I suspect my rear driveshaft is causing the vibration/noise I thought was coming from the front. I posted a few days ago about how I suspected it was my front wheel bearings making noise. Now its vibrating real bad and feels like a universal joint.

Can I pull the rear driveshaft out and drive off the front wheels with the switch in the 4x4 position? Last year my wife drove for a few days with no front driveshaft as I had one on order. It worked fine, for that.

I just want to go for a test drive to make sure that its the rear shaft, and not something else.

 

I would think you will be fine. Watch your speed though.

One item to look at though..depending upon the setup. If it is a true 4x4 with a transfer case should be fine.

Not so sure about all wheel drive though.

 

What year Explorer? part time 4wd or AWD? On my 1st gen, you can because the driveshaft attaches with flanges at both ends. I'm not sure how the later transfer cases attach to the driveshaft. Something that slips in and out of the tcase may not work like that.

 

Before I looked underneath the Explorer to confirm the problem, I bought two new universal joints as I was convinced one of them was shot due to the symptoms.

Tonight a friend stopped over and him and my 12 year old son got under there and started removing the driveshaft. My friend noticed that the bolts at the T-Case flange were LOOSE! He tightened them up, we went for a drive, and the vibration was totally gone.

I'm quite thankful for that as with a broken leg, I really didn't want to change those u-joints (my son can't do it, and my friend was out of time).

Both the tcase and the diff were flanged, so I would have been able to drive it with the front wheels only, but I never did try it.

I will keep those new joints and install them later once my leg is better. They have 300000kms on them, so I might as well replace them.

A word of advise, use loctite on those flange bolts. I didn't do that when I re-installed the shaft after the trans was rebuilt two years ago. Surprised they stayed on that long.

 

That is great news...I would not mess with the u-joints unless you have symptoms that they need replaced.

 

The differential in my truck is winding. I dont have the money to fix it and was wondering that if i could take the rear drive shaft out ,will it still work?

 

True 4x4? then you should be able to depending upon how the drive shaft attaches to the transfer case.

Limit your speed though.

 

if it mounts with a flange then you should be able to, some driveshafts slide in and out of the t-case and you cant drive with them removed

dont accelerate hard and dont drive very fast

or you can just drive until the diff goes and when it goes youll lose power at the rear wheels but you wont need to remove any driveshafts

 

The rear axle will still turn, whine, wear, and eventually have to be replaced.

Not sure your transfer case is going to like pulling the entire vehicle around all the time. Put it in 4 high, not automatic.

 

So I went to the differential shop yesterday to have vehicle test driven by the mechanic. The reason why we went there was to find out what was cause of the whining in the differential and how much roughly will it cost to rebuild or fix the entire thing. Unfortunately, the mechanic says he cannot give a price until he puts it on a lift and also says that it is not advisable to drive the vehicle. In your opinion, is there a possibility that this is true and that differential will become inoperable? Please Advise.

 

when you drive it..the differential is turning. I can understand his reasoning. If you have some bad bearings you may tear it up.

 

bumping an older thread...
I want to try driving with the rear drive shaft removed- its a 98 explorer auto/4hi /4low system
The reason being is I want to tow the explorer with the front end up on a tow dolly behind a motor home & the neutral kit is not available anymore or never was.
With the rear drive shaft removed, I am hoping I can cruise around town in 4 hi & do our shopping etc. driving gently of course.
Can anyone see a problem with this? I have not bought the tow dolly yet.

opt 2- remove the front shaft & tow with the rear end up on the dolly-
cons-no brake lights & the front wheels would need to be locked exactly straight ahead
pros- the rear end is solid with less moving parts & it would be nicer & stronger as a rear wheel drive