It's snowing out today and I put it in 4WD (manual hubs). I am getting a kind of binding scraping noise from the driver's side tire only when the hub is locked. As soon as I unlock the hub the noise is gone. A few weeks ago when it snowed I drove it on some wet pavement for about a mile going 35 mph. I did make a turn onto my snow covered road and that's when I heard a little noise but today it was really loud. Any ideas, I'm hoping just a blown cv but I haven't heard any clicking.

 

It's possible the spindle bushing just needs to be lubed. You may be hearing the axle shaft rubbing where it goes through the spindle to the hub. How loud is this? Any clicking noises?

 

no clicking, it sounds like something is rubbing, it is constant with wheel speed and stops when I hit the brakes

 

Not sure about the stopping when brakes are applied, but yeah. It's pretty common to get more noise in the cold because the grease that's in there doesn't want to spread around as easily. Do something like this:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...ctures-100327/

Or just take your hub off and see if you can stuff some fresh grease in between the axle shaft and the spindle somehow. If it's still making the noise, you're only out some grease it probably needed anyhow and the time it took to put it in there.

 

Keep in mind the hubs just unlock the wheel from the CV. I'd get under the truck with the hubs unlocked, in 2wd, and hand spin the front drive line. See if you can locate the noise or binding. You should be able to freely spin each CV.

 

Mine does the same thing. Mine sounds like a coffee can full of silverware.

 

Are you sure thats not the timing chain?

 

mine is more like a scraping/rubbing that correlates with the wheel speed only in 4WD and just the driver's side

 

Yup. It only happens when the hubs are locked and 4wd is not engaged.

 

Does it happen if 4wd is engaged and hubs are not locked?

If no, maybe the front diff is going out and is currently only noisy on the coast side.

(a theory, no historical knowledge to back it up)

 

^^^Haven't tried that yet. The truck only has 101K miles and I changed the diff fluid when I got it and it was clean so I doubt the diff is bad.

 

So, it's a strong possibility that the spindle bushing needs to be lubed?

 

I'd bet a paycheck its spindle bushing/bearings. Go to the link posted above or search spindle lubricator, the why and how to fix it is posted. I made mine out of a pvc cap. It worked great but greese doen't like to flow in the cold.

 

What kind of Grease would be best for spindle bushings and u joints?

 

I've driven it in 4WD since this posting and it hasn't made any noises since so I never ended lubing it. Maybe someone can help you.

 

Axle grease...
should be a no-brainer..
Any kind of thick grease, really.
Marine grade is even better.