i have been trying to pin down a noise and why my 01 Yukon has had in the front end, the noise seems to be coming from the drivers front wheel (I changed both front hubs, rebuilt the entire front end) but the noise is still there and I have a sailboating effect where it feels like mild cross winds are pushing me from side to side, this is now intermittent when the noise leaves the Yukon tracks perfect! I did change the diff fluid (purchased from the dealer) now all I can think is it has to be in the front diff! There are apparently clutches in it for the auto 4WD mode! I’m thinking it could be the front Diff engaging causing the drift? Or a bearing that is about to fail on The drivers side flange of the diff? Anyone here have a issue like this with a GM truck that has the Auto 4WD system? I leave it in 2WD and have only used the auto and 4High modes a couple times, this issue has to be in the front diff! There’s no other explanation since the hubs are new the CV axles are both new! Both tie rods, swaybar bushings, bumpstops, shocks, tires are all new since about a month ago I did swap out the Hubs once thinking i may have gotten a bad one! But it’s the same and Timkin makes good parts. Am I going to need to replace the front Diff? What I was thinking of doing temporarily is get a couple of Junkyard CV axles and remove the shafts from the spline side and use it to hold the hub together so I can disconnect the front wheels from the Differential till I can get it rebuilt or replaced! But I’m not sure if using a disassembled CV axle to hold the hub together will work? It’s a low cost bandaid if it will! I don’t need the 4WD I live in South Carolina not much snow.
Noise steering drag? Front differential? Auto 4WD
- Thread starter KR66
- Start date
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if you have already done all the suspension/tie rods, etc then the steering issue could be the steering box, noise would be something else
I don’t think it’s the steering box, because the noise seems related to the drifting when it’s gone the tracking is ok, it seems like something is binding causing the wheel to drag I put a lot of miles on it since this started almost 10000 Nothing has broken but my luck may run out.
well then the front diff's are pretty easy to do, I would just look for a clean looking one at the junkyard and swap them out, prices to rebuild are ridiculous.
It looks easy I have to find one not many bone yards around me.
swathdiver
Full Access Member
How about a caliper hanging up intermittently?
I thought of that I don’t think it could be the pads are ceramic and the past 10000 miles are wearing even, the drift and noise isn’t affected by braking, it’s there the loudest when cold (Sat at least 8 hours) it only became intermittent when I drove to Illinois for the 3rd time from South Carolina now it’s 50% after I have been driving for at least 30 minuets.
swathdiver
Full Access Member
Well Ken, since you've checked everything, it's time to go back and check everything again, hands on every part, eyeball on every suspected part. Another set of eyes wouldn't hurt neither.
I’ve been working on this for about a year a friend say it the rear but he doesn’t understand the auto 4WD I replaced everything that made sense except for the Diff, the only thing I can do next would be to put a GoPro under there to watch and listen while I’m driving since I don’t have access to a lift, 2 dealerships had it on a lift and can’t find anything wrong? I’m tired of dumping money into it, what’s strange is when I’m 4WD it’s perfect no noise but only in true 4WD in auto it still makes the noise unless there’s slipping that causes the front DIF to engage, I just called the only bone yard around me that would have a GM with the part they can’t tell me what the price would be the price list has a dozen varieties of Axels and he didn’t know if it was a $80 or a $200 part? I just wish I had a place to rebuild it,
that's weird usually they can just look it up with your vin number, there are a number of them on ebay if you shop around you can get one shipped fairly reasonable, prices vary a lot on ebay for the exact same part I guess some of these places think they have a gold nugget but others will give a decent price and shipping or even free shipping. you just need to verify the correct part, your local dealer parts department may provide it for you if there not *********. if you want to spend the money there are some places online that sell rebuilt units but there usually not so cheap.
