I have a question about gearing in my truck. I have a 1997 powerstroke crewcab auto trans with a leveling kit and 35" tires. I bought this truck last May and have not used the four wheel drive very much. I was going snowboarding last weekend and climbing a steep hill in the snow in my truck. The truck was moving pretty good but then it started to get a little slick so I decided to put it in four wheel high. After that it got about ten times more slick, I was all over the road. Then I put it back in 2 wheel drive and it was a lot less slick. Any ideas. Is it possble someone changed the rear gears but not the front ones? Is there any easy way to tell what gears I have in the front and the back. I tried four wheel drive on drive pavement and did not notice any binding or chirping from the tires. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

I think it's pretty unlikely that only one end has had a gear swap. With the amount of binding that would take place in the transfer case on dry pavement, I doubt it would go 100 yards before it broke something.

Not sure what you mean when you say the road got more slick when you locked the fron it?

 

I will try to clarify. I could stay in my lane and steer fairly well before I put it in four wheel drive. After I put it in I could not stay in my lane and could not turn well. In other words I was all over the road in four wheel drive but in two wheel drive I could just feel the tires spin a little bit every now and then. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

Hmmm....that is odd. Driving in 4x4 does have some quirks that one must become accustomed to, especially on ice, but that seems a bit extreme.

There are a couple of ways to check the gear ratios in the driveway. You can put the truck up on jackstands in neutral, then mark a spot on the tire and another mark on the driveshaft. Spin the tire slowly one time, and **** the number of revloutions of the driveshaft. 4 driveshaft revs for 1 in the tire is around a 4.0 (probably 4.10) ratio. 3.5 driveshaft rotations would be a 3.50 gear, etc.

You can also remove the differential covers and count the number of teeth on the rng gear and divid that number by the number of teeth on the pinion gear. That would give you the exact ratios.

 

i had a buddy that bought a lifted F350 found out after he bought it (he didnt check the 4x4) the guy said the truck needed work and the price was right so he didnt care much. first time he tried it in 4x4 the truck wouldnt move. the rear had 4.10 and the front had 3.55's.

the 4x4 definately gets some getting used to driving it in slick conditions you start getting torque steer and it makes a small alinment problem seem bigger in 4x4.

 

Ok it sounds like its probably not a gearing issue. But I am going to take your advice Cookie88 and make sure anyways. Maybe I have an alignment problem intead. Thanks for the info guys.

 

It seems like it would only be a driving issue. If two wheels spin, (or one) then that leaves the others not spinning. (giving you some stability) If the front and back spin together then there is nothing left to hold the truck in it's path. Ice is tricky stuff.

 

Was there any noise from the front wheels? I'm curious if both of the front hubs locked in. A friend of mine has a 96 CC that one hub didn't lock in right consiquently it didn't steer right either when 4 wheel was enguaged. But his made a clicking type noise. I don't know if all hubs make noise if they go bad. He would also have quite a time getting it to disenguage. He installed Warn manual hubs and that was the end of his problems.

 

My truck has manual hubs too, the previous owner said the originals would occasionally engage on their own.