At the cabin for the weekend, decided to take the truck onto the iceand park infront of the cabin instead of up the hill. Drove through moderate deep snow. Got temporarily stuck in some deeper snow. Tryed to reverse when rock forwards just when the tires started to bite the snow again there was a bang and no front wheel drive. Thought it was a CV but they look fine, and dont spin. Was able to put chains on rear and limp out in 2wd. Now parked at the top of the hill. I have very limited tools and no indoor shop to take anything apart. Drove down the road and there appears to be no grinding or that type of noise. And its blowing 25km/h and snowing -18C. Any ideas on what it could have been? and if im good to drive 130km home? Any help please?

 

Sound's to me like you may have grenaded the front diff. Something has catastrophically come apart in there. Could be a number of things, but the only way to find out would be to disassemble the whole thing, which doesn't sound like an option to me, but you could still drain it and see what kind of chunks come out.

 

Yeah not really an option at present, dont really want to try draining it if i cant fill it back up again. I think im guna attempt the drive home to a warm dry shop with proper equipment.

 

Drain the front diff. If you find big chunks of metal you most likely killed a spider gear or two.

 

YUP got home. drained oil and chunks of what appear to be teeth from a spider gear not ring or pinion. in any case need new gears. anyone have a set of 4.10 for sale to fit 97 taco. watch for new thread in wanted forum.

 

Correction looking for 4.56 gears now. would like a bit more torque.