Severe Driveline Binding, need suggestions please.

[Cali' Explorer]

Hey all. Well, my X did exactly what I thought it would. About 1,000 miles out of the extended warranty it started causing me problems.

Here are the main symptons.

First, extremely stiff steering after driving for a while. When I first get in the X in the morning, it is easy as pie to steer. After about 10 minutes of driving, it almost feels as though the power steering has given out. The odd thing is, at this stage it is only stiff steering if I am driving or holding the brakes. If I have the X in park, it steers fine.

Next, extremely gutless. When I first get in the X in the morning, again, it drives great. But after about 10 minutes or so, it feels like I'm pulling a nice heavy trailer. If I completely floor it, it seems to break free, but trying to give it minor gas makes the car feel like its being held back.

Also, there is a general feeling of "Binding". It almost feels like it might be the Transfer Case locking up on me and staying locked.

Now, here's some background on some ideas I have, but I won't pretend to know everything, so input is gladly appreciated.

My first clue is the tires. The front left is severly smaller than the other 3. Using a tread depth meter, the front left is 7.97/32 vs. the front right being 8.97/32 and the back 2 being 9.99/32. I'm wonderng if possibly the smaller front tires, while a minor difference, are causing too much drag on the AWD Transfer Case and causing it to lock up? I'm thinking this may also be making steering more difficult with the T-Case locked up.

I also checked for loose steering and ball joints. Both tests seem to indicate that these were fine.

I am a college student and don't have tons of money to blow, but I need a reliable car as well, so any suggestions/help anyone can give me on this situation would be greatly appreciated.

I am taking the X into the Tranny shop tomorrow morning because they did some work on it and I want to make sure they did it right, but after that, I don't really know what my next step is. Thanks in advance for any/all help you can give me.

 

[97BlackX5.0]

try putting the awkward ones in the rear.... the limited slip in the diff might take care of that a little better.... i have never heard of it binding this much though so it could very well be your transfer case is heating up and locking up... have you ever changed the fluid.... its only about a quart and a half.... real easy to do...that and check the diff fluids to see if they are up to par.... i have the same truck you do though with 123k on it and no problems with the awd yet other than a whine that ive come to know as normal......

 

[Cali' Explorer]

97, I will be trying that tomorrow. I actually just recently had the T-Case fluid replaced, that's the Tranny shop I am taking it back to. I plan on having the tires rotated and balanced either tomorrow or Thursday. I'm hoping this is an easy solve, I have had nothing but problem after problem with this Explorer, many of them are annoyances, but a few have been deeper than that (Lifters, Rockers, Driveshaft, those sorts of things).

I'm sure I'll make it through. ANy other suggestions from anyone, please shoot them my way.

 

[97BlackX5.0]

you know i hate to smear somone without first knowing for sure but it sounds to me like something exactly like that would happen if they drained the tcase fluid and somehow forgot to put new fluid in.... i would check it before i drove it another inch and see if there is any fluid in it at all... its easy to do... if you crawl under the truck and look at the transfer case you will see to round plugs in the side.... if you take out the top one fluid is supposed to flow out of it or be right at that level... stick your finger in it.... dont get it stuck ... if its not at that level get a drain pan and take out the bottom plug....hopefully fluid drains out.... about a quart and a half a i think... then all you have to do is put the plug back in and fill it back up through the top hole till it flows out with regular atf. if theres no fluid in it at all i would be seriously pissed....

 

[Cali' Explorer]

97, thanks for that, i have thought about that too. I actually took it back to the Transmission shop that did the service today and had them do an inspection on it (free of course).

According to the Tech, he said that he did notice that 2nd gear seemed to be slipping a little but not badly, but he said it drove like a "4x4" should. I explained to him that while it was AWD, there was still a clutch in the Transfer Case and that it shouldn't drive like a 4x4 locked in. He agreed and said he didn't know much about T-Cases and recommended I take it to a 4x4 Shop. Now, this kind of bothers me because this was most likely the same guy that did the fluid change on this thing... why would they agree to do work on something then come back and say they don't know much about it? Hmmm...

