Front axles shot?

Log Out | Topics | Search Moderators | Register | Edit Profile

Author Message   Ron Johnson (Chauner) Member Username: Chauner Post Number: 43 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 08:12 pm:    I was coming back from vacation today and heard a loud "pop" in my left front. At first I thought I blew a tire but immediately the front end started making a horrible screeching noise and it seemed the front wheels were giving resistance to the truck accelerating. The transmission is ok, the power steering is ok and there are no leaks, my guess would be the axles or the diff. It was used in some heavy off roading on the beach and did get a lot of fresh and salt water underneath the entire week before. Anyone have an idea to pinpoint the problem? Shame is, I actually got 18 mpg on the way down to the beach and the truck is stranded 400 miles away, it's being towed tomorrow.   Ron Johnson (Chauner) Member Username: Chauner Post Number: 44 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 08:13 pm:    BTW, it's a 98 D1 with 63,000 miles.   EricV (Bender2033) Member Username: Bender2033 Post Number: 216 Registered: 08-2002 Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 10:36 pm:    CV Joint maybe?   Chris Browne (Chris_browne) Senior Member Username: Chris_browne Post Number: 285 Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 02:39 pm:    jack up the wheel - can you turn it by hand? Take wheel off, are all the brake bits in the right place? if so the problem is inside the axle and its either the CV joint failure (rare) or half shaft failure.   Mike Bauer (Mikeb) Member Username: Mikeb Post Number: 80 Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 06:54 pm:    The screeching noise leads me to believe that you have a frozen wheel bearing. I had the same thing happen to my 98 Disco on a trip this last winter. Whatever the problem is, you can't drive it this way for very long without catastrophic results. Follow Chris's advice and you will find the problem pretty quickly. The good news is that this repair should be covered in your manual. Thanks, Mike B.   Ron Johnson (Chauner) Member Username: Chauner Post Number: 46 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 09:29 pm:    It's being towed back today, I just left it there...thank god my brother went along on vacation in his Xterra. Now I have to keep my wife at bay because now she wants me to sell it.