Broken axles... again.
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Joined: Aug 2008
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If your ball joints are bad they will also contribute to your problem. They keep the front wheels in the proper geometric relationship. If they are bad the wheels will tend to do their own thing and put un-needed strain on your u-joints too. Since you blew a new set of axles don't jerk around doing a schlock job by not replacing them along with the axles and u-joints.
They will be replaced at the same time.
Im laid off right now, which is why I dont have the money to put into it right now, but I get called back feb 4th so it will be up and running then.
Im not driving the truck much, right now its only my tow vehicle for the weekends.. I shouldn't drive it at all... I know but im stubborn.
Napa wants about 200 bucks for 4 of their top quality ball joints. Ive herd moog joints are the best, correct?
Im going to google where to get some, if anyone knows a cheep place to get them post it up please
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Joined: Jul 2006
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From: Gainesville, Ga.
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Axle wrap is one cause of wheel hop. It happens on leaf spring suspensions... When the power is transfered to the tires, it bends the leaf springs (wrap) as the entire axle rocks up in the rear. When the spring tries to straighen back out... you hop. Usually is more extreme with more throttle, and most noticable from a dead stop. You can combat this with traction or ladder bars. You can also link the rear suspension if you wanted to go a more extreme route.
For the front... I would imagine this is due to the rapid gaining/losing traction. You have quite a bit of surface contact on your front tire in the snow. You have contact further around your tire, as well as on the sides. As you push the gas, it has grip but will eventually slip (if you don't start going forward). It will eventually regain traction and start to hop.
Axle hop is bad because of repeated shock loads to your drivetrain... and eventually something breaks.
In 4-lo, it doesn't feel as bad because the driveline isn't spinning as fast (compared to the engine speed in 4hi).
Depending on what tires you have... you could air your tires down to try an get more traction so that the tires don't get into the grip/slip/hop routine.
Momentum is you friend in snow... You should have a cleared path behind you where you just drove. Try backing up far enough to get enough momentum to keep moving when you hit the snow "drift" where you stopped.
Cartman