chirp and no acceleration when hubs locked going straight ahead

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I just went to cross a river bed the other day and just before I started I put it in 4x4 and tried to go forward but the truck really did not want to move and made some interesting sounds, the kind you hear in scary movies... I just locked in the hubs out in the parking lot and tried to drive in a straight line and I get the same thing where it feels like something is really holding it back, and now the front tires chirp (obviously due to the pavement), so that's telling me something's binding up, causing the wheels to drag with the hubs locked up. This happens regardless of what gear I'm in on the transfer case.

It all worked before but I had a bit of a trail accident and had to replace a control arm, radius arm, steering gear box, and steering shaft... Oops. In case curious, the side that got busted up was the passenger side so the arm w/ the differential was not the side that took the hit. Prior to this, the entire front end is rebuilt minus the control and radius arms. New hubs, axle shafts, u-joints, bearings, rotors, calipers, pads, i.e. everything from the differential to the rim except the knuckle. It turns and drives a perfect straight line, except when the hubs are locked so it's just something with the differential to axle to hub assembly. I'm willing to believe one of the new parts is the problem or even the differential itself, but I'm not sure which one(s).... Any thoughts or ideas on how to identify which side(s) and part(s) is causing this?

It's the redheaded step child Bronco from those few months in 87 where they decided to use the POS hub assembly, but all that stuff is gone so it's just the D44 TTB and all the stuff that's included in the knuckle out conversion kit from JBG.

http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-32136_..._conversion.htm

 
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walnuts75

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Jack the front end up, lock the hubs, and spin the wheel. Check if there feels like there is any drag in the front. Maybe the problem goes back to your transfer case? (Prolly just reaching for straws on that one) Or maybe you got water in your differntial and something wore out?

 
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Last night I locked one hub in then moved forward, then tested the other one by itself as well. It moved just fine without a problem. So that tells me everything from the wheels to the differential is workin great and I might be tearing apart the entire front end (for the 4th time in a year) to put in a new differential that I'll be probably be buying. WOOHOO! <_<

I think it's possible it could be the transfer case too considering the limited slip is obviously working with either wheel locked in by itself and things rolling just fine. That sorta tells me the gears are working just fine, or they're really broken and I should have a nice photo opp. I'll try disconnecting the drive shaft and locking both wheels in to see how it moves. I'd say if it happens again, the diff is f'd, if it rolls just fine, then I get to find out what the guts of a transfer case look like and may have another photo opp... Any thoughts?

BTW nice Beast we got twins! I just put my top back on for the winter period till March when I can take it off again. It really is like night and day she just looks so much sexier with her top off! B)

 
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Mike G

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Did you replace any ball joints? I had the same problem when the shop installed the wrong lower ball joint. It got into the prop shaft knuckle before the front hub and would lock it up by hitting the universal on the front R/H wheel drive shaft. The stud was to long.

Mike

 
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Actually yes I did. I had to replace mine because they sealed to the control arms so I had to use a pickle fork which killed the seals on the greased for life ball joints... I just took a look and I think you might have it too! I'm thinkin I used the wrong nuts when I put em back on so they're stickin up a bit too high... SOAB! I'll check em out tomorrow and let ya know if I had a retardation moment ;) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

walnuts75

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BTW nice Beast we got twins! I just put my top back on for the winter period till March when I can take it off again. It really is like night and day she just looks so much sexier with her top off! B)
Twins thats awesome! Green is a nice color, u should post some pics of her.

That ball joint scenario sound plausible, good luck with that.

 

Mike G

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The lower ball joints have clip rings that hold them in and the uppers do not.

Good luck with it. By the time I found it it had my prop shaft jammed at such a angle (in 2 wheel drive) that it burnt up the wheel bearings on that side also. I had grease slinging and a hub that was to hot to hold.

Mike

 
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I jacked up the truck and rotated each wheel with a hub locked in and the axles clear the ball joint nuts just fine so it's definitely not that. I'm still gonna sit with the transfer case or the differential. I'm pretty sure disconnecting the drive shaft will answer that. With the driveshaft out and the transfer case engaged or trying to move forward/backwards with the hubs locked in will cause whatever is broken to announce itself and then I'll know what I get to rebuild. I've been enjoying my holiday time off so I haven't bothered till today but we'll see... BTW I thought the ******* girl was blue not green. Mines the Eddie Bauer 87 metallic blue and tan which is possibly going to black and tan still a fine girl though ;) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> Thanks for the advice you two and I'll post the end results here since it's reading posts like this that helped me figure out how to do a ton of the other work I've already got to enjoy! Knowledge is power ya know?

 
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**** I got even better news! I did my test and everything passed. I did notice the bolts were fairly easy to remove when I pulled the drive line so I used red locktite and made sure they were really tight this time. I then went forward and backward with the transfer case and wheels locked without a problem so it must've been because of the very slightly loose driveline... Goes to show ya sometimes it's just the little things! Imagine if I'd paid a shop to do that one :D /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

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