herb101

Hello,
I'm stumped on this one. In 4wd I get a binding noise and I just replaced a bad u-joint thinking that was the problem. I can't figure where the noise is coming from but, not only can I here it I can feel it. In 4wd at high speeds the noise and feel some what goes away but I do feel it backlash. Backlash would be the word I looking for, it does it really bad when I get on or of the throtle. Also when I turn the wheel it binds up.

I took the front diff cover off and found no broken parts and the ring/pinion had very little to no play with no damage. The spyder gears looked fine also. The two bearings that support the carrier(spool); have you guys ever heard of them going bad? I realized that I didn't check that and I know that sometimes you can check that by prying a bar under the spool.

I can't see a ring and pinion skipping teeth and leaving no damage. Also, I don't know what in the transfercase would cause that binding and give me no trouble driving every day unless in 4wd.

I thank anyone for any suggestions.

OOPS

Is it binding in the dirt or on dry pavement. You are not supposed to have it in 4wd on dry pavement.

deserteagle56

Read your owner's manual! The only time you should have it in 4wd is in slick or loose conditions. Never, ever on a hard, dry surface. If you do, you are putting an awful lot of stress on your drivetrain and pretty quick some part of it is going to let go. The binding you are feeling is normal when in 4wd and turning.

RAMRODD

The binding is normal on the dodge rams. Mine will even do it on a tight turn on compacted snow.
This is one thing that Dodge really needs to improve on.

herb101

Binds on any suface, loose beach sand the worst, makes horrable cluncking noise almost like somthing is going to snap. I know the sound of normal binding and this is not normal.

It all started six months ago when a friend of mine got stuck on the beach fishing with his cab over camper on a f350 crew cab (lots of weight). He called me up and said, "the tide is coming in and I really need help!" so off I went to help him out. At first I was only there as an anchor until his winch over heated so at that point we thought we had no choice but to ****** him out using a 50'/30,000 pound strap. We all freaked out and looking on hindsight the tide was never a factor just his angry wife. Four hours of snatching and digging we got him out and I notice the binding and cluncking. I pulled of the road and looked at rust and play on one of the u-joints and said, "thats my problem".

Yesterday, I finally changed the bad u-joint and other that two caps dry it really wasn't all that bad. After getting the new u-joint in the binding did not go away. Frustration set in when I pulled the diff cover didn't see anything broken not even a nick on any surface. Seeing breakage is always confirmation on whats wrong and that was what I was hoping for. So now I can't help but wounder if maybe the issue is in the carrier bearings crushed into the races. I did have a dana 70 rear end do that before which leads me to beleive I might have the same problem.

I don't know what is up with this but, that's the whole story and I thank you guys for the suggestions. I'm still stumped and I hope to here more thoughts. Thanks again.

RAMRODD

I wonder if a the transfer case chain could case the noise.

herb101

My thought on that was; it turns everyday going down the highway whether in 4wd or 2wd. But I can't rule that out, I wish I knew a way to check it out. Thank you.

ColdCase

Transfer case chains can stretch, and will give you driveling play/lash, but have you also checked the front hub u-joints? Sometimes you can damage one of those, especially if you had the wheels turned while pulling. Bad hub joints are most noticeable on turns, I think.

There may be a inspection hole to check the chain "looseness" but I don't have my service manual handy here.

If you jack one wheel or axle off the ground, try spinning the tire and look for excessive lash in any of the joints.

billie

I had the same thing a few weeks ago and it was the u-joints in the cardan joint, front shaft. The driveline spins all the time but there was no noise at all in 2wd. In 4wd it would clunk real bad. All is good now.

Take a close look with a light since it should be obvious if that's the problem.

Silverstreak

Please fill-in your Signature so we know what year truck & miles you have. Also, check the front driveshaft. Have you been greasing the joints?

herb101

I just posted my signature. I have 165k on the truck and I've changed 3 sets of axle u-joints, ball joints, and hub bearings. My thoughts on AAM axle stuff ""! I miss my Dana 60 on my 98 2500 and yes I did check all the u-joints and I didn't see anything that looked bad.

Has any one had any issues with tranfer case chains and how much $$ and time for a job like this?

05CTDN8

I will tell ya, mine has done this since day 1. The snow, sand, only time I do not bind is in MUD....or very loose pack dirt. I say it is normal....but the way I look at it is if you are binding you have enough traction to not need 4wd...

herb101

I think if you heard this you would agree that this is not normal binding, I've owned this vehicle 5yrs and never had this issue before.

05CTDN8

Hmmm....sounds like you may have an issue then. I didnt see tha part about the noise...I will ask a friend of mine and see what he says...

MichiganAxle

I read this thread a couple of times to make sure I didnt miss something. The more I think of it something sounds like maybe this is a t-case issue. I'm not familiar with this particular one but if it has a 'plastic' shift fork or collar in it then maybe...(just thinking about what OP said about cranking on it in the sand for a few hours...high torque like that trying to get the thing to jump out of lock...).

Also, the poster who mentioned something about tire scuffing when in 4WD being something Dodge needs to improve on...it's a heavy truck and the only way to improve on it is to go with some kind of AWD/2WD feature in t-case or active type of t-case which allows slip.