BearsRunner

Ok, I live in the San Bernardino Mt.'s, So naturally I wanted to test my 4WD.
So I was driving up the mountain in 4wd, came to the top of the mountain and started to stop at the intersection. CLANG!!!! OMG!! What the heck was that, I was scared to keep driving. I looked at my girl and was like, did you hear that too! I thought the front diff fell out. I pulled over and looked under the truck, everything looked fine?! Got back in and took it out of 4wd and drove the rest of the way home. After being home for awhile I went vack outside and climbed back under the truck, tried to move the cv's made sure everything was not moving.
I have yet to get a chance to take the diff out and see If I have a locker that the previous owner neglected to tell me about. I resentley had back surgery so it will be awhile before I even get to check.

Just thought someone might have a thought of what it might be.
Thanks. Bear.

mt_goat

Do you have manual hubs or ADD hubs? If you have manual hubs (without ADD) unlock them and in 2wd spin your front drive shaft by hand. Both CV's should turn easily by hand.

Flash319

Were you driving on pavement or gravel? Sounds like one of your hubs didn't lock then when you took the torque off as you were slowing it snaped in. I would check the operation of the hub locks.

BearsRunner

I do not have manual hubs yet, I plan on getting them though.
I was driving on pavement, aren't the ADD hubs always locked? In a few weeks I will try to get to the hubs.
Where's the best place to get manual hubs? Under a 100 bucks?
Thanks for the feeback.

mt_goat

Yes the ADD hubs are always locked. You can find used Aisin hubs for less than $100 but you may have to clean them up or you can find new Warn hubs for a little over $100 but they aren't as strong.

If you were driving on pavement in 4wd you may have bound up your drive line and broken something or did it just pop when you took it out of 4wd (that's normal). I guess the easy thing to do would be put it in 4wd again and slowly move forward in a straight line and see what happens. You can drive in 4wd on pavement as long as you don't turn at all and all your tires are the same size.

BearsRunner

What do you think about mile marker hubs? When we came to a stop it just was this loud clang, it was as if something fell off and hit the ground, like dropping a rim on the ground without the tire.

KyleT

maybe a spring settling. i ahve had mine do that a couple of times and make a pop when they reseat.

86SR522REEFI

well you really shouldnt drive on pavement with a part time 4wd system.

BearsRunner

In the next few weeks I will see if I can't get under there and take the whole front drivetrain out and clean it up, lube it and replace anything if needed.
I do not drive in 4wd all the time, I was just trying to test it because it will snow here in the mountains in a couple of months. Just wanted to give myself plenty of time if I needed to fix something that was broken, Before there is snow on the ground.

Q: Why is it such a bad idea to drive in 4wd on pavement? I it is not locked ( locker ), in the front or rear, then you would really be driving in 2wd opposed to 1wd. Just messing around, I had a buddy that told me once that even though you think you have 4wd, and your not locked front and rear you are really driving in 2wd. Because if you get stuck, the tire with the least traction will spin and you will go nowhere. Hence snow or mud, but I haven't had that problem yet.

Sonofmayhem

thats odd, but driving in 4wd on pavement when its not wet, icy or snowy, and turning will bind up the system because there is no give. true, the ones that will spin the easiest get all of the power, thats why lockers are so great they keep an even distribution. what part in san bernidino? i used to camp all up there off of santa rosa, thomas mtn. and basically every mtn. in between.

mt_goat

When you turn, the front wheels are traveling farther than the rear wheels, and that means the front drive shaft will want to spin at a different speed than the rear shaft and since most of us (in this forum) don't have a differential in our transfer case, the whole driveline gets put under a lot of stress until a tire or two loses traction and slips or something breaks. It is made a lot worse with lockers but you'll still bind it up without lockers.

BearsRunner

Okay, I see what your saying. So that is what probably happened, the front drive shaft got bound up and that was the loud clang that I heard.

I live in Crestline, which is right next to Lake Arrowhead. I go down to Miller's Canyon 4wheelin and stuff. There are a couple of trails that are pretty gnarly.
Thanks for all the help, Bear.