i believe its the trans that howls in 4wd high
 

first heard it a few weeks ago after the wind storm hit us here in nj, my girlfriends grandmother has her fifty foot pine tree rip out of the ground in her front yard. since it was only thirty feet from the street i said hell ill drag this sucker to the road and cut it up there instead of dragging everything by hand. I figured 4wd high was good (i have no idea how heavy a pine tree this sized weighs) and i hooked the tow strap to the tree trunk and started to pull. first 4wd high was struggling but the real problem was this high pitch howling i was hearing, went about ten feet and the noise started to bother me, soi stopped and put the truck in 4low the noise stopped and the truck drug the tree with zero effort. So i didnt think much more of it till today, got a little dirty trying to take the dog swimming and needed 4wd, as soon as i started to hit the skinny pedal and the motor made the tires turn that dam howl came back! rocked the truck a few times and ever time the motor lugged from trying to spin all three tire the same howl came back. switched to 4low to get out and the noise went away?????? went back to 4high and sure enough the howl was back? regardless i got out but now i have this howl when using 4high and im really working the truck hard in 4high. Im thinking torque converter is slipping making the sound and4low multiplies the power enough to make it go away from the ease it now has to spin the tires? im gonna go tomorrow and climb a few hills and see if i can get the howl to start again in 4high

Your transmission doesn't care what the transfer case is doing, it just sends power as requested to the output shaft. The only thing that's different in 4WD is in the transfer case and front drivetrain. That's where I would start.

but why would it howl in 4high then go away in 4low? its making me think the tq is slipping from the stress in high and then in low because of the torque multiplication from the t-case the tq isnt under as much stress and the howl stops?

what can i check? my t-case i drained fluid back in September again, ill check today and make sure its full still. my front drive shaft is fine checked that last night washing the mud off the undercarriage. only thing with the front end is one of my "updated" ford dust seals at the axle tube ripped in half again, other than that everything is either replaced or in perfect condition

So what happens in 2 wd? If howls isn't present then, sounds like it isn't a tranny issue as Tom suggests.
Maybe some stress under heavy load on transfer case high gearing that maybe doesn't interfere in low? Not sure that gear oil would help to solve yet.
I guess always better to start in low range when not sure of load weight.
Easy for me to say now.

To test this out, put the truck in drive, hold the brake pedal to the floor, and apply power. You can apply 100% power to the transmission in 2WD to see if the problem occurs. Don't do it for too long or you'll overheat the transmission.

just finished detailing the truck from my mud romp yesterday, ill go do what you suggested Tom and post back

truck wouldnt pull the tree in 2wd, tires just spun. so as soon as i engaged 4high and eased into the throttle you could hear the howl, 4low and the noise went away

Your transfer case is the issue here, if it's only howling in 4 hi your transfer case is the culprit, you most likely over stressed the gears, any way has this howling ever happened before?

What type of truck is this? Year, make and model? Manual transfer case or auto? Please help us help you :)

all info is in my sig, and its an auto tcase. No never did anything abusive to the truck and the other day pulling the tree is the first time the truck ever made noise

Yes, your torque converter is slipping. If you put a new one in it will slip, too. That's how a torque converter works, by slipping. It is working as designed.

Are you certain the front output shaft is engaged in 4H?

the shift pattern is 4L-N-2-4H

If the linkage (I'm assuming floor shift here) is set too far one way, the transfer case may be between gears just enough to slip the dog-teeth on the collar.

If it's electric, you should rethink your life choices. :-innocent

I mean slipping as in its going bad like excessive slipping

I have a electric shift tcase, and it works flawlessly! Hubs not so much that's why I have Warn premiums on the truck now

when I posted originally I was on my phone (which does not display sigs)

2004 F350 ext cab short bed 5.4 4r100 esof system 133k over maintained miles

So how did that go?

I'm hooking up my vacuum gauge and curl pressure gauge right now, give me five minutes. Lol

ok as soon as i held the brake and applied the skinny pedal in 2wd the squeal/howl is back. Im 100% positive its inside the trans, heres the video. you can clearly hear it

View My Video

it does it in reverse/all forward gears in 2wd/4wd high BUT not in 2low or 4low in any gear?

you have a 2wd low?

