Hey guys,

Yesterday it started snowing here a little bit so I decided I should check out my 4wd ('94 Ranger, Factory manual hubs and T-case).

Last year toward the end of the winter season, when the truck was in 4WD it would make noise in the front end-sometimes. It wasn't clunking or ginding, more like a loud humming. Then the front drivetrain started to "pop" when ever it was going down a steep hill. It would do this rhymically, say every 500 feet or so. Felt like it was the front right tire.

So yesterday after work I locked in the front hubs ONLY, Not the T-case. It felt like something was binding. There was NO noise, but both straight line driving and turning made the front end feel like the tires were egg-shaped. I only drove a few hundred feet like this and then unlocked the hubs.

Over the summer I checked the U-joints on the front axle shafts with a pry bar and they seemed tight. My mechanic also checked them out during inspection and he thought they were fine. The wheel bearings also seemed fine. Could these still be suspect?

Does the front d-shaft turn with the hubs locked in and the t-case in 2WD? I thought that I should check the joints here too.

Anything else to check? This is my first TTB setup. All my other 4WD were solid axle.

Thanks.

 

Yes your U-joints are tight.. so tight they are binding, and that's because there is no grease in them. If these are original they have most likely completely dried out and so need to be replaced, use greasable joints when you do. This is a very common problem on the TTB trucks because the 4wd system gets such little use most of the time.

 

Thanks Conanski. That is what I was thinking, that the joints were too tight. They probably are orginal, everything else is on the truck, lol.

 

How would I check to see if the inner U-joint on the passenger axleshaft is bad? The one that the front diff needs to be pulled for.

 

It's easier to chech them on a lift where you can wiggle the axle shafts by hand. It can even be started and the 4wd engaged on the lift to check them. I'id say it should be about time for new ones since it's a 94.