- Aug 24, 2014
- 189
Hey everyone. So this is an interesting one.... Last night I drive the truck in snowy weather, first in 2WD and then I switched to 4WD because the wheels spun a couple times, causing the Stabilitrak to take over and throttle back. Bad weather and no plows was not fun but I know not a problem for this truck. Got on the main roads, up to around 45mph in some places no problem. Got home, parked it and left it in 4WD overnight.
Got up this morning to move it for the plow. Got in, took it out of 4WD and had to make a 3 point turn out of the space in addition to additional tight 90 degree turns to get it where I needed to move it to. Was getting resistance (but not as much as if it was in 4WD) and some tire chirping coming from the rear only on turns, and was seeing it in the mirror that the tire was intermittently dragging. 4 turns later and it was still doing it. I back up to park it parallel to my other truck. Not sure if there was snow or something stuck in the wheel or behind it but I think of "What if the differential or transfer case is stuck?" because I have had issues with the other truck hanging in 4WD (so I unlock the PosiLock or shift from reverse to drive a couple times and it unlocks) so I think of trying something unusual. I cycle the 4WD system into 4HI and back to 2HI and put the shifter into reverse and then drive. I grab my wallet (with my AAA card in it) and take a test drive. Could not reproduce the issue. Turns were smooth. Now I am baffled.
So what could I be dealing with here? No leaks and I know the fluid is nice because it was changed less than a year ago with 75W-90. I know this truck has an 8.6" ring gear but GM apparantly has it on file as an 8" for some reason and bought the cover back then from them based on the lookup. Found out the hard way about 3 years ago because the cover had a nice scar in it when I went to change the fluid. Changed the cover and fluid again, no pieces broken off the gear and good as new. Only recent work in that area was removing the rear left wheel to redo the bead seal due to a slow leak. Thanks
Edit: The truck has just over 60K on it, what about the calipers? They are original.
Got up this morning to move it for the plow. Got in, took it out of 4WD and had to make a 3 point turn out of the space in addition to additional tight 90 degree turns to get it where I needed to move it to. Was getting resistance (but not as much as if it was in 4WD) and some tire chirping coming from the rear only on turns, and was seeing it in the mirror that the tire was intermittently dragging. 4 turns later and it was still doing it. I back up to park it parallel to my other truck. Not sure if there was snow or something stuck in the wheel or behind it but I think of "What if the differential or transfer case is stuck?" because I have had issues with the other truck hanging in 4WD (so I unlock the PosiLock or shift from reverse to drive a couple times and it unlocks) so I think of trying something unusual. I cycle the 4WD system into 4HI and back to 2HI and put the shifter into reverse and then drive. I grab my wallet (with my AAA card in it) and take a test drive. Could not reproduce the issue. Turns were smooth. Now I am baffled.
So what could I be dealing with here? No leaks and I know the fluid is nice because it was changed less than a year ago with 75W-90. I know this truck has an 8.6" ring gear but GM apparantly has it on file as an 8" for some reason and bought the cover back then from them based on the lookup. Found out the hard way about 3 years ago because the cover had a nice scar in it when I went to change the fluid. Changed the cover and fluid again, no pieces broken off the gear and good as new. Only recent work in that area was removing the rear left wheel to redo the bead seal due to a slow leak. Thanks
Edit: The truck has just over 60K on it, what about the calipers? They are original.
Last edited: