Howdy Folks,
This weekend when driving on well packed dirt roads I decided to throw my 62 in H4WD as I just rebuilt the front end and still haven’t hit the miles on it to drain the fresh metal shavings out. Upon doing so I discovered that when I went over 20-25 MPH I would start to hear a low grinding/growl from the front end and near the passenger side. The noise was much worse when I unlocked my hubs. This noise is only present in H4WD, 2WD has zero issues. And L4WD has worked like a dream and not given me a single worrying sound. So this leads me to believe that it has to be one of three areas; the t case, front drive shaft, or the axle. Unfortunately for reasons you will soon understand I have no idea if this noise was present before the front end rebuild, as I couldn't use 4WD on it.
For the Axle, considering my old man(he’s been working on cruiser since I was born in 99) and I just rebuilt the entire front end, including a new set of gears from cruise outfitters, arb locker, knuckle rebuild, and rotors. I want to say that it is very very unlikely to be anything inside the axle. That leaves me with the drive shaft and T case. Today I took a look at the drive shaft and there was basically no play at either of the U Joints so I then took the drive shaft out and drove the 62 around hitting 25-30mph with H4WD engaged and the noise has disappeared. But I’m not sure this really eliminates the t case as the source as there is no weight being put on it with the drive shaft out, so sure the flange is still spinning but not sure it means much. When I was under there I also spun around the T Case Flange on the front and it was making a bit of a grinding noise, seen here. Does this sound like a bad output bearing? Mind you the T case shifter was in neutral when I was spinning it in the video.
Also it should be noted that I drained the T Case oil trying to diagnose this issue and I didn’t find/feel any metal shavings in it at all. Buuuuut only about a cup of oil came out of the thing and it was very brown. (Forgive me for not baselining this Cruiser properly when buying it, it’s my first Cruiser/old vehicle.) I filled it back up to the fill plug with 80-90 and it still made the grinding noise.
A bit more of important background on this 62.
The PO had installed 4.88 gears on only the rear(the main reason we started the front end rebuild was to put the correct gears in.) so it’s very possible he drove it around in 4WD with the mismatch and blew the T case himself. As I only used 4WD before the front end rebuild for maybe a total of half a mile and at a very slow speed>5MPH.
It has at least a 2” OME lift with reverse shackles (the splines of the front drive shaft had more than safe enough room for this) additionally there are already shims installed on the axle to account for the lift and provide a better angle of attack for the drive shaft.
I have done a lot of research on my issue and have come across a few good threads that I put to use diagnosing the problem, but I need your guys help getting me across the finish line.
Thanks,
Taylor
This weekend when driving on well packed dirt roads I decided to throw my 62 in H4WD as I just rebuilt the front end and still haven’t hit the miles on it to drain the fresh metal shavings out. Upon doing so I discovered that when I went over 20-25 MPH I would start to hear a low grinding/growl from the front end and near the passenger side. The noise was much worse when I unlocked my hubs. This noise is only present in H4WD, 2WD has zero issues. And L4WD has worked like a dream and not given me a single worrying sound. So this leads me to believe that it has to be one of three areas; the t case, front drive shaft, or the axle. Unfortunately for reasons you will soon understand I have no idea if this noise was present before the front end rebuild, as I couldn't use 4WD on it.
For the Axle, considering my old man(he’s been working on cruiser since I was born in 99) and I just rebuilt the entire front end, including a new set of gears from cruise outfitters, arb locker, knuckle rebuild, and rotors. I want to say that it is very very unlikely to be anything inside the axle. That leaves me with the drive shaft and T case. Today I took a look at the drive shaft and there was basically no play at either of the U Joints so I then took the drive shaft out and drove the 62 around hitting 25-30mph with H4WD engaged and the noise has disappeared. But I’m not sure this really eliminates the t case as the source as there is no weight being put on it with the drive shaft out, so sure the flange is still spinning but not sure it means much. When I was under there I also spun around the T Case Flange on the front and it was making a bit of a grinding noise, seen here. Does this sound like a bad output bearing? Mind you the T case shifter was in neutral when I was spinning it in the video.
Also it should be noted that I drained the T Case oil trying to diagnose this issue and I didn’t find/feel any metal shavings in it at all. Buuuuut only about a cup of oil came out of the thing and it was very brown. (Forgive me for not baselining this Cruiser properly when buying it, it’s my first Cruiser/old vehicle.) I filled it back up to the fill plug with 80-90 and it still made the grinding noise.
A bit more of important background on this 62.
The PO had installed 4.88 gears on only the rear(the main reason we started the front end rebuild was to put the correct gears in.) so it’s very possible he drove it around in 4WD with the mismatch and blew the T case himself. As I only used 4WD before the front end rebuild for maybe a total of half a mile and at a very slow speed>5MPH.
It has at least a 2” OME lift with reverse shackles (the splines of the front drive shaft had more than safe enough room for this) additionally there are already shims installed on the axle to account for the lift and provide a better angle of attack for the drive shaft.
I have done a lot of research on my issue and have come across a few good threads that I put to use diagnosing the problem, but I need your guys help getting me across the finish line.
Thanks,
Taylor