Yes, since I threw the Auto/lock hubs away after the Second set was replaced by the dealer under warranty I bought a set of warn premium hubs so I can turn the switch to four low and leave the hubs in free mode and that gives me two low

So anybody have any advice on the Howling in the video I posted and what it is and what I can do to fix it

Could be clutches slipping. Goes away in low because the torque requirement is reduced.

how many miles on the transmission?

It's easy to tell if a clutch is slipping. If it is the trans fluid will be brown or black.

Almost 135k and I've been having a lot of issues with the transmission over the past couple of years

And I'll check the fluid in the trans tomorrow

drained some fluid from the transmission and there was nothing in the bottom. Also checked the tcase and (it might have been hot) but almost half a quart id say came out of the fill plug?

Didn't answer the question. Was it brown? Red? Green?

sorry red coming out, looked clean. my pan is black so cant tell after that

Your seal is leaking between the trans and transfer case which is overfilling the T-case. I had the same thing happen on my F-150. I just checked the T-case fluid once a month and drained out the overflow. According to the trans shop I use it is a fairly common problem and seams to happen when the trans gets to warm. On a side note make sure to watch the Trans fluid so it doesn't get to low. My F-150 made a high pitched squeal when I was driving if the T-case was overfilled....

I just replaced that seal last September when I had the trans out to get the front pump seals replaced so it didn't leak into the tcase... man whatever I do to stop a problem is giving me the problem I tried to stop.

You should have been a poet Bro...:-drink

That's why it's a bad idea to replace parts that haven't failed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve

Did some work on the 4R70W in my old Lincoln yesterday to find the pan had never been dropped before, which also makes it the factory transmission. That 18-year-old thing doesn't leak a drop and works great now that the harness has been replaced. No reason to fix what isn't broken. :-wink

Checked fluid level in trans it's right at the full line. I'm guessing it's just slowing eating itself?

Not sure you would notice the half quart that went into the T-case on the trans dipstick. Did the squeak go away when you drained out the extra fluid??

Chris no it didn't, figured after I read ur post about your issue I would try it again today. I even put the trans in 1 and then 2 and it does it in ever gear range still

Wednesday i picked up 3,000lbs of cement to do my new walkway for my house. By the time I got home I didn't feel like taking them out so I left them in till this morning when I started the walkway, truck handled the load fine all week BUT when I went to dinner tonight with the old lady whenever I started after a stop I could hear the squeal/groan noise I was hearing when trying to pull something heavy in 4wd High. So I'm certain it's the trans and I'm thinking torque converter??? The reverse delay is getting worse at times especially while doing a k turn where the trans goes from reverse to drive a few times in a short amount of time. I drained some fluid out when I got home and as usual it's nice and clean with no smell, checked fluid level and again it's right where it should be and no burnt smells or debrees in it. So is it safe to say either the TQ converter or the 1st/reverse clutches are just gone?

The trans stopped squealing when leaving from a dead stop but I dropped the pan again on Friday before I went to the beach for the holiday. Again like ever other time the magnet is clean I can't see any metal frags in the pan either. Fluid was red not burnt smelling either... So today I stopped at my local Ford dealer and talked to a buddy who's the parts guy, Ford rebuilt trans with torque converter and a 6.0 26 row cooler with three year unlimited mike warranty is $2400.00. So now it's do I go bone stock trans BUT. Add another transgo HD shift calibration kit OR spend another thousand and get a James wood trans or a BTS trans????

This seems like an easy thing to me. Wait until it fails then replace it with the stock transmission.

Shift calibration kit?

It's like the hokey pokey!

you put your left foot in, your right hand shakes about
you put your right hand in, and you ease the clutch back out...


unless you're missing a synchronizer... then it's more like playing drums.

Bass, tenor, bass, bass, snare, bass, snare, bass, bass, cymbal!

You don't like automatics. Got it. What's your point here?