me and my buddy were just out off-roading, she has a ford escape 4x4 and she hit somthing and now the suv makes an awful noise. Think its her drive shaft or something, you can barley go 10mphs with the car shaking and driving horrible, anybody know anything bout this?

 

Is it still locked in 4WD, or is it back in all wheel drive?

Not much we can tell you -- jack it up and do an inspection. The rear driveshaft doesn't get much torque normally unless you start to slip in the front. But with the t-case locked it will shake like crazy on turns on the street.

 

first problem is wheeling an Escape. Sorry, it's not intended for that regardless for what the ads say. Second, describe the shake, it almost sounds like a drive shaft out of balance.

 

Yeah, like bent. If you can't do 10 MPH it's more than out of balance, lol...

 

Well, yeah thats what I was getting at, but I didn't wanna be too harsh.

 

yeah, i told her not to take it out but she wanted to go wheelin with me......the faster you go, the middle of the car just shakes and thumps.very hard sound, i thought it might be the drive shaft just because it has no skids covering it, it is out on its own. it sound comes right in bewteen the seats, and we no its not the tranny.

 

Yeah, I understand. Probably better to just tell him though -- sometimes "softening" it gives false hope and people drive it way too long before having it looked at. I'd almost rather "scare" them into really checking it out and not assuming anything.

 

Could be the transfer case. It's a viscous coupling type and unlike most 4x4's it only controls power to the rear wheels.

 

Yeah by the description there gotta be that driveshaft. You typically won't find any kind of protection on them, even if you get the skid plate package. The driveshaft has too much up and down movement to warrant having any kind of protection. Sad truth. Believe me, the guys I go wheeling with and I have talked about idea's but they all won't work.

Take it to a drivetrain shop and avoid the dealer. If the truck has a warranty it'll be voided by the fact it's been offroaded. That and a driveshaft shop will be honest with you on it and not tell you other unrelated stuff will need replacing. Also, keep the Escape on the road so future damage that could be more costly can occur. It's no more than an oversized car.

 

ok so at a dealership bout what would it cost to fix this? if its a bent shaft or 4x4 case fuked

 

Your first born male child unless you can guess the service managers middle name...(hint: it's Rumplestiltskin...)

 

Sheesh, I live in the wrong part of the country then John if thats all it costs you. Us it costs your soul, plus 30 years of slave labor.

 

ok so its not the drive shaft, they said she bent the hell out of her rear axle when she hit the rock, lol. said it would cost about $1,200. ouch.

 

Ha ha! None of us even came close, lol. (Not laughing at your friends misfortune -- just our lack of "expertise"...)

Sorry to hear that. Escapes are not built to "shoot the rapids" as they say.

 

well its weird that the sound was coming from between the seats. But its to bad its not a ranger as we'd all be saying "EXPLORER AXLE"