Bad front prop shaft or blown diff? (1 Viewer)

[Weissbar]

Hey I'm a bit confused to the where the damaged is, but there is damage somewhere. After taking my LS1 swapped 80 up the beach I've ended the day with some issues. After doing a fairly hard pull in 3rd and 4th when I let off the throttle there was an intense grinding noise coming from up front. I've found the noise only happens when the CDL is engaged and if the front hubs are locked or unlocked the noise still occurs. After more testing the noise mainly occurs on decelaration. So I pulled the front prop shaft out and left the CDL engaged and the noise was gone!So hopefully that rules out the gearbox or transfer case. However the front prop shaft has a lot of play in the slip yoke up and down and was pretty dry. The U joints appear fine and the pinion bearings don't leak or have any play in them.

So would the loud grinding noise be coming from the front prop shaft with all that play or is there something in the diff which has died??

 

[flintknapper]

Since you KNOW the front prop-shaft is in need of attention (repair or replacement) I'd go ahead and do that. Reinstall it and you'll have your answer.

You should also drain the front diff and look for any significant amount of metal in the lube that drains out. IF you find small chunks or large metal flakes...then you likely have a problem there too.

 

[Weissbar]

Yeah sounds like a plan I'm getting the front shaft taken care of next week and I'll drain the fluid this weekend and see what falls out

Cheers