I have a 2005 sport trac put the drive train into 4x4 I had to make a U turn on the road to get around some traffic. I turned the wheels and It felt like the brakes came on and I got hung up in the middle of the turn. The trucks front wheels felt like they where not turning or sliging arpund the turn and the back wheels where pushing the front around the turn. Any advice on what it might be. Or is this normal in 4x4. in rear wheel drive it turns great. Cheers peter

 

You my man are lucky you didn't trash your drive train. Under no circumstances are you to engage 4x4 HI or LOW when on dry pavement. This is stipulated in your owners manual and I pray that you didn't permamently damage your transfer case and differentials. The locking you felt was your differentials locking up and binding. 4x4 is to be ONLY used off road under slippery conditions. It should be kept in 4x4 AUTO ONLY when on dry pavement.

 

Thanks for the reply. I realized what I did. I only drove that way about 10 ft. so I hope there is not any damage. I will not do that again. Stupid me. I leave in Calgary Alberta Canada so the snow is allready here. I had to use 4x4 this morning to get up an icy hill and it worked great so I don't think me actions yesterday did any damage. Again thanks for your advice. Cheers Pete

 

It's fine.

Transfer cases are put through much tougher tests than doing one small turn on dry pavement. As a matter of fact, it's a test that gets performed by mechanics in order to make sure that 4WD is engaged. I run tests on new and unreleased vehicles in 4WD all the time.

BTW, the strength of the driveline components are much larger than the skid torque of the wheels, thus your wheels start to chirp, and they in fact are the "fuse" for the driveline compnents.

 

Sorry of I came on a bit strong in my reply. You didn't say if there was snow or ice on the ground. I took it for granted that you were on dry pavement.