truck stuff

If your front and rear gear ratios are not the same you cannot drive it in

4x4 on anything but soft sand/thick gravel or snow/ice without severely thrashing your truck.

Like the other guy "nobody" said . If your gears are not the same then one is pushing more than the other and thats gonna tear hell out of your drive train. Unless your in mudd,snow or gravel that gives enuff to let one of the axles slide enuff so it wont affect the other axle. good luck. CaptainAmerica {aka David}

Even IF the ratios are exactly the same, you ought not drive in 4WD on anything other than dirt or gravel.

Well, whatever happened to good ol' dirt? When God made the world, he covered it with dirt and some places it has a layer of grass on top of that. Both of those are completely safe to wind up your transfer case on. Just based on the fact that a person would go to the computer and ask where a surface might be that's got less traction than asphalt, I fear for the republic.

With that said, though, I think these transfer case alarmists are just repeating a bunch of heresay. I wouldn't take any of them at their word unless they'd personally busted about 10 transfer cases. I'm completely serious. I've never managed to break one.

Joe brought next idea :

I didn't ask what surface to attempt to drive it on. I asked if there was a safe way to *test* it. That statment doesn't necesitate driving. I also asked if certain things I mentioned were normal and no one, including your wise self, who obviously failed to read the post, answered that part.

You also didn't tell us what surface you were driving on.

If you were not driving on dirt, then the noise is normal. Maybe not "normal" per se, but understandable. If you drive on dirt or gravel, and IF your mechanic is not a complete idiot, then driving on dirt is a good test.

It was indeed on the street. This is my first 4wd vehicle. I was wondering if maybe it had something to do with the locking hubs or something. I certainly can't afford front axles or a transfer case.

Then the noise and sensations in the steering wheel were normal. Go out to the dirt and test it again.

Jeff Strickland was thinking very hard :

If I do, somehow, blow the transfer case, either hitting a dry patch in the snow or whatever, do the rear wheels still work? Maybe a stupid question to anyone who has peered into one, but I've haven't had the opportunity.

It happens that Paul H. Wray formulated :

Thank you. That I can work with.

then prepare to be blown away.... this is ONE of 3 cases of the same model (dana 20, EB version) that busted when i *thought* my front and rear hd the same gears, silly me.

i also tore in half the NP208 that was in my 85 F250 but it wasnt near as cool since its a magnesium cased unit.

make DARN sure you dont use 4x4 on high traction surfaces! and if you must then make sure you have the same ratios!

also, are you running auto hubs? or manual hubs? if autos then they are notorious for making weird/undesirable noises!

wet grass is your best test pad =)

-cutts-

It takes a long time to damage the transfer case. If your habit is to select

4WD and hit the highway in bad weather, then you are going to damage the tcase. If you habit is to hit the highway in bad weather, then select 4WD on an as-needed basis, then you are not going to damage the tcase over an instance or two of dry land.

You do not sound very sure of yourself in this matter, I'd encourage you to have a mechanically inclined friend over for some beers, and ask him to help you determine if the gears are the same on the front and rear.

You have to draw a mark on the tire, and draw another mark on the drive shaft. Then turn the drive shaft and count how many times it goes around for the tire to go once. You should have 3.07, 3.73, or some number like that. The 3.07 gears will make the driveshaft turn just a bit more than 3 full turns, the 3.73s will make it turn almost 3 3/4 turns.