If it was a c-clip, wouldnt his axle shaft have slid out of the axle tube already? He said he drove 20+ miles home that night. Or is it possible that the axle splines are tight enough to hold the axle shaft in?

 

What if it is his transfer case, If for some reason it hadn't fully disengaged the 4wd my from a previous time (And didn't register the malfunction). Were you 4 wheeling it? It is possible the transfer case binded.

It would cause all his problems, Also would be fixed by shifting back into and out of 4wd again.

 

3 hours and $45 in gear oil later...not the c clips, it aint the rear end. everything looks clean back there.

i guess all that's left is the transfer case. I didnt have it in 4wd that day or the day before, so not sure why it would still be hung up, but i guess that seems the most likely now.

well, i know the axle isn't about to fall out on me, so i'll drive her till she breaks...

 

Rears are ok, thats good, hopefully the T-Case is ok as well and the truck just had a hiccup...

 

Keep us up to date on what you find out. Hopefully it will be a cheap and easy fix whatever it is.

 

Was the driveway at an angle? Was one of the front wheels dropped down? Could it possibly been a cv joint binding? If you change all the fluids in teh truck and find no excessive metal shavings it might have just been a one time thing. I would put it on a lift and check stuff out but beyond that I'd drive it till it broke.

 

Other than the fact that I'm sure the weather up there wasn't conducive to such a job, it wasn't a waste of time. It's never a bad thing to change the diff fluid and have a look in that pumpkin. I'd start there everytime, law of averages.

 

Yup, it never hurts to have clean fluids.

 

yea, it was about 25 out or so, that's why it took so long. didn't need a change at all, it had 15k old amsoil in it, came out looking like i had just put it in.

the magnet was covered with really fine metal, but i think that's just normal.

I don't even know what else to do. I don't have a lift, not even a garage the truck fits in. I can't exactly take the transfer case out. What else can I check??

any ideas guys? I'm thinking just drive her till she breaks I guess. I still can't get over this backlash type of bump i get when i stop or go.

 

Perhaps some water got into the e-brake assembly and froze, thus causing a locking up issue. Once she tried to kill you and run over your head , it broke the ice and the drive home melted it and dried out the remaining water.

Also, it would do the same in 4x4 because all you did is connect the front axle to the stuck rear axle. It would move the same distance.