Loud popping from underneath 1998 ford explorer sport. Transfer case maybe? The faster it goes, more popping noise.

We've had lousy luck in our Fleet with Transfer Cases and Front Axles in the Explorers. Ours are a little newer but the same symptoms.

Tracy: I live way down South. The only hill we have for three hundred miles is man made for the kids to play on in a park. From all the questions over the years about four wheel drive explorers I have to ask. What is the need for a four wheel drive explorer. Is it the terrain or snow in the winter. Or do people just like four wheel drive.

I think a lot of people just like the idea of having a 4x4 but don't realize what comes with it. The only advantage to a 4x4 in your neighborhood would be at work. Driving through rough or muddy terrain, pulling down a tree, retrieving a stuck vehicle or animal, and so on. The stability of a 4x4 in 4 wheel high during a rain storm is wonderful. But, I have replaced lots of hubs, transfer cases and u-joints because someone "just had to have a 4x4" but never considered the extra upkeep. I live on a farm and couldn't do half the work I do without my F-250 4x4.

YOu hit the nail Tracy. I live in a large city and although built on a swamp it's like any other large city. Paved roads etc. with no snow or ice ever. Occassionally we get a visitor from somewhere up north who decides to take a nature ride in a nice senic place only to discover six feet off the shoulder the nice green ground cover is actually algae floating on a six foot deep swamp. Hell, we even have to advise the visitors playing golf inside the middle of town to watch out for aligators if they smack their drive too close to the edge of the lagoon. And that's what they are - lagoons.