Went for a drive in the PW yesterday and was headed up a mountain road (paved) and as we crawled along I started hearing a low grind/growl coming out of the (pretty sure front) end. Noticed it more as we went really slow, like 5 mph. I was in 2 wheel at the time.
When I got home I checked around and ended up finding 1 tire is a different size than the other 3. Rt Rear is 30 x 9.5/15, others are 31 x 10.5/15. I know you aren't supposed to run different sizes on a 4x4 but what would the effect be? Would it cause a growl at low speeds (nothing at hwy speeds).
Thanks
Speed Dragon
09-19-2006, 08:48 AM
You sure you weren't rubbing a tire somewhere? regardless, it's not good for the rear end to have two sizes.
Mopower79
09-19-2006, 11:05 AM
I know this might sound unlikely ....But I had a "Grinding" , "ticking" noise which sounded to come from the drivers front....I could never figure it out for a long time till one day I was cruisin around & It got louder & louder till it sounded like complete "Metal to Metal" grinding....Man it was "spooky" ...
Long strory short it ended up being the cruise control gear box on the drivers side inner fender well.........Replaced it with one out of a 74 Newport...Problem solved!!
Anywho.. I can't hear what you are hearing but if you have cruise control its worth lookin into!..
I would disconnect both speedo cables & lube the heck out of it....& the cables
I hope it is something as simple as that....Cause as most of us "Old-schoolers" know The front diff. is a PIA to work on!!!!!
Hope this helps!!
Laters,.. Craig
mlauk
09-19-2006, 01:44 PM
Running different size tires on any axle makes the differential work all the time.
Jack up the truck and spin the wheel to see if you notice anything. I don't know what year they added the grease zirk, but there is one on my '77 where you can greas the front bearings through a hole on the hub.
L5wolvesf
09-22-2006, 07:43 PM
no rubbing - tires are way too small, no cruise control - good thought though, I did jack it up but no noise. yeah describing a sound in text isn't simple - there was also a clunkiness to the sound.
I'm looking to know if the different size tire (in the rear) could effect something up front, or if I need to be concrened about a component in the 4x4 mechanism.
mlauk
09-25-2006, 01:41 PM
Check all your u-joints and grease them.
L5wolvesf
09-26-2006, 09:41 PM
What would happen if I ran different size tires in the rear (32x11.5 /15) vs. 31x10.5 /15 in front? What components might that effect?
Thanks
acton mike
09-26-2006, 11:27 PM
running different diameter wheel/tire combinations is not good for 4WD components, particulary transfer cases ( in the cases of the difference being from front to rear or vice versa
diameter size difference from side to side on an axle make the differentials work harder; I gather it is not particulary good for limited slip units and i gather lockers don't like it a bit
mlauk
09-27-2006, 11:31 AM
If you have a np203 transfer case (full time 4wd) then it would make the differential in the transfer case work constantly. If you put it in HiLoc or LoLoc, then it would be very hard on the drive line and tires.
