I was towing my cousins chevy HD last month in the desert , and after 10 minutes of towing i heard loud noises from the drivetrain ,and suddenly lost 4WD and got stuck , when i put it in reverse all 4 wheels were spinning and 4WD worked , i tried to drive it in Drive and same thing it would just run in 2WD anyways i drove it back to the street and there is this rattling sound , when i put it in 4WD the sound disappears. so i searched on the internet on what the problem is and found out that the IWE actuators are known to fail

so i replaced the IWE on both sides (passenger side was damaged) and the car drove normally in 2WD , but once i engage the 4WD a minute later i hear a loud clunk and the 4WD disengages because the passenger side IWE breaks , by break i mean the rubber piece that holds the IWE together gets torn however there is no damage to the teeth.

I replaced the passenger side IWE with the old IWE (driver side) which was in good condition and after engaging the 4WD and driving a few seconds the same problem occurs ,i have checked all vacuum lines and all are in good condition and working.

I wont take it to the dealer due to my truck being a US Import and the dealer wont warranty and would cost a fortune to fix my truck spare parts alone are very expensive a single IWE costs 185$ !! , the only thing i did before swapping the IWE was replace the front differential bushings which were in bad shape

Could someone please advice on what to check?

Thanks,

 

I've got to believe you've got something assembled incorrectly and / or misaligned in there. I've never heard of two IWEs in a row going bad in that short of a period of time.

 

im sure that everything is installed properly and aligned perfectly , i had 2 different shops work on it , however even with a broken IWE i could hear the banging noise after i engage the 4WD then it disappears , it seems after those 2 bangs the IWE gives up

 

I think I'd be putting it up on a lift and running it to try to see what those bangs are. I'd suggest that the second one is the IWE going boom and the first one is what's causing it.

 

Hi- I am having the exact same problem as dunes dude. What solution did you find??