A few months ago I snapped the stub shaft inside my front differential unit. When it snapped it also broke the output shaft tube. After gettin repair estimated upwards of 3500 bucks, I decided to dive into i myself. I turned out not to be all that hard of a job , with the exception of the weight of the diff. I replaced both cv axles (just because I had to take them off) and replaced the differential unit with a rebuilt unit. Also replaced the output shaft tube, but reused the old output shaft since it had no apparent damage. After putting it all back together, the 4wd works fine and pulls hard, but i get a faily loud clicking noise when the 4wd is engaged. This is on a 1997 f150. ind. front 4wd, non electronic vacumn acctuated. Anyone familiar with this knows thta its not the hubs, this has the hub/bearing assembly ( bassically the hubs are always locked) Any advise on where to go from here would be great. I enjoy working on my own truck but I admit that I am no expert when it comes to diagnosing the problems.

 

Dumb question, but have you checked to make sure that the heat shield from the exhaust isn't contacting the front driveshaft. I have produced similar noises when mine got bent.

 

Surf,

Are you sure that the front axles are ingaged? Check the vacuum lines for cracks or damage. If it doesn't click in 4x2 then disconnect the solenoid for the 4x4 front axle. It should be the connector on the solenoid with the red vacuum hose. This will keep the front axle from engaging. If it still clicks when you engage 4x4 then it is not the front axle. If it does I would suspect improper axle engagement. Let us know what it does and we can go from there.


JMC

 

I appreciate the advise guys, I will check alll the above out tommarrow (turkey day). Only break from the 80 hour work weeks lately.