xlt4wd90
Member
- Joined
- February 22, 2010
- Messages
- 22
- Reaction score
- 5
- City, State
- Southern California
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1990 XLT
Howdy All,
New member here. Been reading some great posts for a while, but now I have a question I hope someone can help me with.
I have a 1990 Aerostar with the e4wd drive train, and it's had this clunking noise for a while, and it's gotten worse recently. It only happens when I start up from a stand still, and it happens whether I have the control module connected or not. I checked out the engine and transmission mounts for any loose parts, and everything looks tight. A few years ago, I found a cracked bracket that was supposed to hold up the front axle, so I welded it back together, and it's held up so far. But that did not have any effect on the noise.
One thing I did find was that with the front end jacked up, and the transmission in park, I can turn the front drive shaft by hand over about 45 degrees. That seems like too much play. When I'm doing this, I can hear light clunking in the transfer case. I learned that this case uses a Morse chain to drive the front wheels, like a lot of transfer cases.
I'm suspecting that the chain is worn out, and when I start off from a stand still, the noise I'm hearing is from the gears inside abruptly taking up the chain slack. So I think I should at least replace the chain. Does this sound reasonable? However, I wonder if I should also replace the chain sprockets, as they must have also worn with the chain?
An alternative is to just replace the whole transfer case. There seems to be a distinction between the early (1990, 1991) cases and the later (1992 and later) models. Does anyone know what the differences might be, and can I use the later model in my earlier van?
thanks for any information you can provide.
New member here. Been reading some great posts for a while, but now I have a question I hope someone can help me with.
I have a 1990 Aerostar with the e4wd drive train, and it's had this clunking noise for a while, and it's gotten worse recently. It only happens when I start up from a stand still, and it happens whether I have the control module connected or not. I checked out the engine and transmission mounts for any loose parts, and everything looks tight. A few years ago, I found a cracked bracket that was supposed to hold up the front axle, so I welded it back together, and it's held up so far. But that did not have any effect on the noise.
One thing I did find was that with the front end jacked up, and the transmission in park, I can turn the front drive shaft by hand over about 45 degrees. That seems like too much play. When I'm doing this, I can hear light clunking in the transfer case. I learned that this case uses a Morse chain to drive the front wheels, like a lot of transfer cases.
I'm suspecting that the chain is worn out, and when I start off from a stand still, the noise I'm hearing is from the gears inside abruptly taking up the chain slack. So I think I should at least replace the chain. Does this sound reasonable? However, I wonder if I should also replace the chain sprockets, as they must have also worn with the chain?
An alternative is to just replace the whole transfer case. There seems to be a distinction between the early (1990, 1991) cases and the later (1992 and later) models. Does anyone know what the differences might be, and can I use the later model in my earlier van?
thanks for any information you can provide.