whats wrong with my front end.

[kilrspd]

today i left the house to go fishing and i noticed that my ds front pops and grinds but only on full left lock if i turn it to the ps its quiet. so i dont get it. ive never had a closed nuckle axle before so i dont know how they work or anything. so i have 177000 miles on my 97 fzj80 and im about to go on a trip to redfish with my family and dont want it to break or anything on the trip so any ideas?

 

[inkpot]

today i left the house to go fishing and i noticed that my ds front pops and grinds but only on full left lock if i turn it to the ps its quiet. so i dont get it. ive never had a closed nuckle axle before so i dont know how they work or anything. so i have 177000 miles on my 97 fzj80 and im about to go on a trip to redfish with my family and dont want it to break or anything on the trip so any ideas?

This is the classic symptoms for birfield wear/damage. Would not be unusual for a rig with that mileage to have this problem especially if they are the original ones. Lack of grease in the front knuckles is the most common missed item for maintenance on the 80 series that I have seen. Search for lots of threads here on MUD about how to grease them. John

 

[IdahoDoug]

Any maintenance done on the front axle - every 60k it should get a teardown, clean out and fresh grease in the knuckle, then wheel bearings repacked and adjusted during reassembly. Every 15k or so, grease should be added to each knuckle through the square filler hole atop each knuckle. If not done, the joint inside lives in a metal dust paste and grinds itself to death.

DougM

 

[Offroads4x4]

Start by checking the grease level with a zip tie.