so I found a noise I've been looking for for a month or so.
very weird almost air leak sound shhhhhhhhh any time you get on the gas hard enough it down shifted at 40mph or so up. let off and it would go away. use the brakes and it made same air like sound, but not below about 30mph. also if you popped it in neutral while braking it went away.
very odd, when I first heard it I asked the wife if she heard it. she's like yeah, it just did it one day. didn't think much about it. my only real worry with this thing is the tranny, so I'm also wondering if any weird new sound is tranny failing.
after a month or 2 of wondering, for some reason this morning driving it, I had a thought it could be the transfer case instead of tranny, normally I always leave it in 2wd instead of auto. looked over and bam it's in auto. switch to 2wd and noise gone.
sadly it was probably me that did it. put it in auto to pull the car trailer thru the yard incase it tried to spin and tear up the grass lol.
on a side note, I can 100% say the transfer case that have auto setting definitely engage the clutch or whatever is in there even just driving around. between the noise now and metal I found on the drain plug when I first got it. seems the previous owners drove in auto a lot. probably could use a refresh but meh. being it doesn't snow here and I don't go off road. I'll just let it ride.