I am not having a good truck week.
I'm chasing some braking issues so I put the whole truck up on jack stands, put in 4x4, put it in Drive, and let it roll.
The plan was to have the wife step on the brake pedal and see which wheels engaged first as a step to problem solve some pulling.
However that plan quickly went to hell when I noticed 3 wheels spinning smoothly, and 1 wheel barely rotating.
Even worse I could grab that wheel and spin it backwards while the others rolled along.
At first I thought it might be the lock not engaging, but once I took a close look at the axles I could see the right spinning normally while the left again was barely moving.
Before I open the differential up I wanted some insight.
Axle stripped?
I rarely use 4x4 so it's not overuse.
This is a Dana 60 4500 on a 91.5
Thanks
-mickey

 

You have an "OPEN" front axle.
The power goes to only one tire unless you put a limited slip or other sort of locker in your truck.
Almost no trucks come from the factory with front locking axles.
You can get two from Mopar, that I can think of the Jeep Rubicon and the Dodge Power Wagon.

You truck is doing what it should be doing.
Carry on you have no worries.

On a side note driving a truck with the front axle "locked in" makes for some real strange steering quirks and is not very recommended in anything other than hardcore off roading rigs.

 

Thank you Oliver
You just made my day.

 

Awesome!
Glad to make you feel better about working on the old truck.

 

I have to ask an esoteric question.
If only the right wheel has power in 4x4 why do we have locking hubs on the left wheel?

 

Unlock the left hub and see if the right wheel still spins.

 

And if you could safely stop/hold the right wheel, the left should start spinning.

Theoretically, in 4x4, with equal traction up front, both tires would be getting roughly the same amount of power to them - until one starts to slip anyway.

 

This is how I used to spin balance tires on the car on the powered axle as long as it did not have positraction...You kids with your computer assisted off-car wheel balancers have it so easy......Ben

 

Seriously? How'd that work? Or is too involved to explain here?

 

If you're talking to me, it involved the use of a balancing device (I liked Hunter equipment) which clamped onto a steel wheel from the outside...With the offside drive wheel blocked (I just lowered it onto a mounted tire/wheel), an assistant inside the car brought the speedometer up to about 27.5 mph (with an open diff, this means the powered wheel is running 55 mph)...55 is the optimal speed to get a good balance at most highway speeds...This method won't work with positraction...In that case I removed the offside drive wheel, and replaced three lugnuts backwards to hold the drum in place, then again had an assistant behind the wheel bring the speedometer up to the full 55 mph, then balanced the wheel with the Hunter device as shown in the video...Repeat for the other side...

The advantage to doing it on the car was a dynamic balance (as opposed to a static balance with a bubble balancer) that also accounted for imbalances in the discs, drums or axle components...I rarely had a complaint using this method......Ben

 

Yes, sorry, I was referring to you. Thanks, that's pretty cool.