Need some Dodge help

cumminsdzl

cumminsdzl

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Wake Forest
2004 Dodge 2500 4x4 cummins, 183,000 miles.

About 3 weeks ago i had a friends shop replace my front axle ujoints. They had never been changed and had started to squeak when i turned so we went ahead and changed them. Probably a week went by and we had some snow one morning, so i used 4x4 for the first time since the new ujoints. When i first started moving i heard a little noise, kind of a rubbing, grinding kind of sound for just a few seconds and it was gone. No more noise for the rest of the drive to work.

Then this Sunday we had the big snow. I pulled out of the driveway, shifted into 4 high and immediately heard that same scraping, rubbing sort of noise. It reminds me of the sound your brakes make when the pads are gone, a metal to metal rubbing grinding sound. This time the sound didnt go away, it was here to stay.

I have found the noise is much louder when you are on the gas, very faint when coasting. I can very slightly hear the noise in 2wd also, but nothing close to like it is in 4wd. You can also feel a very slight vibration in the steering wheel.

Today the truck was back at my buddies shop for him to figure out what was up. They replaced the ujoints in the front driveshaft which were showing a little wear. This did not help at all. Drained the front diff, everything was good, no metal shavings, replaced the fluid. No play in the pinion bearing either.

I am starting to think the noise is coming from a problem with the new axle ujoints, i never heard this noise until we replaced them, it gets loud and has a little vibration when you accelerate like a ujoint going bad would, and is almost silent when you coast. Does this sound right to anyone? What about the front unit bearings, they are original, but seem fine, and they should make the same noise whether you are in 2wd or 4wd.

Sorry for the long post, just trying to get some ideas of what to check next.
 
Which side is it on? Was the ABS sensor replaced properly? I would disassemble one side, and look for any odd wear. Pull the shaft, and check the ujoints to make sure they are still smooth. Did they remove the Unit bearing from the axle shaft or pull it as one assembly?
 
The noise seems to be coming from the left side. I'm not sure they if they pulled the unit bearing as an assembly or not. I would assume the abs sensor hasnt been hurt, no abs light on.

Its going back to the shop in a little bit to get pulled apart and figure out what is going on.
 
Are the new U-joints greasable? If they are, shoot some grease in them and see if that makes it quieter. If it does, you know the U-joint is definitely the problem.
 
SolarYellow05 said:
Are the new U-joints greasable? If they are, shoot some grease in them and see if that makes it quieter. If it does, you know the U-joint is definitely the problem.
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I thought about that last night but my grease gun was empty. There is some grease around the joints where the shop greased them when they installed them. I thought the grease looked a little funny, so i rubbed it between my fingers and could feel some grit in it. Im not sure if that was just from dust and salt off the roads sticking to the grease or if it is the needle bearings being ground up. That ujoint is where we will start today and see what we can figure out.
 
cumminsdzl said:
I thought about that last night but my grease gun was empty. There is some grease around the joints where the shop greased them when they installed them. I thought the grease looked a little funny, so i rubbed it between my fingers and could feel some grit in it. Im not sure if that was just from dust and salt off the roads sticking to the grease or if it is the needle bearings being ground up. That ujoint is where we will start today and see what we can figure out.
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Good luck. Sounds like the joint might have been installed a little too tight.
 
Found the problem today. If you put your hand on the bottom of the transfer case with the truck up in the air and running in 4wd, you can feel the chain slapping the bottom of the case. So....if anyone has a good used np271 let me know.:rolleyes:
 
Black Bear said:
man that sucks.. do you think you can get away with just replacing the chain?
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Its possible, we will probably tear into it in the next week or so and see how much damage has been done. It shifts in and out of 4wd great, never grinds, the chain doesnt ever jump a tooth even when you floor it in 4 low, kinda hard to believe there is anything wrong with it. The chain is pretty cheap so maybe it wont be too bad.

I havent really found many used cases yet, and the cheapest i have found new is about 850 shipped.

I pulled the front driveshaft and will just keep driving it until i decide what to do. Nothing like a lifted 2wd truck on mud terrains:lol:
 
pfft. just get an atlas:flipoff2::flipoff2:
 
35xj said:
pfft. just get an atlas:flipoff2::flipoff2:
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Thats a good point Dave. You know you're hardcore when you have an Atlas in your DD/tow rig. I should probably go for the 4 speed, you never know when you might need a 10:1 low range on the way to work.:flipoff2:
 
I cringed when I first read your original post...Adam just had this exact same thing happen to his Dodge and they replaced the case just before Christmas. Its much easier to just swap out the whole case than to mess with the chain. I will ask him where he got his replacement case and if we can find ya one too.
 
StretchASU said:
I cringed when I first read your original post...Adam just had this exact same thing happen to his Dodge and they replaced the case just before Christmas. Its much easier to just swap out the whole case than to mess with the chain. I will ask him where he got his replacement case and if we can find ya one too.
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I've done quite a bit of reading on it, and it seems that 95% of the time just the chain needs to be replaced. Most times it doesnt do any other damage inside.

The chain was only 113, so we are going to pull it apart and see if that is all it needs. If so, i should come out cheap. If not, i've found a new case for $778 and will go that route if there is major damage inside my case. I should know the verdict tomorrow I hope.
 
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