Well I finally got my 98 Ram 4X4 on the road in January, after doing a whack of work. It ran great until recently.

1998 1500, 5.2 liter gas engine, 4X4 automatic tranny, long box, standard cab.

The first sign of trouble was a couple of weeks ago. In 4X4 mode there would be a growling/rumbling noise coming from the front end (dry or Slippery roads) Sometimes it would go away if I stoped and went in Rev then FWD. But because of the lousy winter I just left it in 2WD and there was no grief. (would look at when temp got above -25)

On Tuesday I was driving 80Km/hr (~40mph) in 2 wheel drive on dry pavement. There was a loud rumbling noise like driving on a rumble strip. Then Kapow! I IMMEDIATELY pulled over and stopped. I got out and looked and the front drive shaft had ripped off part of the T-case housing.

Front end was not seized, Lots of fluid in T-case (now on road). Not sure what happened. I have replaced the Tcase with a used one. When I went to reinstal the fron axle I discovered there was a break between the 2 front universal joint. casual look it seems ok but it binds and grinds around the universals and evidence of breakage there.

Now I inspected the transfer case and the snap ring was ok.

So here is my question: did the front axle destroy the transfer case. OR did the exploding T-case damage the front axle?

If anyone wants pics let me know and I will post. It was an impressive
failure!

Just awaiting a replacement front drive shaft so driving in 2Wheel drive at the moment

 

Definitely post pictures!

 

Was the snap ring still there in the old case?

 

Yes the snap ring was in place and in good condition! But I will be installing a T-Case saver when it arrives on the new transfer case

I will post the pics from my camera this evening when I get home!

 

Check the fluid in the front diff.....

 

Fluid in Front drive shaft was fine. Replaced Front pinion seal and fluid in January. Now that the drive shaft is off I can hear how quiet it runs now. So the answer seems to be front axel survived. I guess there had been noise before after all. I had thought it was just road noise and winter tires!

This is my 1st 4X4 ($x$). I am learning a lot!

 

4wd systems on these trucks is stupid, kinda glad mine is only 2wd.....

 

Sounds to me like you had a bad u joint on the front end of the front driveshaft that finally seized and caused the break of the attachment point on the front axle and ripped off the front of the transfer case.

I had a bad u joint on my dakota's front driveshaft that made a growling noise similar to what you described. I replaced it but didn't get one of the bearing caps on all the way and it popped off on the highway, made one hell of a noise. Ended up taking off the front driveshaft to prevent further damage and put on a new cap that was pressed in properly, no issues since.

 

I tend to agree with you!

There is no noticable play in the u-joints but 1 of the joints in the cardan joint has extremely limited movement. That plus any other issues on the shaft would have caused a lot of stress on the transfer case.

I guess I am freaked out because I have never had this kind of sudden and spectacular failure before.

 

I once lost a 727 transmission due to a poorly installed front U-joint in my driveshaft. When one of the U-joint bearing caps fell out due to the retaining clip not being fully seated, it caused the transmission output shaft to bend and cracked the transmission case in multiple places. Moral of the story is to do periodic inspections of these parts to ensure they are in good working order.