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4 wheel drive grinding

18K views 10 replies 4 participants last post by  vitaminjoe 
#1 ·
So coming back from Reno last night I had to use 4 wheel drive so that I wouldn't slide around when starting from a stop in the snow on the highway. When I have the hubs locked in and 2 wheel drive no noise. When I put the truck into 4 wheel drive I have a grinding noise coming from the drivers side only when accelerating. Any ideas where to start? And I rebuilt the front end last summer. Everything but the manual hubs. The previous owner had already put the Warn premium manual hubs in it.
 
#2 ·
sounds like a transfer case or shaft issue. Is it full engaged into 4WD?

Since the noise isn't there with the hubs locked in 2WD (front axle and input shaft spinning with no power) but occurs once the transfer case is engaged it's related to power transmission from the transfer case to the front axle/wheels.
 
#4 ·
I will swap hubs and try out the 4x4 first, but a lot of the reading I did sounds like transfer case. Which sucks but hopefully not. Thanks for the suggestions. I won't be able to mess with it anytime soon because of the weather here.

I should be able to pull the front drive shaft and put it in 4x4 and see if it still happens as well and that would point to the transfer case as well correct? Just thinking out loud.
 
#5 ·
I've got a similar noise coming from my driver side while in 4x4 as well. I'm hoping it's just the front drive shaft u-joints, as I can feel about a 1/4" of side-to-side play on the front connection. The rear double cardan joint at the transfer case feels ok.

No noise when I let off the throttle, and the noise is intermittent when it comes.

I'll have time to pull the shaft this weekend. I'm interested in what you find out...
 
#7 ·
Pulled the truck into the garage and jacked it up. Put it in 4x4 while on jack stands and carefully checked for noise. There is absolutely no clunking or grinding while off the ground.

Check the transfer case fluid... pretty dark, so I'll be changing that ASAP. Got 3 quarts of Motorcraft XL-12 Transfer Case Fluid on the way. Looked closer at my U-joints and they look like hell... so... dropped the front shaft.

I removed the cross member/skid plate that protects the transfer case to do it... I doubt that plate is structural since it was held on by four 13mm bolts using cage nuts. FYI you'll need to use a torque adapter (12mm, 12-point) to properly re-attach the driveshaft to the transfer case pinion flange... you can't fit a torque wrench in there. Front straps are on there with 8mm bolts.

I do have a parts question though... the manual mentions replacing the U-joint straps and all the bolts with new hardware. Does @fordsvtparts know the proper hardware kit to get for re-installing the drive shaft?
 

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#9 ·
Thanks ZMANN. The bolts do look OK. I did some digging anyway and came up with these part numbers. Maybe someone will find them useful:


  • Driveshaft centering socket yoke: Spicer 212024X. This thing doesn't look serviceable... I'm replacing mine because the needle bearings were shot and there was no grease left in it at all.
  • U-Joints: Spicer 5-1350X (non-greaseable). The greaseable version is Spicer 5-178X. You need three of these.
  • U-bolt Strap Kit: Spicer 3-70-48X
  • Couldn't find the 12-point bolt part number. A bit of googling came up with bolt 42-1855.

Drive-line shops in my area are closed today, so I won't get this back together until Monday. :(
 
#10 ·
Hopefully I'll be able to dig into mine here soon. Thanks for the replies and I'll let everyone know what I find with mine.
 
#11 ·
Just FYI for you @five0merc:

I rebuilt my front drive shaft with all new (grease-able) U-joints and a new ball socket for the centering yoke.

The dust cap for the centering yoke really pissed me off... the damn thing is really hard to put on without the proper installation tool. I thought mine was on there, but after I got the double-cardan back together, it had popped off. Now its just kind of there for the ride. Probably not the end of the world though, the old dust cap was completely missing when I took the shaft apart.

Anyways, I put the shaft back on and took it for a test drive last night. Night and day difference. The 4x4 has never been so quiet. The grinding/vibration is completely gone, and no noise at all from the transfer case. Nice and quiet at all speeds (tested up to 45-ish mph), under load or coasting.

I hope that your trouble is the same as mine and that $75 in parts is all you need to fix it.
 
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