ok this is what is happening i just rebuilt the engine in my 72 f250 4x4. I took it for the 1 mile drive home and heard a pop in the front end when i hit a pot hole so i didnt think much of it. then i went to the grocery store and stopped at an intersection and the front end was making the poping noise again but kept poping for the 10 feet til i pulled over. i took it out of 4 hi and worked fine. i dont know what could be wrong i was thinkin that maybe it was the tc or ring pinion or spider gears. but i aint sure. im goin take it to the shop tommorrow and look at it closer and rotate the end axle to see if it pops and if it dont w/ hubs locked then im presuming that it is in the tc.. any help would be appreciated.

thank you

 

i don't understand what you did
"then i went to the grocery store and stopped at an intersection and the front end was making the poping noise again but kept poping for the 10 feet til i pulled over. "
did it make the noise when you were stopped? were you turning at all? are you sure that both hubs were completly engaged. does the "popping" sound real loud and bad or is it just a lite pop. do the front wheels (wheel) drag or catch as you try to drive. can you feel abything in the steering. is anything touching the front drive shaft. did you have the front shaft off? how are the splines. lift the rear end up and support it with stands. block the front wheels both sides forward and back.(leave the front wheels on the ground or lift the front end just slightly so that there is still some weight on the front tires. be careful and have a buddy help outside the truck to monitor what is going on. don't do this alone, to dangerous. engage the tcase but not the hubs and drive, anynoise if yes the its the tcase or the drive shaft. now ingage the hubs and slowly see if the front wheels try to pull up the blocks and off the stands. (be careful it won't take alot of power to check the driveline. you should be able to narrow the problem this way. try what you said first...

 

Just curious, but why did you have it in 4hi and the hubs locked in on pavement? Torque windup from that can take out all kinds of things.
Anyway, unlocking the front hubs and taking it out of 4wd stopped the noise, right?
Put the truck in 2wd, lock in the hubs and drive. If it makes the popping noise, you busted something in the front axle or differential, or one of the u-joints on the front driveshaft.
Put the truck in 4wd but have the hubs unlocked. If it makes the popping noise then, you either have a problem inside the transfercase (Didn't the '72 4x4 have a gear driven xfercase?) or in one of the front driveshaft u-joints.
The front driveshaft u-joints can be inspected or you can slowly move the vehicle and look underneath for any wobble in the driveshaft and see if you can rule those out.

 

the reason i had the truck in 4 hi was because the roads were very slick in alaska yesterday and i have a lot of torque in my engine now so i figured it was the best thing to do with ice and slick snow. but besides that. the problem was after i had pulled the hubs off was that the passenger side hub was poping in and out because the grease was too cold for it to stay fully locked so it was 3/4 locked and kept popin in and out. but thanks for the reply

in case you were curious the engine has 445 hp and 525 lb/ft torque

 

good find and easy fix, thats cool. your lucky that you didn't do any serious damage to the hub.

 

Slick roads - I totally understand now.

What engine is it? 429? Nice power and torque. Wish my Bronco had that kind of power, but that costs money - one thing I have no extra of.

 

the engine is a 360 fe