Continuing TOD Issues AARRRGGH!!!

[Trudy Carp]

Do these VX's have a timer on them that self destructs the vehicle everytime
the title changes?
I put the Trooper steel 16's with 265/75/16 Nitto's on a Friday, took it wheelin on Saturday on a pretty tough little trail, 4wd low the whole day. Now I have a TOD graph going nuts whenever there's the slightest slippage ( just a dirt road will do it) and the vehicle jerks in time to the front axle lock and unlock. It also makes a weird scuffing noise in time to the TOD lock up. No TOD check light. Couldn't pull anything with my scanner.
Tried to take the front shaft out to help diag the problem. It's siezed into the front axle and won't come loose from the flange. Tried everything to get it out, side hammer tap, etc. It was just rebuilt and reinstalled a month ago, a couple weeks before the tires went on. Is the front drive shaft binding? Could that be it? Am I the victim of yet another botched repair? Do I have a cv joint binding? Is there a problem with the front axle? Help! I'm about ready to throw in the towel and dump it on Denver Isuzu to diag. I haven't gotten this dirty since I sold my Mustang GT. Husband doesn't want anything to do with the "turtle" and he's starting to get pissed at me for buying it. Says all he sees of me anymore are my feet sticking out from under this thing. I have a spare complete front axle with only 4200 miles on it, think I might be glad I bought it. Wendysmiling I feel your pain.

[ZEUS]

The front driveshaft is a pita to get out sometimes. Before you get it out though, be sure you mark it in a way that you are sure you install it the same way it was when you took it out. Unless of course, the people who worked on it didn't install it the same way and there is now vibration coming from it. The best way I have found to remove the driveshaft is to use a good strong flat head screw driver and hammer to get underneath the "star-shaped" flange at the rear of the driveshaft. Rotate the driveshaft to get to the opposing side and keep wedging in the screwdriver until the flange becomes free.


I think you are on the right track to pull the front driveshaft to test things out a bit. Noticed any leaks underneath, around the t-case?

[WILLY]

The whole day in 4 low on a tough little trail could be the problem,sounds like a lot of wear and tear ouch. :confused:

[Trudy Carp]

Well, after borrowing a lift @ the Chevy dealer that my husband writes service for, one of his techs got the front shaft out. Boy, you guys are right. It took an hour and some busted screwdrivers. Now, it drives perfectly normal. No dancing TOD graph, no noise. It even takes pretty deep throttle to get the 2d block to light up. Without the front axle being pushed by the driveshaft, it seems to be happy again. No noise, no scuffing sounds, no irratic behavor.

Note: When trans & T-case swap was done, the idiot dropped the guts of the front driveshaft all over the garage floor when he pulled the shaft from the axle. He then assembled it with some stuff in backwards and some stuff missing. He then road tested this vehicle on the interstate at highway speeds, even though the front end was being shook apart by a non rotating/binding front driveshaft socket. He brought it to me at work and told me there was some BAD vibration in the front end. Ask me to come out and drive it around the block and let him know if it was doing this before. Duh. I rolled it forward 100 feet in the parking lot and the front end was jumping all over the place, VIOLENTLY! He then confessed that it fell apart on him and he may not have assembled it correctly. Duh, when in doubt, leave it out? This guy is a "World Class" certified GM trans tech? Why would you even leave the garage parking lot with a vehicle behaving like this is beyond my comprehension.
So, out came the driveshaft and down to Denver to a rebuilder it went. I picked it up 3 days later and the guy at the shaft shop couldn't believe it even turned. Parts in backwards, stuff missing, boot destroyed and some minor gouging to the inside of the housing that he had to file to smooth back out. Any worse and I would have had to buy a new shaft.
So, could that little episode have damaged the front axle pinion and did I excelerate that damage with my little off road excursion?