Recently went mudding, got stuck because 4wd stopped working. Got it home, cursed a little.




anybody have an idea what's wrong?
Axles move freely on both sides of diff, I can throw the axle back into the slip joint by hand and it just falls out again when I turn the front driveshaft.

It's almost like the axle tube is too short? I cannot move the stub axle in or out of the diff so I don't think the c-clip broke.

I just had the truck aligned last week and they had to use 2 3/4" corrective camber shims, would that have an effect?


I was in the junkyard yesterday and all the 4x4 trucks I found were 88+ and the ttb mounted differently than mine, the brackets mounted to the front facing part of the engine cradle while mine mounts to the side, is that something that came with my rancho lift?

Truck has a 4" rancho lift and 35's, I just replaced all the steering arms with the broncograveyard.com kit and had the truck aligned. Hubs seem to work as in free I can rotate all the axles and driveshaft freely with no noises, lock them into place and they become tight, can't spin the driveshafts.

I'm going back to the junkyard tomorrow and short of pulling another ttb out of a truck and taking both apart to compare, I've got no idea what's wrong here.

 

Its possible the 2.75 deg bushing moved the outer shaft too far away, but in 20+ years of doing alignments I have never seen that happen. What did the camber end up at? I see the splines are dry, they should be greased so maybe the splines are worn badly making things worse

 

Do you have the wrong lift kit for your truck?

You do realize that F150 and F250 lift kits are different no? While the TTB looks the same between the two, they aren't. The arms are longer on the F250 TTB and the drop brackets are different.

Just a thought.....

 

I have forgotten, but what holds the axle from moving out toward the wheel? I think it has a clip on the end of the axle behind the 4wd hub, and the hub has large wire clip on the OD to hold it in position. I am not sure how it holds it all in there though.

I see you have the same pest that my truck had when I first bought it. They are called "grease worms". They get in the slip yokes, wheel bearings, u-joints, etc. and eat all the grease.

 

camber ended up at 0* on both sides after the alignment, lift was on the truck when I got it so what you see is what I know about it?

And yeah I noticed the lack of grease also, but the splines slide in and out smoothly and engage without play, something is just off so much that it's not able to hold in place. It looks like I'm missing some clamps that hold the dust boot on but other than that I couldn't find anything missing comparing it to TTB in the jy 2 days ago. Hopefully I have better luck today as I'm going to a couple of larger yards and will find an earlier 4x4 like mine.

 

so you can put the splines back together without disassembly? Check to make sure the other end of the right TB hasnt moved (frame bent, bolt missing) Thats a big camber bushing, but I still cant imagine it pulling the splines apart.

 

maybe the pivot bushings are shot. Reason i say this is because the diff is in one half and ur coming out the other. U should not be able to put the shaft back together without removing the spindle

 

I think that's probably it, I'm going to take everything apart tomorrow and see what's up, I couldn't find anything else different from other TTB's in the junkyard today, and I found about 3 `86's.

 

Does the whole housing move on that side or just the intermediate shaft? Either way you need to get the front in the air and find if there's any slop in the mounting for that side of the axle housing. Make note of any slop then disassemble the hub and see if you find anything amiss in there. It's all very straightforward, just gotta pull it apart and find what's broke.

Most common failure I had with a Dana 44 TTB in my old stepside truck was stripping splines on the intermediate shaft. I always had a spare intermediate/outer with me for when it broke. Splines on the inner were always good enough to get me out of the woods, then replaced that once home and inspected splines on the new intermediate to ensure no damage.

 

I think I found the issue, p/o's repair of the steering box area didn't penetrate.

anybody have any bright ideas? Looks like it's spread enough to where the front axles just aren't long enough to stay engaged and nothing up there actually broke.

I'm hoping to have the motor out and front clip taken apart next weekend, are there any specs anywhere I can go by so I know what to square up the front rails to?

 

I plan to grind off all of the p/o's repair and drill the ends of the cracks, then square up, tack 1" in a couple spots, then grind down the welds, then cover with diamond shaped 3/16" plate, any suggestions on the best way to beef up the steering box mounting area? I was thinking of putting 3/16" plate on the inside rail where it mounts, and 3/16" plate on the outside rail where the bolts go through, then use longer grade 8 bolts, lock washers, and locknuts.

Should I add in bracing? Where?

 

Are you committed to saving this frame? What does the frame and spring perches look like in rear as far as rust through? If you repair it, you will have to deal with this again if you ever sell the truck, unless you don't say anything when/if you sell it. What about another frame/truck? I can't believe the alignment guy didn't see this.

If you wanted to brace it, I guess the first brace would be to add a piece of angle from one frame rail to the other, since that will help hold the ttb together and keep it from spreading apart. Are you running a front bumper? I found out it adds a lot of strength to the frame when I had to take mine off to add a snowplow. I ended up adding angle iron from one rail to the other to give the strength back I lost by taking the bumper off.

 

I would just replace the frame if I were you.

That doesn't look safe and I doubt would be worth the time to try and fix.

 

the truck has a bumper and a bull bar up front.

the frame and spring perches look fine, this is a california truck, it's just dirty/muddy but no rust areas anywhere other than minor surface brownness that comes off with a wire brush.

if I could locate another frame I have no problem doing that, just be a bitch to pick one up from a junkyard and get it home.

I agree that's a much safer sounding solution, I'll have to make some calls and see what PYP sells them for. Be a long day of thrashing to tear a truck down to the frame at a JY though, hahhaa

 

You would be surprised how quick those guys can get to a frame with a torch and a frontend loader.

Any upgrades you might be thinking about could go along with this swap. Why not slip a f250 frame under your body? You would have to get new wheels/tires, and get the front ttb and the rearend with it, but it would be something to think about.