Front Diff NFG?

[K STYLEZ]

Thought I had a front right wheel bearing going out on the 05 TB 4.2 NP8. Any time I put weight on the front right, there was a louder droning/grinding that is typical of such an issue.

I assumed, unrelated to this issue, that I also had a 4wd actuator/encoder failure as 4wd stopped working about a month ago. No lights/codes of any kind.

Pulled the brakes as I'm also doing the LWB brake upgrade and the wheel bearing seems just fine.

I'm going to do the front diff fluid, but am I wasting my time/expensive fluid?

Could there be an internal failure really to blame for the lack of 4wd?

I replace the T case fluid about 20K ago and that really seemed to help things out...

Any thoughts?

[navigator]

my wheel bearings made a great deal of noise for several weeks before I changed them.
When I pulled them off, you couldn't tell they were bad by looking at them/moving them.

On your 4wd issue, look in the tech docs at the "Diagnosing the 4WD System". It can help you diagnose most issues.
First off, if you hear the two noises when the 4wd tries to engage and get no lights, my guess is it is your disconnect.

[K STYLEZ]

Old fluid is pretty chocolaty looking and almost appears a bit metallic...

Gonna swap it out, throw on the bearing and hope for the best.

[v7guy]

Old fluid is pretty chocolaty looking and almost appears a bit metallic...

Gonna swap it out, throw on the bearing and hope for the best.

it'll be like that normally, don't worry about it. unless there's chunks of metal you should be gtg

[K STYLEZ]

Only good side of all this is that I get a chance to fool with new parts for it.

I drive the shit out of the thing, so it's been hard to bring her in for new developments.

Prototype rear sway bar end link. It's all teflon booted spherical rod ends, adjustable, and I've relocated it to the other side of the bracket/sway bar. I'll take a pic in a bit of the spacer we made for the sway side. Get's the end link out of the way of the upper control arm at articulation preventing contact.

[K STYLEZ]

Works pretty good so far

[K STYLEZ]

Well, the right front wheel bearing deff WAS bad. Once off and rotated by hand you could feel a bit of roughness. So that's good!

The LWB brake upgrade is awesome BTW. Much nicer braking performance.

After using the flowchart (thanx ortb.com!) I have determined the issue to be with the T-case, but had to get going friday and have yet to complete testing. Should be able to pull her in tomorrow. Has to be that encoder.

I'll let ya know!!!

[v7guy]

What's rubbin on your rear upper control arm?

[K STYLEZ]

E brake cable was. It's out of the way now tho.

[Trail X]

That swaybar endlink looks promising! Just a matter of swapping sides basically?

Good luck diagnosing the transfer case, those things can be a bit deceptive. What are your symptoms?

[K STYLEZ]

Yeah, swapping sides, but I did have to trim the bottom of the factory bracket a tad for clearance. It's stamped so there is about a 1/2 inch of material on that side.

I was running 5/8" rod ends and swedge tube in the pic, I'll do it over with 1/2" stuff as it will provide a bit better clearance and allow for a straighter placement.

[Trail X]

Nice, that's using the old noggin!