Just got my truck back from the dealer who replaced one of the front hub seals. Started out with a grinding and rattling sound in the front axle like as if the four wheel drive was partially engaging.
They said the seal was creating a vaccum leak causing the axle to try and engage.
Well, on my way home the other side started doing the same thing. Scared the Shht out of me with a loud bang and sounded like someone threw a pipe wrench in a barrel and rolled it down a hill.
Stopped the truck and called the dealer who was 1 minute after closing on Friday. So, drove it home and waiting to hear from them Monday.
Anyone??? Experience with this and what I may or should ask or demand? That noise surely couldn't be good for whatever may be left in the axle.

 

Anyone??

 

Just an update... dealer said they pulled the axle hub off and checked the splines and vacuum and couldn't re-create the problem so they're sending it back with me unable to find anything wrong. Great

 

It's possible the mechanic overlooked something when he repaired the other seal and corrected it when you brought it back in. If he did you will never know. As long as it is fixed this time you should be good to go.

 

Well, not good to go, drove 15 miles into town with it and it did the same thing 4 more times. Dealer again called me today and said they couldn't recreate the problem. I told them to keep driving it around until it does it and they'll understand. Well, 6 hours later they finally said it happened over and over again. So.. they put two new hubs on and delivered it to my house. We'll see if it's fixed this time.

 

If anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them. I got the truck back with new hubs and my wife and I drove it today for about 5 miles and sure enough. Still has the grinding or maybe more like cards in a spoke sound from the front end. I'm not slamming my dealership (yet) but someone must have some ideas what could be wrong.. Anyone?

 

Could it be a vacuum leak under certain conditions back up near the firewall?
I think of this, because it is very unlikely that both hubs would act up at the same time.

 

Dealer said he did a leak down test with vacuum and couldn't find the problem. Said he checked the check valves and lines too.