I need help, My truck started to make a really bad grinding,growling noise coming from the drive train. My Southbend clutch had about 120,000 K on it and I took it to 3 different tranny shops to try and locate where it was coming from. The guy who I went with pulled the tranny and sure enough the clutch was near done. Springs were loose and pressure plate was almost at the rivets. He told me the flywheel was also worn about 30 - 50 Thousands. He replaced everything and the problem is still there. $1700.00 touch. The problem only happens if I lean into the throttle and it grinds and then is gone unless I keep on leaning into it. If I put it in 4 wheel High it doesn't do it at all.??? My thoughts are the transfer case as I checked today the rear drive shaft at the output of the transfer case has some up and down play which I don't think should be there. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated

 

my problem is a bit similar to yours,mine makes a what could possiblly be described as a grinding noise when i take off in say second, don't know if its there all the time as the sound of the engine drowns out the noise, but someone told me it sounds like the imput shaft bearing.
Have not checked as of yet, will have to sooner or later, when i hand turn the front shaft while in 2WD, it does sound a bit harsh, as if something is rubbing in the transfer case, might be a worn bearing??

 

I hear the same thing in my 01. Only happens when I'm under slight throttle. No sound when I coast. Had my daughter drive and the sound was more prominate on the pass. side. You can feel it on the floor right at your feet. I could use some help also. Thanks from the new guy..

 

Hey Guys, I found the problem. Output shaft on the transfer case, there's a retaining clip the traps the shaft between the bearings. The retaining clip was broken in 2 pieces so the shaft and inner gear assembly moves in and out. It was outward under load and rubs on the inner case causing a nasty sound like grinding. It's a simple fix. Remove the rear drive shaft and them remove the out put shaft outer housing, 4 Bolts, there will be a bit of oil when you remove it. My retaining clip was in there in 2 pieces so I was lucky that it didn't get into the bearings. I got a new clip and put it on. I checked to see how much play was there after the new clip was installed. I found that there was .010" of inner and outer play so I shimmed it so there was only.002" play. I feel that the reason the clip breaks is it has to much play so when you accelerate the shaft slams inward which in turn hits the clip into the rear bearing and eventually it will break because it is a hardened clip. I don't feel there should be that kind of movement at all. I work with gearing on industrial machinery and that kind of play will cause failures. Just my thoughts. Everything is good now.

 

Thanks Stonewall. I will check that out today. Anybody else have any clues incase our problems are not the same? Or anyone else having the same problem, let us know. Thanks.

 

Looking at your thread, the location of the rear output shaft housing is on that side. Does the noise happen in 4 wheel High if it goes away it is definitely the snap ring as this is what happened with mine. As soon as I put it in 4H the sound was gone.

 

Just went through something simmalar on a friends truck. He has an 01 that made a bad clunk when going down hill, like a gear broke but it would do it every time. He was told that it was the clip on the tail housing also, just 4 bolts and replace the clip. However after removing the 4 bolts the tail would not come off because the clip was good. We removed and split the t case and found lots of broken c clip pieces on the magnet, as well as 1 small dog. I am unsure of the correct nomenclature because he doesnt have a book. I repost once I get home to CA and look at my service manual. It doesn't look to bad or expencive. It seams that most people are scared to open up a t case and you realy should not be, get a buddie and pull out the case (its not very heavy) and split it. All you need is some sockets and snapring plires. look at it for a minute and you will figure out how it works. I may be bias because I work on tanks though so everything on these trucks is very light by comparasen.

 

My truck just started doing the same thing grinding only at certain rpms with the engine under load. After searching around and finding out that the snap ring does go bad in these often I went ahead and ordered one. Pulled it all apart today and sure enough the snap ring was broke. I put the new one on that I got from our local chrysler dealer and when i stretched it over the mainshaft it would not snap back as tight as what I think it should. So I am going to order heavier duty one or I think they make a different style lock to lock the mainshaft in place. The truck would only grind in 2wheel drive it never would do it when I put it in 4x4. Thanks,

Jesse

 

Hi GrizzlyBear, Just so you know, my transfer case failed again, just recently. I pulled the transfer case and disassembled. What I found was due to the snap ring breaking the whole assembly was shifting back and forth under load which in turn caused the syncro ring to wear out and the retaining springs which hold the locking coggs broke and it was a mess. I got all my parts from a local transmission shop which cost me 180.00 bucks verses Dodge which was over 500.00 and they had to order most of the parts and I would have had to wait for 4 days to get the parts. If you read my thread remember I had play in the shaft after fixing the broken clip which I shimmed up. This was the problem of the play. The retaining springs had already broken and the whole assembly was moving back and forth. When I replaced the parts I replaced all of the retaining clips with proper snap rings which by the way are Metric. The snap rings create a better lock as they lock in and the ends almost touch together verses the originals which leave a gap of almost 1/4" between the tips. This believe or not really weakens the true retaining properties as they do not fully retain the circumference.