Clicking Noise While In 4 Wheel Drive HELP!!!

long story short- I have always had problems with my 4 wheel drive engaging and the vacumn for it has always been messed up. Therefore, I decided to go to a manual pull lever for the four wheel drive. Im basically duplicating what they sell for upwards of 180 dollars at other places. Anyways I finally got it all dialed in and the 4 wheel drive goes in and out. Now after all that work i have a clicking coming from underneath. I need some help please!!

-could it be fluid
-could it be the u-joints in the driveline
-could it be the driveline itself
-please help me !! thank you in advance for all your advice

xjhandy said:

-could it be fluid YES
-could it be the u-joints in the driveline YES
-could it be the driveline itself YES
-please help me !! thank you in advance for all your advice

Click to expand...

the only way to find out is to get underneat and look. no offense, but if you were able to convert/install a cable actuator for your front axle, then you should be able to check out your fluid, u-joints and anything else.

i also recommend that you actually pull the front driveshaft to check the u-joints. i've seen some bad front driveshaft u-joint get overlooked because there was enough load on them in the vehicle that you couldn't tell.

If it happens really badly in 4 or during turns it is probably axleshaft u-joints.

Did you change the driveline angles at all when you put on the posi-lock? I can't see how/why you would, but if it was silent before and now all of a sudden you've got noise, I highly doubt it was something like spontaneous angle change or Front DS U-joint failure...

shaft U joints are cheap and super easy, why not do them anyways?

Fluid...well I mean, c'mon...

Was the silence before due to the fact that you simply weren't using 4? If that's the case then I'd look at the DS u-joints too...

How do the gears look in your front diff? If you've had a history of problematic engagement with 4, are you sure those gears are all good?

The last one is a stretch, but it is also the only thing that's been mentioned the folks around here might possibly not consider as routine maintenance.