Grinding/whining noise
 

One day, while driving to work in the rain, the car in front of me (a very small Hyundai Accent) decided it would come to a complete stop really quickly. So, instead of plowing and destroying that car, I took the wall. There wasn't to much damage afterward.

Fast forward two days, and now I have a whining/grinding noise in the morning. And, when I come to a stop, the grinding gets far worse and it kicks. I feel like I might have damaged a vacuum line on that side, and is causing the 4WD to lock in. So my question is, is this possible? I can't find any vacuum lines on that side, so I don't even know if my 4WD is vacuum controlled. Do you guys have any ideas?

(1989 4Runnner, 5spd w/ 3.0)

thanks!

Okay, so you hit a wall, and your truck doesnt sound right..?
Any info about the truck? Does it have locking hubs?
Lifted?
Tire size?
Damage?

Yes. I hit a wall, and now something sounds broken and I'm trying to figure out what it is.

It has Automatic locking hubs, 31" tires and no lift.

Basically, I think its a vacuum problem because it only happens when its cold out and I also think it has something to do with the 4WD system. Today, when pulling out of a parking lot, it started doing it. So, I decided to try putting it in 4Hi and driving home like that. Well, it went into gear, but it felt like i was running something over or climbing over a large wall. The truck did not want to go.

Usually that kind of noise is a dry wheel berr. or a dry spindle bushing in toyotas in my experience.

i agree with stockard

Thank you guys for your replies.
How would I go about checking on this? Can i just put the truck in the air and see if the wheel bearing is good by spinning/shaking the wheel? And if it is bad, do you have to replace the whole bearing or can you just regrease it?

And what the heck is a spindle bushing?

Just in case somebody may have the same issue as I did, and comes upon this thread:

The correct answer is hubs. Apparently, during my accident, I managed to mess something up inside the hub so it is not always unlocking when it should. I was able to figure this out when I went into 4WD, then out and it started doing it. Then, I reversed (more, because the only way to truly get out of 4WD is to reverse) and it stopped. Sometimes, it takes alot of reversing, sometimes it takes a single tire rotation.

Thank you guys for all of your help.

I know this is an old thread but I seem to have the same problem. Did this only occur in cold weather?
thanx
jim