Intermittent bad noise downhill in 4WD


[Follow Ups] [Post Followup] [Dodge Power Wagon Forum]


Posted by D Sherman [72.47.153.24] on Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 04:06:34 :

When I go down a steep hill in 4WD in the M37, I hear a loud bang from the drive train and the truck lurches forward intermittently. It might be every 50-200 feet or so. The obvious explanation is torque windup followed by a tire slipping, but the more I think about it the more I don't think that's it. It never happens going uphill or on the level, even on bare pavement under conditions that bind up the drive train to the point where I can't shift the transfer case until I back up for a ways. It doesn't happen when I'm going downhill on snow, but it does on loose dirt or gravel.

It's a bit disconcerting on a steep hill where I'm relying on engine compression for braking because it feels like something is slipping or skipping and is liable to break completely leaving to discover whether 3 oily worn-out pairs of brake shoes will be enough to stop the truck.

Before anybody scolds me for being a hazard to the motoring public, understand that I'm driving on old forest service roads, mining roads, and cat tracks that nobody else is on.

Is this normal for an M37? I can't figure any way that a transfer case could "slip a tooth" internally from time to time and still mostly work right and not get any worse either. If I had to guess I'd say the clunk is coming from the transmission/tcase area and not from the axles, but I could be wrong.

I haven't had any of the gearboxes apart on this truck. The tranny has a small crack in it due to it getting a lot of water in it and freezing, and it whines a fair bit in 4th gear, but it never pops out of gear on its own and the crack isn't big enough to lose a significant amount of oil even over a couple of years.



Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:
Subject:
Message:
Optional Link
URL:
Title:
Optional Image Link
URL:


This board is powered by the Mr. Fong Device from Cyberarmy.com