We had a big snow storm here Friday getting about 10 inches of snow. I had to use the 4 wheel drive to get to work and I noticed that it is making a load squealing noise when it's engaged. Could this be a u-joint going bad in the front drive shaft? I doesn't clunk when I put it into gear like you usually hear with a bad u-joint. It just squeals when I'm moving in 4 wheel drive..

 

I just had this same problem! First thing, don't start saying u-joints in the front drive shaft around here because people get confused.

Here's the low down...

I'm assuming that you have done some preliminary trouble shooting and realize that the sound is only in 4WD. The front axle cross joints in these trucks are always spinning. Thus, if there is no squeak in 2WD, it's not the cross joints.

The next thing to check is the pinion seal. This should be pretty obvious since it will be damp with fluid.

Next thing might be the transfer case, but I think you would notice something other than a squeak (more grinding and other harsh sounds). But bear in mind that we haven't ruled out the Xfer case.

Okay, now the drive shaft. There is ONE universal up in the front. It's easy to grab the shaft and spin it back and forth to see if that u joint is bad.

Now the part that everyone on here except for Desertdawg was confused about. The joint by the transfer case is a CV joiny composed of two universals and the CV components. There is a little hollow ball/roller between the two u joints. On my truck, that was the part that went bad. A new shaft is about $300 to $350. Since there isn't a lot for the shaft to have wear out other than this CV joint and the front universal, I just had my shaft rebuilt for $200.

So don't let anyone tell you that there are just two universals on the front driveshaft. That's what I assumed because that's how it is on many other vehicles. These trucks are different. Let me know what you find out.

 

I looked at it toady and all three u-joints look good. The two in the CV joint and the on at the pinion of the front axle. But that doesn't mean that they aren't dry. I got my markers out and colored up a picture for us to look at to make sure we're on the same page.

The part in blue is that part that went bad on your truck right? That joint can be rebuilt as long as the damage is contained to the u-joints. Right?

[IMG]local://upfiles/23855/6FEF45DBAD4040749F3261A7BA8C43A8.jpg[/IMG]

 

BTW what do you do far a living. That picture in your sig looks like a lot of job sites I work at.

 

Yea, that's the CV joint. There is a little ball in between the two u joints on the front shaft that wore out on my truck. The u joints were fine. The mechanic lubed everything and said that the squeak went away, but didn't know for how long. So I just had the CV joint rebuilt.

I'm a junior in college going into civil engineering. That picture is from one of my projects last summer.