Used Rear dif

[bigjerm]

I recall asking the tech if they had checked the dif fluid, and I'm almost sure he told me that they had either changed, filled or checked it. Would a problem with the rear dif cause the symptoms of locking up in 4x? It seems to be find in 2 wheel. Could it also be something wrong with the transfer case or the hubs?

 

[Fx4wannabe01]

you probably have always had a howling pinion bearing in the rear end...



if a problem isn't there in 2wd, yet says hello in 4wd, think transfer case or front end. It's been said plenty of times in this thread.



Pull out your reciepts and paperwork from when you had it serviced, if it was a good shop, it'd say what they did on it...

 

[RangerSVT]

You mentioned it seems to lock up only when in 4WD, does it lock up in 4hi, 4lo, or both?? If it locks up in both 4hi and 4lo, then you have a problem in your front axle, if it locks up in 4 lo, but not 4hi, then its a tcase problem. When selecting 4hi you are not changing gears in the tcase, just engaging the front drive, when you select 4lo, thats when the gears change in the tcase, which would cause your axle to "lock up". There is a small chance that even selecting 4hi could lock the axle up, but all of us would agree that if you can drive normally in 2WD but things lockup in 4WD, then your rear axle is not the problem and is ok...
SVT

 

[bigjerm]

Turns out it's the transfer case motor, and the trans guy quoted 400 to fix it. I found entire used transfer cases online for about a 100 bucks. Is that something that could be replaced by a regular not transmission mechanic?

 

[RangerSVT]

That trans guy is trying to rip you off. Easy replacement part, 3 bolts on the motor and one electrical plug, about a 5 minute job...But a bad tcase motor wouldn't lock up the rear axle, it just wouldn't be able to shift...I'd do some more trouble shooting
SVT

 

[Fx4wannabe01]

it ain't the shift motor... shift motor only move the internal shift arms, the motor is working just as it should, something inside is what's messsed up. more troubleshooting.




yeah....if you've got a 12mm 12pt wrench, an 8mm wrench, and a 13mm wrench, you can do the tcase swap.

 

[bigjerm]

So, maybe a transfer case rebuild or swap it. But probably I need a new trans shop if this guy is going to try to sell me a motor for 4 bills i dont need doing a process of elimination. I was going to get to some dirt and see what probs i am really having. Is it going to hurt anything to try to use my 4x more to see whats up? thanks.

 

[88_Eddie]

hold on a minute, you put your truck in 4 wheel drive in a pavement parking lot? that could have screwed things up... you DO NOT want to engage 4x4 on dry pavement, that binds things up. if it drives normal in 2 wheel drive, it's not your rear axle... if you have problems in 4 wheel drive it's either in the front axle or transfer case.

yeah, what he said....

i'd at least try to top off the fluid in your t-case before you go muckin around with it in 4wd again. could be the front axle or front driveshaft also. if it's still there, drop that diff cover and make sure your gears arent missing a bunch of teeth. heck, maybe even check the rear d-shaft.

 

[Fx4wannabe01]

Unfortunately, can't just drop the cover off the front..... diff has to come out.

 

[RangerSVT]

There is a small possibility that you have different ratio gears in the front and back, causing binding when in 4WD, hi or lo range. You really should drop your rear diff cover to inspect things, without doing dome type of inspection and telling us the results, all we can do is just guess...
SVT