I'm going to guess it is the breather/vent hose. There is a small hard plastic hose that comes out of the trans case on the top side that is usually about 3" long and some people like to attach a much longer hose and bring it up into the engine compartment to a much higher location in case the vehicle does any water crossings to keep water from entering ther trans. The t-case also hase a breather/vent hose as well but those had a larger rubber hose and they were much longer from the factory, and the same goes for the diffs.