I recently bought a 94 explorer sport 4x4 at, auto hubs. I was trying out the 4 wheel drive and need help with some problems I encountered.

I started by pressing the 4x4 button which lit the led at the button and the light on the dash below the cluster though I didn't hear anything shift at the tcase.It didn't feel like I was in 4 wheel drive. I did hear a clicking noise like a relay or something behind the trim panel at the driveside rear wheel.

I then tried pressing the low range button with the tranny in Neutral. This time I felt the tcase shift pretty hard but the led on the button and the light on dash below the cluster did not light. When driving I can tell I am in low range but the autohubs did not lock in. To confirm thisI jacked the front end up and wheels spin freely.

When attempting to get out of low range I put the tranny back in neutral and press the low range button. Nothing seems to happen at the tcase but now I hear a clicking noise like a relay or something behind the trim panel at the driveside rear wheel when pressing the low range button too.

I am stumped any comments or suggestions will be appreciated.

 

Do you have an owners manual? My 92 manual describes fairly well the procedure to engage and disengage, including the need to back up about 20 feet to disengage the auto hubs. The hubs are known to fail, prompting most people to replace with manual hubs, since they're cheaper and more reliable. Another problem with the auto hubs can be too much grease. Pull the wheel and slide the hub off and take a look. There should be just a thin coating over everything inside. You might be able to revive them if that's the problem. If it's packed with a lot of grease, get that stuff out of there. The clicking you hear by the left rear wheel is the 4wd controller.

 

Thanks sjwoody for your reply. I have a couple more questions though. I understand how the auto hubs work but I done understand how that problem will also cause my tcase to not disengauge. I read in some really old posts that maybe the tcase actuator/shift motor could be suspect.

Any thoughts?

 

IMO those tcase shift motors were a problem. I would suspect that to be your problem. Actuator will not engage/disengage your tranfer case properly.

 

Yeah.... that's right. I rebuilt my sisters 94 Explorer shift motor using online help (pictures and all). I'm not sure where the link is now, (it's in "my favorites" on another computer). Try a search here and see if you can findthe link. It was actually really easy...took me about 3 or 4 hours though. If you can't find the info, reply here and I'll send it to you.

 

If you need a shift motor dorman makes one for around 100 bucks

 

does anyone know a bench test procedure for these shift motors. I have a pin out for the harness but am not sure what do to to properly bench test the motor?

 

Try this link:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/....php?p=1102904