2001 durango slt AWD when backing up and turning left the front left tire locks up as if hitting the brakes.
brought to mechanic he does not find any brake issues and suggests bringing to dealer, maybe transfer case. any ideas?

 

Check to see if it is in 4wd.My did it. my little girl was playing with stuff in the car one day.the car did what you posted. it was in 4wd. put back in 2wd all fixed.good luck.

 

BD:

If you reread JCS post you will see that his D is AWD which means the 4wd can not be turned off.

JCS: I am sure you have checked your dash mounted switch to make sure it is in the AWD slot.

Try this: It will take a bit of work, but will tell you whether your issue is with the front axle or T case. Remove the front driveshaft, and then you will have to put your T case switch in4high. If you do this and the wheel still locks, you issueis notT case related. If the problem goes away, the T case is suspect.

How many miles on your D??? I am thinking you might have a wheel bearing on the way out.

Don

 

Thanks so much for the input, I checked the switch and it had been moved from awd to 4wd. I moved it back to awd and the problem is gone. My wife had usedmy D the day before for the first time in a while and must of switched it by mistake. Thanks again

Jim

 

Just remember, when you have your Durango in locked 4wd mode, the front axle and rear axles will be spinning the same RPM's So when you are making a turn, whether forward or backward, the inner tire must spin the same as the outter tire. This is where axle binding comes to play and thus why you are not supposed to be driving in 4WD mode on dry surfaces.

 

I was wondering about the 4wd system in our D's. I know the front and rear drive shafts become locked, but do both diff's lock up as well so that each wheel turns at the same rate, both front and back axles?

Im just curious

 

Yes, in all vehicles with 4WD, all 4 wheels will be spinning the same.

Now 4WD and AWD aren't the same. The basic operations and functionality for both are the same but how they behave on different surfaces are completely different. In AWD mode, both front and rear axles are engaged but the wheels are not locked from the axle. This gives AWD the ability to drive ondry surfaces as eachwheel can turn a different rotational speed (limited slip) from its counterpart wheel on the same axle. The AWD vehicle can make turns without wheel binding and will behave like it was in 2WD mode.

 

Ken even though there is axle bind on 4wd it doesn't lock all 4 wheels unless you have a locker. With limited slip it attempts to get power to the wheel (front or back) that has the best traction. With an open diff if you get a tire up off of the ground or on a patch of ice it will spin and get you nowhere.

 

My neighbor has a 2004 Dodge Durango 5.7L Hemi AWD with 248K miles and has just started experiencing the problems I have seen others experience with what appears to be the Transfer Case shifting into 4WD or 4LO and the wheels locking up when turning. I helped him replace the the Transfer Case motor, but the problem still persists and he does have the dash light showing to Service 4WD. Short of finding and replacing the transfer case, which I am not sure is going to resolve his issue, is there an easy way to make sure it is in AWD and disconnect the switch?

 

I was able to get the Transfer Case shaft repositioned to about the 7 o'clock position for AWD. (6 o'clock was neutral, 5 was 4wd, 4 was 4wd lo, for the wide key position on shaft)
Re-positioned motor to line up with shaft position and remounted motor without reconnecting power connector to it. Should help shaft stay in AWD position. (Don't use other positions anyway)