ok so on Monday I tried to turn around in alittle snow and decided to put the truck in 4high but it stayed in 2wd and I had to dig myself out. THen after I got out I tried again and this time it went into 4H and 4L but would not go back into 2H. When I selected 2H there was a rubbing grinding noise up front. I tried several times - at a stop, coasting, turing the wheels, backing up still would not go into 2H. I brought her to the shop and after a while they came back with a damaged cv axle. apparently the splines were toast. I picked her up this mornign and everything was fine but on the way home (several kms away) I heard this loud knocking and when I looked the shaft had snapped off a few inches from the front diff. ANyways I'm wondering if the axle was installed wrong or this may be a symptom of a bigger problem. Any ideas??

Oh and its an electronic transfer case.

 

it was installed wrong if it came loose from the front diff. these CV's are only held in by a small retainer clip inside the differential. when installing the half-shaft, you really have to slam it into the the diff to get it to seat. if it doesnt seat right, it'll come out.

either that or the actual clip is broken. if thats the case you'll have to tear apart the front end to get to the clip. take it back to that shop and make them fix it. they should have been able to tell if it was seated right (whether the clip is broken or not)

 

Regardles of why the new axle came out should not be relevant. If a Mechanic removed the old assembly, the first thing he/she does is inspect the area for apparent damage. If there was damage, then they don't do the repair anyways, so that should be your stance for arguments sake.
Since the new shaft fell out or became damaged, i would say it was due to their faulty install or faulty product. If they say you have a further problem, well then, they should have realized that before repairing your truck and sending you on your way. No trustworthy shop would install a new part into a defective part. They test all moving parts for any signs of error. This should be taken care of no additional charge to you as long as you didn't go offroading and cause this yourself?? just sayin..lol

 

+1 DD, thats exactly what im sayin. It should never pop out of there if its seated right. The inner or outer joints will break long before that shaft comes out of the diff

 

good god take it back!

 

Agree the shop is responsable, however have a comment for those that want to tackle this on their own as I had a similar "Pop" out problem after installing new CV 1/2 shafts. I found that it was not a proceedural problem with seating of CV pot on the clip when installed onto the housing axle but rather the housing axle itself which had too much wear and allowed the clip to pop off and the CV shaft to come out on test drive around the block causing the CV boot to rip. Upon close examination the housing axle end was rounded off enough, I.E a bit like a Carrot to allow the clip to work it's way off even after it was clipped in and pull tested. I was alowed to trade for a new CV Shaft and purchased a new housing axle and clip from the dealer and no problems since. Never re-use old clips. I had to invent my own tool to remove the axle shaft and found a quick 5 minute way to remove all. If you are not sure if your Housing axle end is serviceable just compare the outer slotted male end of the CV 1/2 shaft with that of the housing shaft on the Diff and that will tell you if there is excess wear.

 

Thanks guys. This is my first truck with 4wd so I have very limited experience in this area. Its hard to find a good mechanic - I've tried several in my area with mostly bad experiences. I have a pretty good relationship with this one (so far) and I don't think he will give me any trouble so i guess this will be his first test. Gotta say that I don't feel too confident in him now though - you'd think these guys would be able to do this in their sleep???

Any idea if this could possibly damage the differential?

 

damage? i wouldn't think there would be any but you can never know until it's up on a lift and looked at.
Odball things happen more often than people realize. i wouldn't be so quick to not trust the mechanic until you give him another shot.
As for doing it in their sleep. yes for some but no for others. The one's who do it in their sleep are the one's with too much confidence BUT they will most likely catch an error when they do their final check where most guys check as they go and do a general look over when done. lots of problems with that and I won't even go there

 

After getting a better look at the damage this morning, AF Hemi your right the half shaft has seperated from the inner joint. She's at the shop now so I'll give an update when I hear back from the mechanic. I expect either faulty part/installation or something in the diff keeping the axle from turning causing it to bind - hopefully not but we'll see.

 

I agree with all, this was either a faulty install or a bad housing, but either way the mechanic is responsible for fixing it. If the clip didn't have enough meat on the housing to hold it, he should have realized it and called you, indicating you needed more parts for a proper repair.
Good luck and keep us posted...