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Question for someone who knows more about these "intelligent" 4wd systems than I do. I've been working on my Dad's 2005 Escape V6 4wd. It has a noticeable growl/vibration coming from the driveline (You can feel it in the floor and the steering wheel). We've replaced several things (Wheel bearing, cv axle, control arm), all of which it needed, but none of them actually fixed this problem. I've determined that it's a problem in the transfer case. There were a lot of metal shavings on the plug when I checked the fluid. I pulled the rear driveshaft between the transfer case and the carrier bearing, drove it, and the issue was gone. My question is this: will we damage anything by driving it without the rear driveshaft? Not permanently, but for a while (maybe a few thousand miles). He needs it this weekend to go on a trip to KY, about 500 miles away. I don't see any reason it would hurt it to run it with just fwd, especially since the transfer case is probably toast anyway, and it's summer, so the 4wd probably won't kick in anyway. Thanks in advance!