98 Ranger unable to move forwards

[ernest_pizza]

I have a 1998 Ranger XLT, 4x4, 5 speed manual, with the 3.0 v6.

Today, after having been parked outside for about 7 hours in cold, snowy/rainy weather, my ranger was unable to drive forwards. The truck fired up and ran just fine, and it went into gear fine as well, but when I started to feel the clutch grab, and when the truck began to move forwards, it abruptly stopped and was unable to move forwards any more. After stopping moving, it didn't stall and I could still rev it up, it just wouldn't move forwards.

I had exactly this problem once before (also after being parked outside in the cold for many hours), and was able to fix it by driving around the parking lot in reverse (it was at night and no one was there except for me) for a few minutes before putting it back into 1st and driving off with no problem. I tried that strategy again tonight, but this time the truck was unable to creep forwards more than a few feet before stopping abruptly again in the same way as before.

A (very kind) man stopped to help tow me back into a parking spot, and another person who was watching while he did so said that all three of my wheels turned while being towed (truck was in neutral) except for one of the back ones (I believe it was back left but I can't remember for sure.)

Any ideas as to what this could be? Thanks for any advice.

 

[planeflyer21]

Something is up inside your rear differential.

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

First I would suggest draining the rear axle and pulling the inspection cover. Pay special attention to the color of the gear oil and look for pieces of metal. I assume you have a piece of metal floating around and when the oil thickens, it pulls it up into the ring and pinion gears.

 

[Curious Hound]

^^^^^^ +1

This doesn't sound good. Check gear teeth for heavy wear and wiggle everything around as best you can to see if there's play (wear) in the pinion bearings or carrier bearings. It sounds like something has enough play to move out of position and cause the gear teeth to bind. I would put the rear axle on jack stands and be prepared to pull the axle shafts.


Wait. I had another thought. Is that drum or disc brakes? if drum brakes, maybe something is getting frozen and not allowing the brake shoes to disengage, possibly parking brake mechasnism. Driving backwards would possibly shift the brake shoes the other way and make them disengage. That's a happier thought than differential woes.

 

[ernest_pizza]

Rear brakes are drums

Update: I went back to the parking lot where I left it and tried setting and releasing the parking brake hoping that it would cause the cable to release, it didn't work at first but then I felt something "break loose" for lack of a better term and I was able to drive again. For the first few seconds of this driving the ranger slowed down more quickly than usual and while it was slowing down I heard a faint whine that decreased in pitch as it went and stopped after a second. As I continued, both anomalies stopped and I was able to drive home without any further issues. Now that it's home I'll take a look at the brakes and the rear diff.

 

[RonD]

The Cold Snowy weather was the comment that would point to Parking Brake issue
Not at all uncommon for Parking Brakes to freeze up in cold weather.
Water gets into the cable sheaths and freezes, holding one or both rear brakes ON

 

[Doofy]

We don't use parking brakes in the winter because they can ice up and freeze and fail to release. Also, if your rear shoes are out of adjustment, they can freeze to the drums.

 

[sgtsandman]

If it continues to be a problem, I would think about replacing the rear parking brake cables. The problem will only continue to get worse. Being that you have a manual transmission, just parking it in gear is asking for trouble. Too many people have found that out the hard way.


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[modelageek]

The Cold Snowy weather was the comment that would point to Parking Brake issue
Not at all uncommon for Parking Brakes to freeze up in cold weather.
Water gets into the cable sheaths and freezes, holding one or both rear brakes ON

X2. I've had this issue on all 4 Rangers I've owned. New cables solved it every time. If you're doing the cables yourself and need some tips let me know. There's a few tricks!

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[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

I never thought about that. Don't have that issue here in central California. Makes perfect sense though!