Wheel jerks when hubs are locked??

[Isles4evr]

The one thing that I have noticed since my 4wd has quit working for me is that when I lock my hubs and just drive with them locked the steering wheel jerks back and forth, expecially when turning. Is this normal?

Thanks
Chris

 

[88vert]

Its normal when turning becase you are puting a bind on the axel when turning

 

[1991XLT]

its normal when the axle shaft u-joints are shot.. otherwise they dont really jerk too much.. only when the wheels are turned as tight as they go.. this is all from my experience anyways..

 

[CONavajo]

88vert is correct here. Your Explorer will jerk the wheel if it is locked in and turning, with or without the t-case engaged. It is more noticable on dry pavement. All 4wd vehicles will do this to some extent, except the AWD or Auto sensing t-case models. Just don't mash the gas when it is binding or you really might damage a u-joint or axle.

 

[1991XLT]

Yeah.. I agree they all do that.. I have had Toyota 4x4 trucks... F-150 4x4 and my Explorer and they all do it when locked in and wheel turned tight one way or another.. my point was that if the U-joints are stuck they will do it even worse.. he made it sound like it did it when the wheels were turned a little bit to almost straight.. before I put my U-joints in my 1991 XLT it was really jerky and made alot of clunking noises but now that its all new it only binds when the wheels are turned as tight as they go.. and yeah you should never use 4x4 on dry pavement and never give her the beans when it is binding..

 

[Isles4evr]

Yeah I figuered it was normal. I put new ball joints in today, so while I had the axle shafts out I checked the ujoints on them. I must say, don;t try ball joints with out the right tools... thank god i did it at my shop. As for the 4wd problem... I sucked it up an bought a manual tcase today. It has 65K on it with a 6month waranty. Just gona order the linkages and shift boot from ford and slap that in when i get back from vacation next week.

Chris