Rotational thumping or clunking noise

[NickW]

Correct, the front axles spin all of the time regardless of 2WD or 4WD being selected. Your issue sounds like CV axles too. I simply grabbed my passenger side CV axle and it had excessive play in the inboard joint. Driver side had some, but passenger side was much worse. The play in the joint would change, depending on the exact position of the axle. Meaning it did not have a lot of play when I first checked it, but rotating the axle some produced the excessive amount of play. If you have some time, you can just rebuild them, they aren't complicated. I opted to replace mine due to not wanting to have down time plus I like having spares since I sometimes go out and play rough in the Raptor.

 

[timothy]

So I tore apart the passenger side this afternoon, when I tried prying out the CV it pulled out the axle shaft with it, about an hour and a half of fighting it I finally got them separated, the c clip was in pieces and all the grease was dried looking like dirt and it was seized together with rust. Scraped everything out, wire brushed it, cleaned it up and greased it. I slapped everything back together and went for a test drive and no noise for now! It was a quick test drive cuz I didn't have the c clip so I'm running with no front drive shaft in the meantime till that c clip comes in.

 

[NickW]

Nice that you found the issue. Not sure on running without a front driveshaft, I seem to remember reading that there was a potential issue or that it could cause damage if you run without one. Not sure if that's true, but worth mentioning and maybe checking into.