drivetrain problem! Help please.

[Mikey von]

here is my problem-

after coming out of four-wheel drive, my truck has started making a rattling/clanking sound. It last a mile or two and is not too loud, but definately noticable. The sound comes and goes. It has done this for about 3 weeks.

Today I used four-wheel drive and then back to 2wheel. It made the rattling/clanking sound and then it went into a full-on loud chatter, followed by a loud bang (sometimes two) that you can feel. The bangs felt like something was binding up and then releasing. This happened 4-5 times on my way to ace hardware and back to my house.

I am guessing it is my hubs, t-case, or perhaps u-joints in the front shaft. My guess would be it is the hubs.

Where should I start??? What can I look for to narrow down my problem?

 

[shaun89]

hmmm...maybe ur hubs springs not pushing the hub back fully to "free"? is the banging u feel more near the t case handle or near ur feet? i would try and drive down the road and hold the t case stick and if u only feel it a little, it might be farther down,but if u feel a pretty nice bang it might be in ur T case.

 

[toomany]

My guess would be a u-joint. I'd crawl under and give the drive shaft/axle shaft u-joints a look.

 

[kennyw]

Make sure you block the wheels and put the transmission in nuetral when your checking u-joints.

 

[Blue85]

first thing to check is the drivelines. When you're doing that, you can leave the front shaft off and go for a drive for troubleshooting.

Do you have auto hubs? Sometimes they start hanging up and not disengaging properly.

 

[johnathan]

Do you have auto hubs? Sometimes they start hanging up and not disengaging properly.[/quote]

X2 my auto hubs did exactly as you describe,went through two pair then changed to manual hubs,Problem solved

 

[USSkoval]

X3. sounds like auto hubs. Been there done that

 

[Mikey von]

i do have auto hubs and it would be my guess. I am still super busy trying to finish up my house so time is hard to come by. Right after i got home a crawled under and just felt around. None of the u-joints felt loose or hot. TC did not feel hot but was leaking a little (always has done that).

Next week I may make time to change the hubs to some warn premiums. I was also thinking about changing the tc fluid to check for metal. Is changing the tc fluid easy? I think I have a np241.

I do know my front wheel bearings are going bad. Are those difficult to change? Anything else I should do while I have the front apart? U-joints?

thanks again!

 

[kennyw]

I do know my front wheel bearings are going bad. Are those difficult to change? Anything else I should do while I have the front apart?

Brakes, ball joints, crossover... it will snow ball here.