4 wheel drive problem (94 explorer)

I'm driving along and all of a sudden there is a rubbing/grinding sound
coming from the front wheels. I figure it has something to do with the 4
wheel drive, so I pushed the 4x4 button and it locks in, stopping the
annoying sound. When I pressed the 4x4 button again, the 4 wheel drive
does not disengage. I stopped on a side road, put in reverse for about
50ft, put it back into drive and it seemed to disengage it. Any help on
this issue would be greatly appriciated. Thanks

4WD did not disengage on my '92 until you stopped, put it in reverse,
and backed up a few feet. This was the way those automatic hubs
worked on the early models. I guess the '94 is the same as my '92
was. Don't think they changed front end design until '95.

As for the rubbing/grinding sounds, I'm afraid I can't help you there.

On Wed, 08 Feb 2006 11:03:17 -0500, "kylo67" >
wrote:

>I'm driving along and all of a sudden there is a rubbing/grinding sound
>coming from the front wheels. I figure it has something to do with the 4
>wheel drive, so I pushed the 4x4 button and it locks in, stopping the
>annoying sound. When I pressed the 4x4 button again, the 4 wheel drive
>does not disengage. I stopped on a side road, put in reverse for about
>50ft, put it back into drive and it seemed to disengage it. Any help on
>this issue would be greatly appriciated. Thanks

"kylo67" > wrote in message
lkaboutautos.com...
> I'm driving along and all of a sudden there is a rubbing/grinding sound
> coming from the front wheels. I figure it has something to do with the 4
> wheel drive, so I pushed the 4x4 button and it locks in, stopping the
> annoying sound. When I pressed the 4x4 button again, the 4 wheel drive
> does not disengage. I stopped on a side road, put in reverse for about
> 50ft, put it back into drive and it seemed to disengage it. Any help on
> this issue would be greatly appriciated. Thanks
>

So, you are saying the little 4X4 light didn't go out? I had a bad grinding
sound on my '92 when the autohubs failed but it only occured while in 4WD.
It went away when I put manual hubs on there.

It sounds to me like you have at least two of the common problems on this
model: bad autohubs and a stuck servo motor. Another possible common
problem is warped front disc rotors. The front wheels need to be torqued
evenly to about (off the top of my head) 100 ft/lbs.

This site has some good info on at least some of these problems:

http://draco.acs.uci.edu/explorer/

It seems odd to me that your 4WD would disengage by backing up if the 4X4
light didn't go off.

Ulysses and Big Shoe,
thanks for the information.
Ulysses: The 4x4 light did go off when I pressed it again before backing
up. The 4x4 drive didnt disengage though. Sorry about the confusion
Thanks Again for the info.
I love this sight