Everyone that already commented is watching this topic, so we'll help/answer the best we can. I'm sure others may chime in, too. This hot topic is already a few pages deep!
Agreed on changing your front differential oil. I had some metal shavings in mine too by the fill plug (slightly and uncomfortably bigger than glitter), but had no side effects and everything still worked fine. I suspected the shavings I found were not from the ring and pinion itself, but from the actuation gear bits. Easily happened if someone tried to go into 4WD at too high of a speed.
Creamy color oil might be from moisture over time, but also might want to check to see if your vent hose is still intact. Happy trucking!
That's almost a perfect description of what I encountered when pulling out the actuator to tinker on it. I'll get the oils changed in the differentials ASAP and update ya'll on any findings.
I've got no doubt this project will be getting quite a bit more intense as we go along.
I watched an old 1950's like Chevrolet video on YouTube (
here if interested) that really made understanding a transmission a lot easier for me. I will not be dropping the transmission again until I've managed to find out exactly how to rebuild it for crawling/climbing; not sure if an OEM rebuild kit would be sufficient?
I also watched a feller tear down a
4L60-E on the YouTubez last night. It was for like an 06 or something, so I'm not sure if it's the same as my 94 lol, but it gave me an idea as to what I'd be up against. Won't be addressing this until it either goes out or I get my rotors/brakes replaced which ain't a big deal.
Yep, change oil ASAP in BOTH front and rear diffs.
To check for wear in the gears, engage the front actuator with your nifty new on-demand setup, then put the truck in neutral and the t-case in neutral, block the tires so it doesn't roll over you, lol. Then just get under the truck and try to turn the driveshafts back and forth. Check all of the U-joints for any movement (bad, replace soon also), if there is no U-joint movement but you can still wiggle the driveshaft then you have ring/pinion gear wear. If its just a slight movement I wouldn't worry too much about it, just put good oil in it and check for leaks regularly and make sure the movement doesn't get worse with time. If there is a lot of movement and you can hear the gears clanking when you are wiggling the driveshaft (My Snow-Plow truck is like this, lol) just realize that a rebuild or swap is in your near future (Summer project for my Snow-Plow truck)
One more Note on your new actuator, dont tighten that bolt too hard... go just past finger tight at most. The truck may need to roll back and forth to get the gears to engage. If you tighten down that bolt without the gears aligned you could cause damage.
I do have some ujoints on standby already just in case they're needed; so that's good! I'll be sure to test out all of these new suggestions the first chance I get!
I'm a bit of a go getter; so I prefer to diag until I'm most certain as to what is causing an issue; then I study (heavily) on how to resolve it; and I dedicate entire weekends, to fixing stuff.
I used to work at Freightliner as a detailer; and there were a few fellas that didn't mind me eyeballing their work and inquiring with curiosity. Diesels are a different ball game but it was beneficial and encouraging to know that if a guy knows what he's doing, he can get it done quickly if he commits the time.
I suspect my biggest hold up will be financial lol! But I do thoroughly enjoy making these repairs. This truck's got so many different problems that I feel like I'll quite literally end up rebuilding it from engine to axels. Which isn't bad, just expensive haha.
I've been pricing parts through
Rock Auto which has been pretty helpful in finding affordable parts. I think it only run me like $321.75 for MOOG ball joints, tie rods, idler and pitman arms; I felt like that wasn't too horrible? I'll continue to shop through them until someone can direct me to a better supplier haha. I'd like to keep it all MOOG if I can.