I was climbing this pretty steep hill which I have done many times but this time it was dark and the dew was making the rocks slippery and I made it all the way up to the top of the hill and started spinning the tires trying to get over the top lip (no lockers is why) and me not wanting to back all the way down tried a little bit longer to get over the very top, then the truck starts hopping around and SNAP!! now with my hubs locked and in 4WD, I hear this terrible grinding noise and 4WD doesn't really work so well anymore. I broke something inside the front axle, just not really sure what. Any ideas?

 

About all you can do is pull the front third member and have a look.

Could be as simple as an axle shaft, could be a side gear, could be a pinion, only opening it up and getting a visual will tell.

 

My money's on the axle shaft... but then again you said your tires were just spinning. Pinion... bearing goes out maybe?

 

A friend said it might be the axle shaft too. With my hubs locked and on a smooth trail it rolled fine but if I hit a bump it would
start catching and making grinding noises so something is loose and flopping around in there.