Grinding Noise when in 4WD

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residualboulders

residualboulders

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So the other day I took the 55 out for a drive in the snow. I had it in 4 wheel drive on the highway because the roads were snow packed. That was the first time i'd had in 4 wheel over 10-15 MPH and it was making a noise that sounded like grinding gears starts around 20-30 mph I'd say. Mechanic thought it had to be coming from the transfer case so he rebuilt it, noise is still there. Any ideas what might be causing the noise? Anything to do with the lift recently installed? I never had it in 4wd at higher speeds before installing the lift so I have nothing to compare it to. Any ideas?
 
Check the simple things first - how is the gear oil in the front axle/differential?

IdI drain it and inspect it for presence of metal shavings.

I've never driven mine that fast in 4wd...

All else being equal, the recent lift sure sounds like a probable cause, but again, eliminate the easy, quick causes before tearing it apart.
 
Thanks Jeff. Yes, Fluids and differential were the first things the mechanic checked before rebuilding the transfer case. No metal shavings but a couple of the bearings in the transfer case didn't look great. Rig only has 75k miles so we figured it was maybe from sitting so much over the years, but, no better after rebuild. I should have mentioned it's got a 3" spring under lift.
 
I had similar issues that you're having. My drive shaft angles were off. I fixed that and still had a noise, though not as bad. I took the drive shaft in and they re-balanced it. That seemed to fix it.
 
Have you tried putting it 4wd and UNlock the hubs, trying to eliminate different pieces. Hard to guess something like that.

Good Luck man,
 
Another thought would be the front knuckle assembly... That area takes a heap of grease - at least I packed mine full when I rebuilt the front axle.

Unfortunately, I don't know of an "easy" way to check the amount of grease in the front knuckle assembly...

If your front axle is already puking the grease / oil from the inside of the knuckle assembly, then now is as good a time as any to rebuild the front axle.

Good luck
 
abqcruiser said:
I had similar issues that you're having. My drive shaft angles were off. I fixed that and still had a noise, though not as bad. I took the drive shaft in and they re-balanced it. That seemed to fix it.
Click to expand...

I stopped by the shop to suggest this to the mechanic only to find he'd already sent my drive shaft off for rebalancing, ha ha. He'd done what you all have suggested and eliminated one component at a time. Too bad we didn't figure that out before Tcase rebuild, but that's one less thing to restore later and it fixed some leaky seals I wanted replaced so I'm good with it.

thanks for the help guys.
 
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