Front axle noise?...

[JamesM]

Hey guys,

Recently I made a drive from Tampa to Boca Raton, FL...approx 240 miles.

The truck ran really well and made no noises out of the ordinary.

The day after I got in town and was on my way to class, the transfer lever fell down and a really loud grinding sound resulted. I had thought that the transfer case had slipped into neutral and was grinding "on top of" low.

Needless to say, I skipped class for the day and tried to sort out the first real problem I have had with my truck...

I took the floor out (the parts that go over the transmission and transfer case anyways) to find out that the bolt and nut that secure the transfer case lever to the frame had fallen, allowing the bottom part of the lever to make contact with the spinning drive shaft....hence the loud grinding sound. I inspected that drive shaft joints and they showed no signs of wear, the lever however, was a little tweaked.

Now the real problem that has reared its ugly head recently is a metallic grinding sound coming from the front axle/drive shaft assembly (at least that's where it seems like it is coming from...

Today, to hopefully help out this issue, I changed the fluid in everything (transfer case, transmission, all three axles) and filled them all to the recommended one-knuckle-under-the-fill-hole.

All of the swaps went well except for the front axle and transfer case.

transfer case:

When I took out the drain plug and let the fluid drain out, I heard a few heavy sounding things hit the bottom of the bucket....

As the fluid draining slowed, I stuck my finger in there and found quite a bit of metal in the bottom of the case that seemed to form a circle...a bearing casing I thought...but I found no bearings in the case...

Any idea what this metal is from? The transfer case still seems to function normally and there is no noises coming from it..

The front axle:

When I opened the fill hole, a really nasty looking mixture of what I think was gear oil and quite a bit of water came pouring out...and I mean pouring. It probably leaked over 2qts of this stuff out of the fill hole....

I filled the axle with the correct amount of gear oil and buttoned it back up thinking (hoping, really) that I had solved the mysterious noise...

I took the truck out for a drive and the sound persisted.

I decided that I would re-grease all of the grease fittings I knew about and would search for more.

I found a few that I had not know about, but not on the front axle...

As I was about to crawl out from under the truck, I noticed there was a grease fitting on the top of the hub..on both sides...and upon further inspection, underneath the hubs...on both sides...

So I had enough grease left to fill the driver top and passenger top and could not get to the bottom cause I ran out of grease...

I figured that maybe this would at least calm the noise down a bit...I was wrong.

I noticed that there was a lot of slack in the front drive shaft, both forwards and backwards as well as side to side...so I went on another search for grease fittings and found a couple more on the drive shaft joints. Now there is less slack in the drive shaft, but the noise still remains.

My question to you guys is...what is making that noise, why, and how do I fix it? Could it be related to the metal I found in the transfer case?

I have heard of people breaking things by overfilling them...is it possible that something has broken due to the obscene amount of fluid inside the front axle? What would it be? How can I fix it? Any help would be so greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!


---James

 

[SixSpeed]

Attaches is picture of said metal from transfer case.

 

[JamesM]

Attaches is picture of said metal from transfer case.

Yes...those are the metal bits I was talking about that I found in my transfer case....

 

[FMJ]

Front axle seals/boots, sound like they are shot. . . if that much water came out the fill hole. . .

Have you had the truck in deep, as in, over the axle water?

 

[SixSpeed]

Front axle seals/boots, sound like they are shot. . . if that much water came out the fill hole. . .

Have you had the truck in deep, as in, over the axle water?

His truck got stuck in an over axle-deep hole for a couple hours. All of the water must have come in then.

 

[JamesM]

Front axle seals/boots, sound like they are shot. . . if that much water came out the fill hole. . .

Have you had the truck in deep, as in, over the axle water?

Yeas, it has been in water that deep.

Would the fact that the boots are shot make that noise...or just let water in?


---James

 

[FMJ]

His truck got stuck in an over axle-deep hole for a couple hours. All of the water must have come in then.

