E4OD question

chillman88

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While working on the rear brakes on my 90 F250 (Diego). I put the transmission in Neutral and noticed that the wheel did not want to turn. I could get it to turn but it felt similar to dragging brakes even though I know it wasn't. First thought was rear end but that seems free.

Almost sounds like a very faint light squealing from the transmission when turning the wheel. Seems to be about the same effort either direction. Truck had sat overnight and wasn't run yet. I did start it after this and put it in neutral with one wheel in the air (tire was removed already) and noticed the hub was spinning with the transmission in Neutral. Fluid was cold though so parasitic drag maybe?

My first thoughts are not good, and now I'm afraid to drive it. If a bearing is going out I don't want to be stuck on the side of the road and make things worse.

Carrier bearing and u-joints are almost exactly one year old. I haven't unhooked anything yet as I'm pretty frustrated by this.

Transmission has been ok, seems like maybe it hasn't been shifting as early as I expect it to, but that could be in my head too. Truck has what I expect to be 144k on the odometer, although I wouldn't be surprised if it was 244k instead. I believe it's the original transmission so I'm not entirely surprised if it is going bad.

Thoughts? Hoping a resident E4OD guy could give me some insight.
 

Jesus Freak

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I think you're fine. It's not like a manual transmission, where you are actually freewheeling. That's why you pull the driveshaft to tow, you're spinning something that looks like a jet turbine inside.
 

chillman88

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I think you're fine. It's not like a manual transmission, where you are actually freewheeling. That's why you pull the driveshaft to tow.

Yeah I'm aware of that, but I've never had any vehicle this hard to move the wheel with it in neutral and that concerns me.
 

hacked89

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You were thinking the same thing I was thinking, I wonder if it's slightly in a drive gear? Is that even possible in an e04d?
 

david85

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Mine does the exact same thing even when it had zero miles on it after last year's rebuild. Nothing to worry about.

Even though the clutches are not grabbing, there will still be some friction dragging on the shaft because of close clearances on all the unloaded surface area. The squealing likely comes from the sprag at the rear of the transmission (Low/Reverse) but I was never able to confirm this. Once the engine is running, fluid gets pumped though everything to lubricate and cool the countless moving parts in there.

But this is also a very good reason to never tow one of these trucks with the drive shaft connected. Turning by hand won't hurt anything. Turning by 60 MPH is another story!
 

chillman88

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Mine does the exact same thing even when it had zero miles on it after last year's rebuild. Nothing to worry about.

Even though the clutches are not grabbing, there will still be some friction dragging on the shaft because of close clearances on all the unloaded surface area. The squealing likely comes from the sprag at the rear of the transmission (Low/Reverse) but I was never able to confirm this. Once the engine is running, fluid gets pumped though everything to lubricate and cool the countless moving parts in there.

But this is also a very good reason to never tow one of these trucks with the drive shaft connected. Turning by hand won't hurt anything. Turning by 60 MPH is another story!

Thank you very much. It's far more friction than I expected, however it also had sat all night so fluid could have drained. I tend to start worrying early when I have suspicions. Thanks for giving me some first hand peace of mind.

It's been little things making me worried something might be wrong, but the fluid still looks fine and I haven't even checked the FIPL so I'll just pretend to be blissfully unaware for the time being. At least until I have reason to worry. I'll check the FIPL whenever I have time.
 

david85

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Well, it doesn't help that the E4OD still has such a bad reputation so I don't blame you for being a bit paranoid. For what it's worth, mine went from driving to no movement in 2.5 days when the center support exploded (due to an assembly error 13 years ago!).

It's not often that most of us raise the rear axle and turn it by hand like this, so you end up learning new things. Try idling in neutral and you'll see the wheels start turning. Same thing there; clutches are relaxed, but some friction still gets through. Also no cause for alarm.
 

trackspeeder

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Thank you very much. It's far more friction than I expected, however it also had sat all night so fluid could have drained. I tend to start worrying early when I have suspicions. Thanks for giving me some first hand peace of mind.

It's been little things making me worried something might be wrong, but the fluid still looks fine and I haven't even checked the FIPL so I'll just pretend to be blissfully unaware for the time being. At least until I have reason to worry. I'll check the FIPL whenever I have time.
You are turning everything from the output shaft to the intermediate shaft when you spin the rear wheels by hand. The noise you here is the sprag, so never tow for a long distance. It will nuke the rear section of the tranny.

If it doesn't give you any problems, drive it. :)
 
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