Anyways, he recommended a 4x4 shop that did inspections. I gave the guy a call and he seemed pretty nice overall. Said he had another 5.0 AWD Explorer in his shop for more or less the same thing I am having a problem with and said I should bring it in. He said he has them in there a fair amount of the time and often the problem is the T-Case or Front Axle in need of service. I made an appointment for next Thursday with him. He said he would do a basic test drive free, but as soon as it goes on the lift its $80.00. That kind of sucks, but $80.00 + piece of mind is better than no money and a broken T-Case or worst yet, just the constant worrying about if its going to break.

We'll see what happens, but I will keep this post up to date as things happen.

Also, I would inspect the T-Case myself but I live in an Apartment and they do not allow me to do anything to the Explorer that requires me to crawl under, drain fluid, or anything else. If I have the hood up for an hour they don't complain, but when they see me under the car, they come out and tell me I have to quit or get kicked from the complex *blech*. One of the downsides to living in an Apartment. Thanks for your Suggestions though '97, hopefully I will have this resolved soon.

 

[97BlackX5.0]

i live in an apartment complex too... while they are not picky about working on a car for a few minutes... they do not allow oil changes or anythign that could harm there precious asphalt or leave a car apart for a few days.... so when i need to change my oil i head up to the local walmart supercenter and park way out away from teh building or in a corner where no one else is parked... then i change my oil and do whatever else i need to do.... this week i changed my upper ball joints and control arms in the parking lot.... i would at least check the level of the transfer case.... did they at least do that during the inspection....

 

[97BlackX5.0]

oh by the way ...the guy that did the fluid change probably knows just that... how to change fluid.... i would talk to someone else... i would think a guy at a transmission shop would have at least an inkling of how they work.... sounds fishy to me.... he could be lying to you hoping the case will sieze and then he'll get your business for a rebuild....

 

[Cali' Explorer]

No, they did not check the level of the Transfer Case. They didn't pull any fluids at all, they basically just took it for a test drive.

I will see about pulling that plug and checking it tonight at my G/F's house if I have a chance. If there's no fluid in there, boy will they hear it from me =). And thanks for the help man.

 

[97BlackX5.0]

okay let me know how it turns out.....it should take a normal size socket wratchet to get the plug out..... take a minute and look at it... is there any wet spots on the bottom plug.... if it is bone dry and no oil stains then i can tell you for a fact they didnt change it because it runs all over the place when they change it....

 

[Cali' Explorer]

Well, I just changed the all the spark plugs on the X, evened out the suspension again, and checked the T-Case.

The T-Case did have fluid up to the bolt (As I almost got it off, it started coming out so I put it back in). The Fluid looked clean and bright red and smelled fine.

While I was under the car, the front left of the suspension had drooped about an inch from where it was when I had it aligned, so I lifted it back up. When I did this, I noticed the inside of the front left tire had some minor cupping and looked to be slight more worn on the inside than the outside.

I wonder if this could be causing my problem? Hmm.

Another thing I noticed, the Steering Shaft that goes from the Steering wheel in the cab into the steering box had a fair amount of side to side play (not twisting play, but side to side play). I would guess it almost had 1/4" of play side to side and in each direction... don't know how this piece fits in, but I will be inspecting that further if I get a chance before taking it to the shop Thursday.

