I went through a medium sized mud hole on a buddies farm the other day. He's got a 1500 Chevy with 35's on a 6" lift, He made it through in 2 wheel drive easy, Well im running 33's on a 3" lift and I wasnt as lucky in 2 wheel drive. I put it in 4 wheel drive(manual shift in the floor) and I felt it start to 'crawl' like they do in 4 low but my front tires would not spin, its got automatic hubs.
Whats the problem???

 

No automatic hubs on the '97-'03. Ya got CV shafts that always turn and a Center Axle Disconnect that locks the two halves together by a vacuum pulse when ya lock in 4x4.

So in 4H it the rear wheels didn't turn at normal speed?

Adrianspeeder

 

Did the indicator lights turn on in the instrument cluster when you shifted into 4x4?

JMC

 

Yes the indicator lights came on in the truck. What I meant by the wheels is that in 4 lo the rear wheels were turning like it was in 4x4 but nothing was spinning in the front.

 

I actually have the exact same problem got stuck in a damn ditch the other day and had to rock my truck out. It almost seems like the front axel isnt engaging maybe the vacuum to the axel or maybe the actuator itself, try putting the truck on juck stands and see if the 4x4 front drive shaft coming out the transfer case is spinning might help getting to the problem Good luck

 

Ok cool, got it narrowed down to the front end if the front drive shaft was spinning. If so, either the central axle disconnect didn't get the signal to lock, or it is bad itself.

Adrianspeeder