Went over the hills and through the woods this weeekend with WVUVIV's BFG's, and had a chance to try them in some sudden blinding snow. Great grip from the tires, but when I dropped it into 4 the front wants to turn left and right on it's own so there's something not meshing right up front. I know there needs to be some slippage to keep the system from boucing around, but this was on fresh snow and it was still giving pretty strong and sudden tugs left and right.

Ran the search but this issue has really generic words so got too many hits and not enough specific post titles, so need a diagnosis from Dr. Yota if he's in the house....

<small>[ January 13, 2003, 11:33 AM: Message edited by: dajabr ]</small>

Might try having someone get out in front of the truck and watch next time to see what's happening. Maybe something loose up front. Same size tires I assume and same gearing front and rear?

is it locked up front?

As far as I know it's stock gears and I know it has the same size. Is there any easy way to verify gearing, particularly if any housings are stock? Dunno anything about regaring cuz I'll never need it...
Hubs were both locked, stopped and confirmed it.
When driving ya gotta turn left to go straight for a little, then it suddenly switches and you turn right to go straight. Sometimes it aims straight. Lever out of 4hi and back to 2hi and it's totally normal again.
Seems to me that the left and right wheels just don't get along at the moment. I need to check my Haynes more thoroughly but wasn't too sure what to look for...

<small>[ January 13, 2003, 03:20 PM: Message edited by: dajabr ]</small>

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by dajabr:
<strong>As far as I know it's stock gears and I know it has the same size. Is there any easy way to verify gearing, particularly if any housings are stock? Dunno anything about regaring cuz I'll never need it...
Hubs were both locked, stopped and confirmed it.
When driving ya gotta turn left to go straight for a little, then it suddenly switches and you turn right to go straight. Sometimes it aims straight. Lever out of 4hi and back to 2hi and it's totally normal again.
Seems to me that the left and right wheels just don't get along at the moment. I need to check my Haynes more thoroughly but wasn't too sure what to look for...</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Got an LSD up front?
Does it change characteristics when you're on the gas as opposed to coasting?

Frank.

As far as I know it's totally stock up front, no LSD. It's the same with gas or coasting.

More info:
Hubs spin to lock smoothly, nice "click" at the end, but they were likely not locked regularly over the years.
30' X 9.5 mounted same day, but only up from 235's
Driving less than 30, couldn't go faster in 4wd.

Sounds like something dragging or binding up. Have you jacked it up, put it in 4 and locked the hubs, then tried turning the tires by hand? Try this in gear and in neutral, see if the diff is differentiating. If you have a pull like that, you have some binding/dragging, or something that is applying a torque to one of the wheels. Since the problem seems to follow the 4 wheel drive, I'd start there.

Any other shaking or noises? What happened when you tried to go over 30?

Frank.

Over 30 it would just pop left and right so much it wasn't safe.
Havn't done any testing at all since this just happened this weekend, and I can't work on my car in my apartment complex.
Not sure about the noises, was more concerned with not hitting things.

How can I tell if it's differentiating? More specific, what should happen when jacked up, in 4, locked, in gear/out of gear, etc.?

I'm theorizing that maybe there's a CV joint issue where it's catching or dragging. Or, maybe something wrong with the differential itself where it's catching/dragging.

I hear you on the apartment thing, that can be a pain.

If you have a regular open diff and you jack up the front, you should, in gear, turn one wheel and the other wheel should turn the other way. I nuetral, the drive shaft will probably turn and the other wheel turn the other way less. It depends on which is dragging more whether one or the other spins at all or how much. What you migth be able to see is if there is any thing dragging, mabye one wheel is hard to turn period. Stuff like that. Also, check the CV's for play, grab the shaft and shake it. Try to shake the tires to see if the wheel bearings are way loose.

If there was something wrong with a CV and it was catching, it would tug the wheel each time it caught. Maybe it gets worse with speed making the wheel really jerk around.

If you can get the front off the ground and mess with this stuff it will hopefully yield some more info and maybe a solution.

Also, check the steering linkages. Normally, when driving down the road, the steering linkages are in tension as the tires try to toe out. However, in 4wd, the front tires are trying to toe in when you are accelerating or otherwise moving against a force. Only decelerating of braking puts them in tension. If you have a badly worn idler, or something, maybe that could cause some problems. I have had bad idlers cause bad shimmies on the free way in 2wd cars before.

Frank.