I checked again for vac leaks and couldn't find any. I put a vac gauge on the red vac hose coming down from the transfer case before it entered the cad. The reading on the gauge was around 17 in HG vac. As soon as I shut off truck I did loose all vacuum, probably normally to loose vac but wasn't sure if there was a check valve that should hold vac. I thought I read somewhere there should be 25 in HG but can't find it at the moment. While sitting at idle the vac is good but when under acceleration I am afraid that is when I loose vac. Could the vacuum switch on top of transfer case be bad.

Also applied vac to the cad and the needle never moved on my vac pump so I assume the diaphragm is not leaking. I haven't removed it yet as I have been afraid of breaking one of the bolts on the cad cover. But may spray it good with pb blaster and take my chances.

Also might take Wh1t3NuKle advise and remove front drive shaft. Never done that and can't seem to find much information for 2nd gen Ram on how to do it.

 

I hooked up the gauge to the red vac line again and drove around and watched the gauge. It did drop down to 5 to 12 in Vac while it made the grinding noise, but when it was quiet the gauge stayed around 17. I thought I might be on to something but then remembered the vac wasn't even hooked up to the cad. So I am now thinking the problem must lie within the transfer case.

Does anyone have any experience with changing a transfer case or know of a good write up?

 

With no vac to the cad the collar will or might just flop side to side and still cause a grind sound.

I don't think there is a diy here but there is the fsm and that covers it very well, I have had my xcase four or five times this past month, what would you like to know?

Tools needed

15mm sockets deep and shallow
5/8ths socket
10mm socket 1/4" drive
14mm and 9/16ths open/box end wrench
Floor jack or bottle jack

For me I find the four front drive-shaft bolts at the xcase to be the biggest pita of the whole job, undo the front ds at the pinion first, then rotate the ds until a bolt is at the top then remove that bolt, keep doing this until all four bolts are out. a long extension is needed to make this ezer and a swivel short 5/8ths socket.

The next pita nut is on the pass side top of the xcase trany, I cut a wrench in half to get to it.

 

I took the cad apart and verified that the fork would move both directions under vac on each port. Also the pads on the fork look good.

I don't remember where I read this but someone said you can lock the collar by sliding the collar so both axles are connected, then put the fork on the right side of the collar which prevents the collar from disconnecting the axle or moving. I tried this, it worked great for a few blocks but then the grinding started again, and the wheels binned bad like it was in 4wd on drive pavement, Not good. So I am really thinking something in the transfer case keeps trying to put it in 4wd while driving in 2wd.

 

Block the wheels, put the trans in neutral, drop the rear driveshaft, and pull the tailhousing off the t-case. The shaft goes thru a bearing, and immediately on the back side of the bearing, there should be a snap ring that holds things in place. Make sure that little feller is there. If it isn't, grenaded t-case is in your future. The transfer case saver was made for just such an occasion.

 

HeyYou,
I have come to the conclusion that it is probably a bad transfer case. I am going to pull the transfer case out today, but before pulling it completely out, I will check that snap ring.

I have found a couple of good write ups on this site to help me, wish me luck. If I run into any problems I will start a new thread.

Thanks to everyone who has helped so far.

 

Before you pull the rear ds put a pail under it where it comes out of the xcase, it will or should leak a little oil.

 

Draining it really wouldn't hurt..... that way you have a controlled mess.

 

the rear fluid may not have the proper limited slip additive in it, mine does the same thing and once I changed the fluid and added the additive it stopped grinding

 

I thought I would give an update. I finally replaced the transfer case with help from everyone on this forum. It wasn't the easiest thing I ever did but it is done and my truck lives again.

I got the transfer case from a salvage yard, and I have been driving it for over a week now. I did notice one time when accelerating I could feel a vibrating noise coming from around the transfer case. I let up on gas and it went away. It is no where near the loud grinding noise that I had before, and it hasn't done it sense. But still something I need to watch out for.

After having my original transfer case out, I found that it did indeed have a broken snap ring. I should of checked this first, as this might have been the only thing wrong, I know now not to assume anything without checking first (live and learn). Could a bent or out of balance drive shaft cause the snap ring to break? Or perhaps a bad u-joint.

For now I am just going to enjoy the truck again.
Thanks again for everyone's help