whine from 4x4 shifter at high speed

[K-Man]

On my 94 Ram 1500, automatic transmission, recently I am hearing a whining noise, high pitched, from underneath the area of the 4x4 shifter. This happens about 65 mph and faster, and seems related to the rpms, such that if I am going down hill on the highway and let off the gas then the noise dies down. It is getting worse by the day.

I can feel a slight vibration in tha shifter. If I hold it firmly to the right, it seems to stop the noise.

Could it be low on fluid in the transfer case?

Or some type of adjustment needed to the shifter?

I tried changing the transmission fluid and filter so far, no help. I also added a bottl of Lucas to the transmission.

I have see leaking oil from the front gear box, so that is why I wondered if maybe I should top it off, and if so, would it be good to put Lucas in there?

Thanks!
Nick

[swirvin21]

Not sure about the Lucas, but you definitely should check the fluid level, then the u-joints. Pulling the driveshaft is an easy way to tell if it's coming from the t-case or joints.

[Jasonlmrx]

I put lucas in everything haha

[mac199]

im having the same problem where do you check the fluid at lol?

[swirvin21]

The rear of the tcase is a fill plug, recessed for a large allen key, some people use a ratchet head, but I think it will round out the plug if it's good n' tight.

[outalne94z71]

do not use lucas, it changes the oil's properties and causes it to cavitate which will lead to failure, there was a great writeup on bobistheoilguy showing what it does but i cant find it since the site makeover

[K-Man]

(01-18-2012 02:06 PM)swirvin21 Wrote:  Not sure about the Lucas, but you definitely should check the fluid level, then the u-joints. Pulling the driveshaft is an easy way to tell if it's coming from the t-case or joints.

Thanks. This weekend I will start with the fluid (will not use Lucas), and if I find it is not low then will pull the drive shaft and see what it looks like.

Abotu 1 or 2 yrs ago I had it out when I replace a ujoint on the right side, and oil did come out, never topped off, but it was fine up till just about 2 weeks ago, when the noise began.

Nick

[The Boss]

(01-18-2012 10:59 PM)outalne94z71 Wrote:  do not use lucas, it changes the oil's properties and causes it to cavitate which will lead to failure, there was a great writeup on bobistheoilguy showing what it does but i cant find it since the site makeover

http://www.pavementsucks.com/board/threa...rks?page=2

http://www.pavementsucks.com/board/threa...p-any-good

http://www.pavementsucks.com/board/threa...-Additives

unfortunately I had to use Google to get these

[mac199]

ok thanks!!

[K-Man]

Transfer case was full of nice pink fluid, so I didn't mess with it. I may have figured something out, though. I removed the rubber cover and boot from over the 4x4 shifter, to look over the area that seemed to be making the whine noise. There is a spring at the base of the stick that makes it lean left. It was all rusty. I dribbled 30w oil all over that, and over all other contact areas and joints, and then had my friend drive down the highway at about 60-70 while I watched thru that opening to see what might be going on. It was a lot less whiny, though loud because it was open to the highway underneath. It was strange to observe that even tho I was in 2wd the front driveshaft was still rotating a little at speeds over about 20 or 30 mph, but very slowly. I guess maybe the 4wd never totally disengages, and not sure if that is ok or not.

But now that I did this and put the rubber covers back on, the noise has died down so much from the oil job I did on it that if I did not know to be listening for this I would not be aware of it at all. Maybe it's much ado over nothing.

Nick