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
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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.
have you checked the front diff for any metal shavings in the fluid?
swathdiver
Full Access Member
Why not jack it up and put it into gear? The actuator going into the differential could be making this noise since it does not make noise engaged in 4WD. Could also be a yoke or u-joint but not likely. Where do you live? Maybe someone around here lives nearby and could lend a hand or see how the actuator is engaging via a Tech2???
I have a pretty good relationship with the parts department at the local Chevy dealership I spent a lot of $$ there, I will have to stop in and see if they can look it up, I have found they sometimes have a problem finding the correct part even by the vin, like when I needed a Drier for the ac they showed 2 variants and had to guess on what one it took. The LQK is a joke the guy who answered the phone said he didn’t know cars that well (what was he doing working the counter at a junk yard?)
M1Gunner
Full Access Member
Have you grabbed the flange from the front diff and moved it back/forth in/out to see if there any play? You may need to unbolt the half shaft from the flange on the driver side in order to feel any play as the half shaft is going to support and apply pressure which would give a false hope of everything being tight.
When I changed the hubs I tried both sides I didn’t feel any excessive play si has to be inside the diff
M1Gunner
Full Access Member
That’s not uncommon. There are two options for accumulators regarding our ac systems and unfortunately unless your familiar and can identify the differences then itll be 50/50 shot.
I had the same issue with other parts also like the Keyless remote I forget the other parts that we had to guess on I’m hoping the differential isn’t going to be the same so I probably have to find the id tag on it and photograph the RPP sticker in the glove box, I hope the front diff wasn’t changed before I owned it I know they have two different gear ratios used one for towing one for light duty use, if they put the wrong one in and used the 4WD I could have messed it up inside! I can’t figure out the vehicles history everything looks like new it even has the original exhaust that’s odd for a 01 with 270000 miles!
the number you called is probably answered by LKQ they have a nationwide database (or consortium) for all participating junkyards, the junkyards provide a list of what they have in stock to LKQ and what they want to sell it for, then when someone calls in they try to sell it to the closest person which is why sometimes when you call in they will have different prices from different locations but it sounds like whoever you talked to was a rookie.
Probably the staff at my closest lqk never was very helpful and I never saw them on the phone! Once I found a YukoI wanted to pull till parts from I saw blood all over the interior I told them and the desk clerk got nasty because I brought it up in front of everybody it looked like someone was shot in it and they put it out for parts, so I really look before I reach into any vehicle at this yard! It should have at least had a biohazard warning on it, the women just said real nasty “we follow all laws“ what ever that means? It was bad the drivers seat was covered in blood and there was splattered on the passenger seat the vehicle was not wrecked! I only saw something like this once before when I worked for a towing company in Florida that had a contact with the sheriff and FHP, when someone took themselves out in there car and I had to go get it, I remember the smell this vehicle in the lqk had the same smell but faint so someone or something died in it!
Here’s a GoPro video of the noise, you have to ignore the steering pump at slow speed and the buzzing (Its the wind vibrating the GoPro case) and wait till I’m on pavement the stone drive masks the sound,you can hear the clunks and such as I slow down and speed up, it sounds like the bearings in the cv axle or hub but it’s not they are new! Anyone recognize this it has to be in the differential!
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