 

[97BlackX5.0]

okay jack it back up again but this time dont unload the front suspension..... jack each side up at a time and try to shake the wheel with your hands at the top and bottom of the wheel.... push and then pull on the top and then bottom.... if there is any play at all your ball joints are shot and need replacing.... do this to both sides.... im sorry to say that the parts are expensive as far as ball joints go.... at the absolute cheapest it was 87 bucks for the drivers upper.... 67 for the passenger upper and like 32 a piece for the lowers.... there not that hard to put in yourself though.... if its just the uppers that are loose you can do this really easy ... the lowers are the tougher ones....i just got done with my truck last week.... i did the uppers in my apartment parking lot with a 130 piece tool set and a hammer.... the lowers i will do when i get back home... mine were worn out on both sides...causing it to pull and wear both front tires like yours....when you say you lifted the suspension back up because it drooped... does that mean you adjusted the torsion bars?? if you have been doing this it could be the source of your binding if you have cranked one way too far the front cv joints could be binding..... and this will also put your camber out of spec.... if your wheels are perfectly straight and you look at your car from the front at a few feet distance are your tires like this | | or this / \ or like this \ / im betting on the middle one ... let me know how everything goes

 

[Cali' Explorer]

Hehe, I will check the Ball Joints again. When I jacked it up last time and checked them I unloaded the suspension and pulled, so I may not have been checking it correctly. I will do that if the Suspension shop doesn't turn anything up.

Also, I did correct some droop, but the droop I corrected was to get the height back to where it was when my last alignment was done.

After my alignment, the front wheels were | | perfectly straight. When I checked the height, I did it becuase I noticed that from the front it looked like this | \ (Drivers side off camber). So I adjusted it so they are | | even again and the height is at exactly the same position as it was when the alignment was done.

I am waiting for the Driveline shop to take a look at everything because, for me, $80 is worth it for me to know its not something major like the T-Case or a Differential or something.

If the Driveline Shop doesn't turn anything up, the first thing I am doing is returning the front end of the X up to stock height (before my alignment I had lowered it about 2.5" or so) and then go and get a full (Lifetime) alignemtn done on the X. I liked the lowered feel at first, but not anymore. During the alignemnt, they rotate and balance the tires. If the X starts driving differently after this, I should know if is tires (currently, the front end feels like its dragging because the tires are smaller, if it is the tires, moving the fronts to the back should make it feel like the font end is pulling due to larger tires).

If its tires, I am planning on putting on some 31x10.5 BFG A/T's anyways. If its not tires, then Ball Joints are definately next.

Out of curiousity, how do you go about checking the Front Hub/Rotor for bearing wear? I know its a sealed unit, but it is actually attached to the Brake Rotor, or is it a seperate hub that the Rotor Attaches to?

Thanks again and I will keep you posted as I find things out.

 

[97BlackX5.0]

it is a separate hub that the rotor attaches to....as far as i know there is no way to check these.... it sounds like your drivers balljoint is bad.... Definately replace at least this part before going to get an alignment.... the worn out ball joint is why there was some off camber in your alignment.... cranking the torsion bar up will get rid of the off camber a little but it wont get rid of the bad loose joint.... i would change the balljoint and then return it to stock height....then get it aligned and the wheels balanced.... then if that doesnt fix your problems take it in and have the 80 driveline diagnose done....

 

[Cali' Explorer]

At some point today I will jack the front end up and check that out. If the Ball Joints seem to be binding, I will cancel the Appointment for tomorrow and replace the Ball Joints.

If memory serves, to pull the bottom one out, don't you need an air chisel to pop it loose, or are "Pulley Puller" style tools that you can use to remove the lower ball joints?

 

[97BlackX5.0]

yeah you have to take the brakes off caloper mounting bracket and the rotor... then the bearing unit has to come out and you pull the cv joints out of the axle... then you can get a big hammer and try to beat it out... some people can get it this way... or you get like a c-clamp press... autozone has them in there loan out program...

 

[Cali' Explorer]

Hmm, ok.

I may look at doing full upper and lower replacements with Moog parts if they are bad and the get alignment and stuff.

After next week, I don't HAVE to drive the X for about 4 months (while I'm in school, I take the school's shuttle), so that will give me time to save up for new Tires and stuff in the mean time if that's the problem.

Keeping my fingers crossed.