"New" Daily 4x4 has had the front drive shaft removed.

[YankeeRose76]

I bought a 99 Ranger XLT 4x4 very recently. ( Stupid cheap) It has had the front drive shaft removed for some reason. There are no codes from the 4wd system at this time, and it seems to be functional other than the missing driveshaft. Why would someone have done this? I am thinking that there had to have been some kind of issue. Also..... where to start with figuring this out and getting it working if possible. Truck has 3.0L engine if that helps any.

 

[Curious Hound]

I would probably start by inspecting what IS there. Get the front up on Jack stands. Rotate the pinion on the front differential and see if the wheels rotate with the hubs engaged. Does it have manual hubs or auto? Make sure there is no binding or bad noises. Maybe take the hubs off, clean, lubricate (lightly) and reinstall. Then start looking for a drive shaft to install.

The 4x4 system has no way of knowing whether or not the drive shaft is there. So the missing shaft would not throw any kind of error code or fault.

 

[YankeeRose76]

Ty. it is an auto system not manual. I've done enough digging to know that it is the PVH system. I only did a check for codes on the truck in general as this is normal procedure for me with anything I buy.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

They had kind of a weird CV joint on the shafts of the 98+ trucks IIRC, they may have had a problem with that.

But yeah, check the front end and t-case out... then you might hit a JY for a driveshaft.

 

[YankeeRose76]

cool TY.
My local u-pull yards seem to be idiots in regards to compatible swap parts for any vehicles that I try to get parts for, but that is an entirely different issue.

 

[NakedDucks]

It’s possible they removed it for better fuel mileage. (A rumor)

Or did a young person own the truck and his/her dad removed the DS to keep them from taking it off road?

 

[gw33gp]

I drove my Ranger with the front driveshaft out for a while, including a round trip from CA to KS. It does improve gas mileage a little but the most noticeable thing I observed was the absence of a very minor vibration I always had 80 to 90 mph. Yes, I know I should not be going that fast and don't very often. It was off while I was deciding how to repair and waiting for a new driveshaft. The boot on the CV joint went bad, threw out the lube and the CV joint went bad. The hassle of replacing the CV joint and the questionable quality of some made it an easy decision to just get a new driveshaft.

 

[YankeeRose76]

It’s possible they removed it for better fuel mileage. (A rumor)

Or did a young person own the truck and his/her dad removed the DS to keep them from taking it off road?

no idea on any history of the truck really. I found it on Craigslist listed cheap at a wholesale auto dealer in Tulsa OK. pretty much traded a given to me '98 Mercury sable for the truck. It started, ran, and I was able to drive it from Tulsa back into Missouri with no issues. I've put almost 3000 miles on it in just barely over 2 weeks.

 

[YankeeRose76]

I drove my Ranger with the front driveshaft out for a while, including a round trip from CA to KS. It does improve gas mileage a little but the most noticeable thing I observed was the absence of a very minor vibration I always had 80 to 90 mph. Yes, I know I should not be going that fast and don't very often. It was off while I was deciding how to repair and waiting for a new driveshaft. The boot on the CV joint went bad, threw out the lube and the CV joint went bad. The hassle of replacing the CV joint and the questionable quality of some made it an easy decision to just get a new driveshaft.

Interesting to know that it might not have been removed due to bigger issues. That, of course does remain to be seen though. I went to my nearby pick N pull to get a front drive shaft and have learned the hard way not to trust their "compatible vehicles" list. The driveshaft I pulled was from an explorer on that list and it turned out to be 2" short. Thankfully it wasn't very expensive.