On my way home today I had to use the 4x4 for a bit. After driving for a while I noticed the roads I was on weren't as bad so I put it back into 2wd and it stayed in 4wd for a couple of miles then when it did disengage it made a nasty(and kind of loud) thump when it switched back to 2wd. Any ideas what could be causing this? I also noticed the t-case sounded a little louder than usual... kind of a high pitched whine. Any thoughts/ideas would be helpful.

Thanks in advance...

 

You are switching when stopped correct? The manual says 5mph or lower but you really should be at a stop.

 

yea switching in gear would do it.

 

Wait, you only have to stop if you are switching from 4lo to 2wd, not from 4hi to 2wd. Or does it differ from different years or transfer cases?

 

I thought the truck was shift on the fly meaning you can shift in and out of 4hi any time. I guess I need to read the manual again to make sure. I do know that you have to be under 5mph to shift in/out of 4lo but I was fairly sure you could shift at any speed to 4hi. The thump when it disengaged made me very uneasy. It has done this before but never quite that violently. Any thoughts on the whining sound? Could the t-case just be low on fluid?

 

Your supposed to be able to switch to 4hi up to 55mph, and we always have done that without problem. Maybe virused was thinking of 4lo?

 

That's what I thought. I tried it again today but this time I was stopped and it went in and out of 4hi with no issues...
I'm stumped as to why it did that the other day. I'm fairly sure I was going under 55 when it made the noise but I could be wrong. I was in a bit of a hurry at the time. Is it possible that the actuater for the front diff was sticking?

 

are your tires all the same exact size...

 

Haha funny you ask that... They are now...lol. I had a spare on for a while that is supposed to be the same size (at least that's what it says on the sidewall) but when I compared it to the others it was actually a little smaller/narrower. The spare is one of the original Goodyears and the rest are Kendas. I had a minor leak in the front tire but I plugged it and put it back on the truck just yesterday. After that I tried the 4wd and had no noise and it went in/out of 4hi just fine. Hopefully that was the problem...good call imnothot02.

 

ummmm,, yeah. you should always have the same size tire on all 4 if you have wheel drive. your lucky you didnt break anything.