Stumped on what's going on

[Jessej123]

Hello.

So I'm not exactly sure where to post this but..... I have a 98 ford explorer and the front wheels have been binding up where when I make a turn the wheels lock up and make a clunking sound when I turn the wheel.

I took the cv axles off and they are still good. I'm stumped on what it could be. I think it's the transfer case most likely but any suggestions would be nice. Also had someone tell me something about the 4wd module being bad? Not sure.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Pull the front driveshaft. If it still does it, your problem is in the differential if the CVs are good.

 

[XLTrunner]

Unfortunately, it sounds typical of a bad transfer case. Mine did the same thing at around 150K miles and required a rebuild to the tune of around $800. Strangely, in the 3 yrs and nearly 50K miles I owned the truck leading up to this point, I never so much as touched the dash switch to engage 4HI/4LO. Maybe that was a mistake. All 4 tires were a matched set with even tread wear and pressure. T.C. fluid was good...so, who knows?

Here's a previous thread that gives an excellent description of how your 4405 Borg Warner t.c. case operates; complete with photos of an actual tear down:

The Borg Warner 4405 Transfer Case Rebuild Diary

 

[410Fortune]

front d shaft is suspect
CV axle bind usually results in a popping sound when cornering
After the front D shaft is checked out I agree the control trac t case is suspect.
You can replace it or rebuild it or better yet do a control trac delete which requires some custom work but worth it!!