[ariamodeleon]

My 1999 Taurus SE, Duratec 24 valves, AX4N trany. Original problem: clunking noises when going through ditches or turning and lots of vibration when braking in the passenger side. I lifted the car and found the right side half axle won't spin when car put into any gear. Driver side axle works fine. I proceeded to change both sides 'half shaft' with new ones. However, there was not improvement! Right shaft does a half spin or something like while it looks like there is some vibration or motion in the transmission. Any suggestions? What it can possible be?

Thanks, Ariam

 

[three50one]

It won't spin? As in you have it up and only the drivers side spins in gear or you have it up and put it in gear without it running and try to spin it by hand. Either way the car has an open differential. Both won't spin at the same time unless all conditions are right and even then it shouldn't. Usually half shafts click while turning when bad.

Your problem isn't a half shaft. You have worn suspension components. Look at ball joints, tie rods, LCA bushings, and sway bar bushings.

 

[soundu]

My 1999 Taurus SE, Duratec 24 valves, AX4N trany. Original problem: clunking noises when going through ditches or turning and lots of vibration when braking in the passenger side. I lifted the car and found the right side half axle won't spin when car put into any gear. Driver side axle works fine. I proceeded to change both sides 'half shaft' with new ones. However, there was not improvement! Right shaft does a half spin or something like while it looks like there is some vibration or motion in the transmission. Any suggestions? What it can possible be?

Thanks, Ariam

I will bet somehow you right side half shaft is NOT clicked all the way into
the trannie. Maybe something inside of the trannie is not allowing it to click
the circlip into the trannie body.

I just changed my right one and had some issues getting mine to click in.
i ended up under the car under the engine. I then grabbed the shaft
between the CV's and manually pounded it in by hand and it finally clicked
in. look at the space between the 1/2 shaft and the trannie case on
both sides. if its not the same, the shaft is NOT all the way in

bob

 

[Jeff K]

It won't spin? As in you have it up and only the drivers side spins in gear or you have it up and put it in gear without it running and try to spin it by hand. Either way the car has an open differential. Both won't spin at the same time unless all conditions are right and even then it shouldn't. Usually half shafts click while turning when bad.

Your problem isn't a half shaft. You have worn suspension components. Look at ball joints, tie rods, LCA bushings, and sway bar bushings.

I agree.... open diff will typically only spin one wheel when both wheels are off the ground.

 

[ariamodeleon]

I think you are right. I am not longer concern about the shaft. However the clunk noises while breaking or going through bumps still persist and I can see that the tire in the passenger side has small backward movement when accelerating! I also think the engine has more movement backward than usual when accelerating and stopping but It is more pronounced in the passenger side. I changed the lower ball joints and outer tie rods and noise still persist. The LCA bushings and sway bar bushings seem to be OK but because I still have the noise I will change them. My question is should I change both sides? What about the mountains? I read that there is 2 Engine Mountain and 1 transmission. Which one is the most likely I need to change? I just don't want to be doing more work and more money than I need to do the repair. Thank you for your advice.

 

[soundu]

I think you are right. I am not longer concern about the shaft. However the clunk noises while breaking or going through bumps still persist and I can see that the tire in the passenger side has small backward movement when accelerating! I also think the engine has more movement backward than usual when accelerating and stopping but It is more pronounced in the passenger side. I changed the lower ball joints and outer tie rods and noise still persist. The LCA bushings and sway bar bushings seem to be OK but because I still have the noise I will change them. My question is should I change both sides? What about the mountains? I read that there is 2 Engine Mountain and 1 transmission. Which one is the most likely I need to change? I just don't want to be doing more work and more money than I need to do the repair. Thank you for your advice.

The trannie mount usually never goes bad. The front mount is the first suspect. have someone put the car in drive with the brakes on while you
look at the engine passenger side. The front mount is between the radiator and motor. behind the AC compressor. If its real bad, the motor will jump
way back (Pivots) because the front mount is no longer holding it down.

The other thing you need to check is to make sure your strut link is not loose, and your subframe bushings and washers are intact. On some older
tauri, there was a recall where the subframe washers rotted through and allowed the subframe to "float". the donut subframe bushings can go bad too. The strut link goes between the sway bar and the strut.

If you remove a motor mount, loosen both the front and the rear mounts before lifting the engine.

Just one thought also, if you replaced the 1/2 shaft, did you really get the right one? The shafts are different between the AX4S and the AX4N.
The Vin number will ID what trannie you have if you cannot tell otherwise.

 

[three50one]

If it's while braking and taking off I'm going to assume it's your subframe bushings going too.

Front and rear motor mounts are very easy and worth changing for the price as well.

They're all cheap and only take a few hours to do.

 

[sable23]

ok i didnt really read the replyies but in an open differential it will spin the side that has less resistance. meaning that if one of your wheel bearings it will most likely spin the other wheel. if one half shaft is not clicked into place then nothing will move because that side will then have less resistance because there is nothing connected to turn it. try holding one side (be careful!!) and see if the other side will spin then. my guess would be a wheel bearing though or binding brakes!

 

[ariamodeleon]

How things evolved.

Hello everybody,
After reading your replies I realized that the shaft was no an issue. That repair had been successful, the clunking noise when turning was gone, but additional clunking noises and vibration persisted while breaking or going through bumps.
Then, I observed small backward movement on the passenger tire when taking off or braking as well as the engine will tilt back. I had not idea what to do next, so the advice of this forum helped me to decide on what was to be next. I already had changed the lower ball joints (at least one was bad), outer tie rods and had put new brake pads. I continued changing lower control arm bushings and Engine Mountains which must has helped with the tire movement and engine as I could see a little improvement, but retrospectively I don't think this was too bad at all. However the rumbling, vibrating, and clunky noises persisted and worsening when braking, even worse when stopping at higher speeds. I when back to research again this forum and read previous recommendations. I was about to proceed to change the subframe bushings when I read about warp rotor and calipers pins, etc and immediately it became a suspect. I got 2 new rotors for $50 and also put new calipers pins. And all issues when away like magic. See, last summer I put new pads and rotors! How is that the rotors were bad? But after the fact, re-inspecting the rotor I saw some radial lines that look more like stains, I can’t feel a thing in the surface, but appear to be cracks! That was it! Warp rotors!

The car is running very smooth, like new, Hum…If I would have just changed or resurface the rotors as recommended when I put pads! I wanted cheap but end costing me more. Oh well, it is a good lesson and just want to share this story with you and to thank you. Thanks God for this forum.

Ariam.