wishmaster22

Hi ,

I have aproblem that I hope someone can help me with.

Yesterday in the snow I was leaving a grocery store and as I pulled out of my parking spot ;it felt as though the breaks where on. Then after a huge crunching lurch I was able to move forward, as I was going my drivers side rear tire locked up and I started to go into circles. So I managed to get out of the way and my wife got out and verified that the tire had indeed locked up. So we decided to try and take the back way home as it seems to only do this after a stop and start. Well on the way home all was fine.


I am wondering if a piece may have broken in my rear differential and is floating around and even now an then gets jammed in between gears, cause the bind up and the crunching. Does this sound possible?

Or could it be a wheel bearing going out.

I recently replace my u joints cause the rear one was falling apart.

I think that wahtever is wrong with the rear end caused the u joint to fail.


I would appreciate any help on this subject and what one might expect to pay to fix it.

Thanks

snap-on

sounds like the break drum on that side isnt releaseing like it should. I say check the rear shoes. (both sides)

eric-the-red

Did you have the parking brake on, if so the mechanism can freeze up in cold weather and won't release. Pull the drums and check the brakes, and clean and lube them while you're there.

Bennito

Common to the 3rd gens, a sticking wheel can mean axle leak (and the axle fluid combines with break dust to create a paste that keeps the shoes from releasing).

I noticed mine first on a snowy/icey day.

wishmaster22

So if it is this whats the fix?

I didn't have my brake on.

I will pull the wheel, but I pulled it about a week ago and the brakes were fine.

Sure sounds like something is binding some gears.

wishmaster22

its a 94' is that 3rd generation?

SLC Punk

Mine did that when my axle seal was leaking. Check the drum/shoes for axle fluid.

Fink

No thats a 2nd gen...I would check everything they've said before tearing apart your diff.

Fink

wishmaster22

looks fine inside the drums. What next? is it the transmission or the differential?

Rick F.

I'd relax for a minute and stop thinking tranny or diff. There have been a lot of threads about this and I had something similiar myself. Seemed like one of my rear wheels would lock up in cold weather at initial startup (had to hit the gas to break free from being parked) and then intermitently as I'd roll to a stop (at about 2 mph when decelerating then lock). Although I never figured out specifically what had caused it and it seemed to resolve itself, others have indicated a few possibilities that are relatively minor (compared to tranny and diff problems) such as binding brake cables, corrosion, etc.. Do a search and see what you turn up.

MTL_4runner

First pull the drum on the side that locked up and see if anything obvious can be seen. Then jack up the other side and see if you can spin the diff freely (ie turn one wheel and the othe turns opposite way). Then with both wheels in the air, put the transfer case in neutral and see if you can turn the driveshaft by hand with no binding. If you feel any binding in any of these situations you have something to chase down as a potential issue. If all looks good then chances are it was a sticking drum (also possible it may be a bad wheel bearing).

mike_d

ianam (i am not a mechanic), but here's my non-expert opinion. it's not the transmission. the tranny only turns the drive shaft, it doesn't care about the wheels as independant units, so it would have nothing to do with a wheel locking up or not. it's probably not the differential. the differential trys to split the torque evenly to the two axles. if something broke inside it would likely lock up or lock the axles together, i doubt (although it's not impossible) for something inside the differential to break and cause one side to lock up.

the next thing you look for are outside forces stopping one of the wheels. so you have things like brakes dragging, bad wheel bearings, and things like that. i know you said you already checked your brakes, but i'd say check them again. of all the things that would cause drag on your axle, the brakes are the strongest.

mike