Hey All!
Of course I have a question but just letting you all know I was home for R&R in the Colorado area and had a blast with my '90 B2 in the snow! The look on my son's face was priceless!
OK...my question is about a clicking noise in the front end (IFS) after playing on the trails up in the mountains. I noticed it when I was on my way down. Nothing seemed wrong with steering or anything associated with the 4wd. When I got down off the mountain and took my B2 out of 4wd the clicking went away. I got under the truck and didn't notice anything obvious wrong and again didn't notice or feel anything wrong on the way to the house. I even did the oversteer test in both directions and did not feel anything wrong.
Any comments or suggestions? Unfortunately I didn't have the time to really check things out before I had to come back accross the pond. Also, any suggestions on rebuilding or swapping a reman engine in my B2 would be greatly appreciated! I plan on doing that when I get back later this year. I want to stay with the 2.9 unless your comments/experience tell me otherwise. I don't want to have to replace my whole drivetrain because of a bigger engine and I am taking fuel prices in mind too. Also, any comments on switching to a manual trans from an A4LD or simply moving my colum shifter to the floor.
Sorry for all the questions but I don't get to get on the internet that much over here so I got to cram all I can with the time I got!!!

Thanks in advance!

Also, the 33x12.50x15 Mud tread tires I got from treadwright.com were AWESOME in the snow! I went everywhere I wanted!

 

Auto or manual hubs? with those big meats you could have broken one.

 

First jusr let me say Thank you for being over there
so can so this kind of stuff over here.
I have to agree with 5.0b2 in that it would allow for
a better diagnosis.
Dave

 

It is most likely the right hand outer UJ. It is exposed to the weather and salt and goes bad before all the others. It is easy to replace once the spindle is off. What happens is the rubber seal/grease goes on a cap and then the needle bearings rust out, which causes the tick. Your hubs are probably fine.

When pressing these UJs out, put a socket between the ears so you do not bend them if the UJ is stuck.

 

I have Warn Manual Hubs. I put those in way back in 2004 'cause I broke the auto ones and almost had the left front tire fall off! I will check the U-joints when I get back. I appreciate the feedback! Any thoughts on the manual trans, engine swao/rebuild or moving the shifter to the floor?
Thanks!

 

Switching the column shifter to the floor isn't worth doing, imo.

Doing a swap to a manual is easy as plug and play. Just rob all the manual stuff from a donor including the flywheel. But, a flywheel is so cheap new, it isn't usually worth grabbing. Unless you go the 4.0 flywheel/clutch/starter for a bit more beef, then teh flywheel and starter are worth having. I would grab the manual's CPU too.