I hate to say it but, that sounds like the best plan.

 

mel, sent u a pm w my email. thanks alot

 

I'll send some info to you tomorrow, I'm at work right now.

 

so the first tran. shop said he doesnt know. told me to check diameter of all 4 tires even tho they look the same and have similiar tread depth. he pulled some err codes out of memory and we ent over them. all pointed to the GEM module. those err codes could have been caused by pulling fuse 104 and moving the switch, which i did just to test it and make sure the shift motor/clutch didnt engage. he said it would take extensive troubleshooting to nail down the problem.
is aamco a reputable place? they want 65 to do a test but im afraid theyll give me the same results. hell, for 125 i can put in a gem myself. i still think its something in the tcase, just my opinion

 

I used to work for AAMCO and suggest that you stay away from them. Better to go to Ford.
I never got an email from you.

 

ford is gonna rape me, im prob just as good with the guy down the street. i sent you another message with my email. its under visitor messages? couldnt find the PM button anywhere lol

 

cant get the truck in the shop til next week. i DID however take the tcase motor off and manually rotate it into the different settings. no difference at all. my feeling more than ever, is that the syncro riding on the shift forks is not working properly. but damn, in 4lo this thing went up an atleast 40 degree incline thru 5 foot brush! i love 4wd!!! lol felt like a lil kid. worse case scenario i wire in a switch to activate the 104 fuse slot. that means all ill have is 4lo(and a jerky 4lo at that). but i will have SOMETHING to play with in the winter.

i just called the used car place i bought it from to get ahold of the previous owner. told them im not mad, just want to know if she had a diagnosis and where it was done. that right there could tell me exactly where the prob is. ill rebuild this tcase my self if i found out thats the prob. unless someone will do it for under 600, in that case, im gonna take the lazy guy route.... lol

 

I've been putting in a lot of hours at work this week, I'll try to get a bunch of stuff to you today or tomorrow.

 

having tcase installed now. will update later. if this fixes it this thread will hopefully help others some day.

 

bad news, my tcase was fine..... and im 500 lighter in the wallet. anyone want a used tcase?? lol
had the guy drive it after i told him it didnt fix problem. daylight was running out but he jumped underneath and said the reason the front driveshaft was out was because someone changed either the fron or rear diff with the wrong one. according to these guys, the gear ratio MUST be the same. this makes perfect sense. im going to get the Serial numbers off both diffs, go to ford have them check it and also have me and a friend use chalk on the tires while its jacked up and get the exact gear ratio for front and rear. this would make sense because in a4wd(normal setting) at 30 mph something starts binding up. if there indeed is driveshaft hall sensors the fast you go the more pronounce the difference would be in drieshaft rotations, hence the gem would try to apply more power to the front to make the drive shaft speeds match. how ****ing utterly simple. still unconfirmed, just my thoughts. i will relentlessly update my struggles until i have an answer and be sure to tell all who will listen..... until next time

 

. . . . . . .. . .

 

The different gear ratios, front and rear will cause the binding you are experiencing. I've seen it in the past but it is done so rarely I didn't consider that as the problem. The P.O. must have done that just to keep it going or to sell the truck. I'll bet the mechanic is right in his diagnosis. It's a shame it cost so much to find out.

 

looked at rear diff. and it did not have a tag with the id on it. this would also explain why when my speedo indicates 65 im doing 73. or 55 is actually 60mph. they swapped out the orig 3.55 for a 3.31 is my best guess. if i find the original tag and can verify the front is a 3.55 like it should be then my prob is definitely in the rear diff.

pdqford: i see you bro lol. thank you very much, thanks to all. soon as im ready to dump some more $$ in it i think ill have my problem fixed once and for all

btw, the rear quarter panel had been hit, awfully close to the rear pass wheel....... coincidence? i think not. must have damaged the wheel and they replaced with the wrong rear diff.

 

It was most likely that the damage was to the axle housing or the tube was bent so they just swapped ot out, sounds kinda like a typical used car dealer. Just get it moving, blow it out and someone else can worry about it. Sounds like it was your turn in the barrel.

 

ok, so the ford dealer confirmed: i have 3.31 gears in back when they should be 373s.
it WAS changed out and god knows why they didnt put the right one in. ive found a guy with a 98 rear end with 373s. anyone know if they are compatible with the 99?
its only 150 plus 250 for a local shade tree mechanic shop to install(theyre tested and do great work)ive used them before. plz tell me this will only cost another 400!! lol