Then don't drive it anymore, and go through the front axle completely, most likely a wheel bearing getting ready to let go. . .

 

[JamesM]

Then don't drive it anymore, and go through the front axle completely, most likely a wheel bearing getting ready to let go. . .

I don't plan on driving it until I get it figured out.

OD Iron is local...hopefully I can get some parts that will get it drive-able soon...

Wheel bearing only possibility, you think??

 

[FMJ]

Yeas, it has been in water that deep.

Would the fact that the boots are shot make that noise...or just let water in?


---James

Let water/mud in, then after driving it cause damage that would result in any number of unusual noises.

 

[JamesM]

Let water/mud in, then after driving it cause damage that would result in any number of unusual noises.

That's true...

So best bet is to...what?

Put it up on stands and pull the wheels out, change bearings, inspect everything real nicely...

Should I venture in to the top loader and see is any damage was caused there?

---James

 

[FMJ]

I don't plan on driving it until I get it figured out.

OD Iron is local...hopefully I can get some parts that will get it drive-able soon...

Wheel bearing only possibility, you think??

The axle seals are supposed to keep bad stuff out of the diff, but in this case, did not, no telling what damage has been done, sorry.

 

[JamesM]

The axle seals are supposed to keep bad stuff out of the diff, but in this case, did not, no telling what damage has been done, sorry.

...well, not the best news...but at least I know what I'm in for...

Thanks for the quick response, I will get to the tear-down and see what I can find out.

I'll document the job and keep you updated.

Thanks again.


---James

 

[miltruckman]

That is the cage that keeps the balls in a ball bearing seperated. You will find one of the ball bearings will fail soon. This condition of having the balls free to move against each other sometimes makes a rattling sound or a sound like loud rain as the balls clack against each other.

Bill
Michigan.

 

[SixSpeed]

That piece you described, its position on a bearing would be same as the "green" part of this bearing, right?

 

[JamesM]

...crap.

so, I am going to have a problem in the transfer case soon then too, correct?

I should replace the bearing casing while the truck is off the road too I suppose..


---James

 

[JamesM]

UPDATE:

I removed the front drive shaft to take that load off of the front axle...figured it couldn't hurt.

I then had my friend drive the truck up the street so I could sit in the passenger floor board to listen to see if the noise was still there and if it was, in fact, coming from the axle...with the new information about the transfer case bearing housing, I was a little skeptical...

With my buddy driving, I could clearly tell that the noise was not coming from the front, but, rather, as other people have suggested, the transfer case.

We got back to my house and learned that the bolts on the input shaft to the transfer case were all loose.

...That is when all of the pieces began to fall together....

When the transfer lever fell down, it hit the bolts with the piece that attaches to the frame. When it did, it actually loosened the bolts...I have since deduced that if it had the ability to loosen the bolts in that short amount of time, it had to have caused a great deal of force on those bearings...hence the bearing casing in the bottom of the transfer case.

The noise is coming form the transfer case...more specifically, the input shaft.

Anyone care to tell me exactly what is involved in replacing those bearings or iff they think anything else is wrong as a result...?

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks guys.


---James

 

[zak]

I think those bolts are notorious for coming loose. The lever had nothing to do with it. Case inspection and rebuilt time or replacement.

 

[clinto]

I picked up a truck from a friend in Columbus Ga and checked all the driveline bolts before leaving, drove it about 170 miles home, then drove it over to a friend's house about 5 miles away.

Last night I was servicing it and found a bolt on the trans to transfer jackshaft missing and the other half off and less than finger tight.

They are bad about doing that.

 

[JamesM]

hmm...well I suppose that is sort of reassuring...

Do you guys think that the shock of hitting the drive shaft joints could have been enough to break the bearing casing on the input shaft?


---James

 

[miltruckman]

No, THe green part on that photo is the dust sheild, Which is over the part I described. I'll attach some photos that show the parts better.

Bill