My 81 front axle has issues.. HELP!
 

I have been slowly modifying my 81 and all has been well and I have been well pleased.. But today I took it out to some mud and before i even got in the mud i locked the hubs and put it in 4x4 but the front tires arnt spining! I see the drive shaft spinning but the front tires are acting like im in 2 wheel drive!! Whats up with this?? What could my problem be? I also dont have any clicking noises or any noises at all! The front drive shaft spins but everything looks like its in 2 wheel drive???:pop:

only thing i could think of is your hubs....striped out

has anybody worked on the front brakes or had the hubs apart for anything? It could be as easy as the hub cover not cocked in the right way. If it is this way you can turn the manual hub know and it will not engage. It is easy to check, just take off the 10mm bolts of the outer hub surface and look for 2 little irregular spots that are 180degrees fron each other. They go into the larger notch in the hub's inner grooves. You should see that two of the grooves or notches are larger than the others. You don't even have to take the wheel off or jack the truck up to do this.

Let me know what you see and how it goes.

rebuilding hubs:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...ferrerid=12218

Get the thing home, and verify that the fronts are indeed not spinning. Get the truck up on 4 jack stands, and put it in 4wheel drive and see what turns.

The other thing you can do is put the case in neutral, lock the hubs in, and try and turn the driveline. It shouldn't turn.

Is this a problem that just started? Have you ever had the truck in 4WD before?

This would be the best guaranteed check.

Might be the hubs if it is indeed not spinning the front

So what was it?

hey guys.. thanks for the tips.. since the truck had been sitting for 5 years with the last owner, all my offroading loosened up some rust and caused the hubs to not be able to lock.. just pulled the hubs and the 3rd member, cleaned everything out, regreased and oiled the axle back up... it worked like a charm!! Thanks again for the pinpoint answers