Had crunchin sounds from front pass. side.replaced CVJ shaft and hub bearing/assembly noise gone but tire turns hard by hand drivers side turns freely .looked on line and guy had same thing going on said maybe 4x4 vacume actuator might be bad and truck stuck in four wheel .does this sound right? Anybody have experience on this? I have manual trans and gear box so I don't understand why the actuator is even there .Any ideas aprisiated . Thanks.

 

trucks after 2004 have the actuator at the wheel end and that can be problem. You actuator is at the center differential and should effect left and right sides both, not one. I would jack up the wheel, remove tire and rim, take off brake caliper and turn the disc. If its still tight, loosen the axle nut and push the shaft inward 1/2 inch. Is it bound up ? Make sure the shaft is right length and not fully compressed and binding the CV joint....... I switched axle halfs on an Explorer once and had that. One side is 1 inch longer than the other.

 

I laid shafts side by side and I think they were the same .Noticed rebuilt shafts were 1/8" longer than the new ones according to literature .bought new .try what you said in morning also read top thread ( read first ) lots of info there.let you know what I find THANKS:

 

your main goal is to figure out if the drag is due to the brake caliper, or binding in the axle shaft length.

 

First thing today jacked up and wheel spun freely!! Took a 1/2 mile ride last night and it must have alined itself.still got a lot of information from forums on troubleshooting 4x4 system THANKS a bunch out for now.