Other than this the ride is OK. Tires are good and have been balanced recently. This has done this for a while so its not tire related. When I lock hubs in ($ wheel drive is not engaged) This thing rides rough and makes a noise. Its so bad I cant stand to have them locked in on dry pavement. I have replaced all bushings, bearings and U-joints up front. I even jacked up the front and locked hubs in to see if the wheels were jumping from a bent axle but everything looks OK. My friend has this problem also on a older Ford $ wheel drive pickup. Any ideas?

 

Did you check the front driveshaft? Maybe a bad u joint, out of balance or bent.
Mark

 

Actually no I havent checked the driveshaft. I think I have checked everything but that. Thanks for reminding me.

 

The drive shaft won't make a difference if you are in two wheel drive and you are just locking the manual hubs. I suspect the hubs are beat and are producing the noise, since the truck doesn't make the noise when the hubs aren't engaged. With manual hubs you can isolated each side one at a time to see if it is just one hub causing the problem or both.

Good luck!

 

When you say the hubs are beat exactly what do you mean? What wears out in them and is it a expensive fix? I will try them one at a time and see what happens. Thanks for the advice.

 

With age, wear and tear, a lack of lubricant, dirt and crude, hubs do wear out or break. The Ford manual hubs are stronger than the auto's, but they can all fail if not taken care of. Warn makes very good hubs for around 180 bucks with the conversion kit. While pricey, they are one of the best out there on the market. There are other options out there, you will need to do some research to find what works for you. Good luck!

 

If the hubs are locked and the driveshaft is spinning it can definitely cause a vibration in 2WD. I don't agree with "broncII" in that respect. It is a rotating mass and therefore will produce very noticeable vibrations and noise when spinning. The slip yoke at the transfer case front output can develop "slop" over the years causing vibrations, so can the u-joints. Balance weights can fall off with age and rust, it could also be bent like mine was. At speeds above about 40mph mine was vibrating bad in 2WD with the hubs locked, it was only slightly bent and very hard to see. Check it to see that it is not loose or bent. Can you better describe the noise and possibly locate where it might be coming from? Don't start replacing parts if your not sure, it can get expensive. My advice on hubs is, if they are auto replace them even if they are good as they are unreliable and will fail when you need them. I replaced mine with the Warn's. To check the hubs, engage 4WD and lock them, then lift one front wheel and try to spin it. If the wheel does not spin the hubs are probably ok. If the wheel does spin is the front driveshaft spinning? If the front driveshaft is spinning in 4WD there is a problem with the transfer case. If not it looks like a hub is faulty. Watch the front axle shafts to see which hub is faulty.
Mark

 

One other thing you could do. Remove the front driveshaft and drive it to see if the problem goes away. This might be the easiest thing to do as the front shaft comes out easy. At least on my 89 it does.
Mark

 

mjb1962. I'm assuming Crazyfazy has put the BroncoII into 4wheel drive but didn't lock the hubs in and the noise is not there during this test. He mentioned they put the BroncoII on a lift and ran it with the 4x4 system engaged and didn't hear the noise. This position puts the front drive shaft at such an angle that most problems due to balance should show up. CrazyFazy, did you try the above before you moved on to the other tests? mjb1962 could be right if you did not. Give it a shot and see what happens...

Good luck!

 

Sometimes the roads are snow covered in spots so I will lock my hubs in just in case I need the 4 wheel drive. When I do this there is a noise from the front almost as if the tires are half flat. It will drive you crazy if driven for too long. The U-joints in the front are all new as are the ball joints and tie rods. Had alignment shop check for play before front end alignment and he said everything looked and felt great. The only test I have done is to jack up the front end and rear andlock the hubs and then give gas to see if anything looked funny or like something was loose. I do not know if it does it with the hubs locked in and the 4 wheel drive engaged because the only time I lock the 4 wheel drive in is when I am going pretty slow. The noise is hard to describe but it is also like you went from driving on a main road to driving on gravel, but rougher. There is also a little vibration in the wheel but its more like you can feel the roughness coming from up front. I will try some of these suggestions and hopefully will find the answer. Thanks for the help.

 

im sorry if u already went over this, but does it only make this noise when you are on concrete?? quack

 

Sorry about the delay, busy with other vehicles. LOL. No it actually does it when running on the blacktop. The vehicle is totally different to drive when the hubs are locked in to when they are not. I need to check some of these suggestions out, it has been cold and snowing here lately so I am hating the though of climbing under the bronco 2.

 

if it only happens on black top that means one thing
that means your 4wd is working the way its supposed to
it bad for your drivetrain to be drving on pavement becuz there is no place for the friction in the drivetrain to go, so just dont drive it on blacktop
quack

 

My 4-wheel drive is not engaged though. Only my hubs are locked in.

 

well (people correct me if im wrong) but if u have the hubs locked that means your front differentials are moving just like they would be if u had it in 4 wheel drive, but the difference is the transfer case isnt engaged