for sum reason my front end is makeing a new noise there is a slight grinding in 2 weel drive only we thought it was the beacause the axle seal was junked not suporting the outer shaft wich aparently was completly a dumb idea i took the diff cover off everything looks great i was wondering if any one else had this problem in 4 weel drive it dose not make the noise at all so i dont beleive it to be in the diferential i think it has sumthing to do with the cad unit / shift fork on the axle sory bought my wrighting i'm just a dumb redneck

 

dodgebeater, It's funny you say that because I have had the same problem after the axle seal went out on my 97. I ended up removing the front driveshaft and it fixed that noise but only to findout the tranny was making a noise to. I have yet to figure it out. I removed the covers from my 4ed shifter to shaw the top of the bell housing and it is comming from somewhere around there. I have noticed though it makes the noise more when I hit a bumb. If you figure out what is wrong with yours post back and help the rest of us out.

 

so far i have come to the the decision from trial and error that it has something to do with the cad unit so i am going to price out parts to redo it or order a 4x4 posi lock kit to eliminate it

 

I have this same problem....Has anyone found the answer?

 

If it's only happening while the truck is in 4wd, that would lead me to believe that someting is wrong in the transfer case [>:] That is of course if the front axle checks out as good.

97Ram, have you gone through and checked out your front axle like MAGICDSSMAN?

 

It is ONLY happening in 2WD. When you engage the 4wd it goes away....Any other thoughts.

 

Sounds like a vaccuum problem. If theres a leak somewhere its not disengaging the front axle all the way. It is most likly a CAD problem like stated above. Posi-Loc is the way to go

 

I know what your problem is my friend. Trust me on this one, It my sound weird but I would bet on this one. First, mark and remove the rear drivshaft,( yes the rear), and remove the 4 bolts to the tail extention on the case. Inside is your rear output shaft. At the end of the shaft, just outside the case, a heavy duty snap-ring should be in that groove keeping the rear output shaft from moving forward. The grinding is from the shaft rubbing against the inside of your case. Believe me I just went through that. The fix is a cake walk. New snap-ring. Good luck I hope this helps. huttbutt

 

hey huttbutt, this repply is regarding a message you posted way ago regarding the noise in the front axle which only happens in 2wd.

I have a home made posilock device which works, not perfectly, but works. The thing is that when I don't have the front axle engaged (4wd light on) it starts making a grinding noise which goes away when I half pull the t-case shift lever into 4hi with out going into it, it goes away for a while, then it comes back on, it will go away completely if I engage the front axle (4wd light on).

Will this be related to it also?