Removed Front Drive Shaft...ruined Transfer Case?

[holm0299]

My front drive shaft went bad about 6 months ago on my 97 XLT AWD V8. We removed it and have been driving it ever since without the fds, thus just having rear wheel drive. IS IT BAD TO BE DRIVING IT W/O THE FRONT DRIVE SHAFT? Have I wrecked my Transfer Case or some how negatively affected the Viscous Coupling? Any advice is welcome. Thanks

 

[dkchrist]

If i am thinking correctly the front driveshaft will only engage if the rear are spinning so the front driveshaft shouldn't really make a difference except when parking they have a tendency to roll. Anyone else?

 

[MountaineerGreen]

This has been discussed at length on here- its never been fully answered- I personally wouldn't suggest driving long term without it.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174690&highlight=awd+driveshaft

 

[holm0299]

Thank you, i will read it. It looks like this is one of the great mysteries that no one can really explain. I'm got my father (an engineer) pouring over some schematics of the trasfer case. I may have kissed 4WD goodbye Permanently...oh well.
aaron

 

[MountaineerGreen]

You may be OK, don't know for sure, you definitely lost some power to the ground while the DS was out.