Bindage?

[M. Lake]

The stock D30 in front (a '93) is open and the drive shaft spins freely when in 2wd, why does the front axle bind up if it all rolls freely?

[HossHoffer]

Do you mean that there is binding with weight on the axle or when in 4wd. There is the vacuum axle disconnect on the right side that could be the culprit but I'm not sure of your symptoms. When is it binding? In turns, at speed. Popping or clicking?

[M. Lake]

It is not the vacume acutaited axle. It does it when turning tight corners. I have a '93 that I am building up and a '95 that is a DD and both of them do it. In 2wd

[HossHoffer]

Lift weight off the wheels and shake your tire holding it at the 12:00 and 6:00 positions. If there is any looseness then your hub bearings are shot and you need to replace them. My symtoms were the same, binding in tight turns. I had a pretty good grinding noise by the end too and my bearings were dry as a bone with little bearing turds coming out!

[M. Lake]

Thanks!

[Matthew Currie]

Stiff universal joints in the axle will also do this. When you have it jacked up, check for worn joints, and try rotating the wheel with the steering at full lock.

[@dam]

Wow...mine was shuddering at full-lock steering too. I'll jack it up today and see if the bearings are bad.

Are they hard to change?

[HossHoffer]

Not hard, just expensive. About $150 each hub assy, $190 for bearings and seals for both. The trick is to loosen the bolts on the hub a use them to drive the hub out of the steering knuckle.