Will replied:

Jason,

I don't know anything about the explorers other than the comercial that said "the 4wd that thinks"....
Going by your descritpion it looks like the 4wd system is always locked up or does not disingage.

The description of you problem is what any part time 4wd would do if you left it in 4wd on hard surfaces.

I would recommend you to take it to Ford and let them diagnose the problem, it could be something simple to fix or hard but whatever it may be, it may be damaging something else...

Will

Royce replied:

Sometimes you just have to pay a professional to fix a problem. Talk to a mechanic!

Trev replied:

Hello Jason, now the facts are starting to show. If you read you Ford Explorer book they tell you not to engage high, or low, 4WD on surfaces which do not allow slip. When you throw the switch you transfer the torque equally between the front and back. ie you lock things up a fair bit! So if you are on a surface which does not allow slip, such as a tar road, you will get all sorts of funny expensives noises. Hard on the dive and hard on tyres. I leave mine in auto as it will eventually work its way to 50% front and back. Low range is used for going slower and I've only ever used that on the farm. Let the car do the thinking for you.
Trev

Mick replied:

As i said before , sell the bloody thing and buy yourself real 4x4 Something like Nissan or Toyota and stop bothering everyone here with your problems .