under heavy braking (rather odd, would be sitting at a light and the ABS pump would start up rather noisy, with a rapid pulse in the pedal (I liken it to a chatter by reason that it is so rapid).

These guys are starting to concern me if they are suggesting a locking hub setup on this truck. (makes you wonder if they are competent from the get go).
My efforts to find any conversion kits at all from major manufacturers such as Warn or Superwinch turn up cold, so I imagine it isn't possible for this system.

Tom

 

[tenikiwon]

Call it what you want I guess, but AWD is different than AUTO. yada yada yada....

Did you get the code for the CEI? (check Engine Light)

I'll take a look at mine tonight and see if it did what it did before with it pump/actuator/ vibrating noise maker coming on during light braking and just tapping the brakes. I thought it was just 'cause there was snow pack up under there and it was acting goofy.

 

[dogfriend]

Originally posted by DrPhibes

These guys are starting to concern me if they are suggesting a locking hub setup on this truck. (makes you wonder if they are competent from the get go).
My efforts to find any conversion kits at all from major manufacturers such as Warn or Superwinch turn up cold, so I imagine it isn't possible for this system.

Tom

If they are suggesting manual hubs, then they do not understand how your particular 4wd system works (they are not competent).

Your front axle and front driveshaft are engaged all of the time; there is a clutch in the Control Trac (aka BW 4405) that controls the application of torque to the front driveshaft. In Auto 4wd (and also in 4wd High and Low) the GEM uses a software routine to engage the clutch to varying degrees depending upon the dash switch setting (also called the mode switch), signals from the front and rear driveshaft speed sensors, and other engine control sensors.

The Control Trac system does not use the ABS sensors for operation. There are 3 ABS sensors (one at each front wheel, one on the ring gear in the rear differential) .

Ford makes a distinction between AWD and Auto 4wd (A4WD) in the service manual. They call the full time, non selectable system in the V8 Explorers AWD; they call the Control Trac system A4WD.

 

[Bshmastr]

I used to have the ABS going off when I came to a stop almost every time. They replaced the wheel speed sensors and it cured it.

 

[SWLathrop]

"DrPhibes",

The problem your having is due to a known problem with the grease leaking out of the front hub assemblies and gumming the toner ring and ABS sensor ends with grease. This causes the ABS sensor to send a false/weak signal to the processor. The sensors and hubs were redesigned in 1998. The newer sensors send out a stronger signal than the old type. If replacing the sensors only, you have to do them in pairs due to the difference in signal strengths. A set of new hubs should only be about $300 from the dealer. These come pre-loaded with the new sensors. So for the cost of 2 sensors, you could buy 1 hub. And since the grease is most likely leaking out of the hubs, it would make more sense to replace them both as the bearing will shorly go in most cases.