break my delica or break the bank?

[inferno]

I have driven my Delica (91, 5spd manual, retrofit manual hubs) from Vancouver down to southern california, and along the way (Sacramento roughly) began getting the nasty grinding noise associated with 4H engaging while the hubs are unlocked. The grinding/rubbing developed over time. Made it to my destination with a few 100kms of driving in 4H w/ locked hubs. But now I am 2000km from home and faced with a choice of either paying big bucks to tow the van home on a trailer, or drive it home in 4H, potentially wreck the transfer case etc. and pay the big bucks to repair it at home - it sounds already like it is going to need the repairs anyways.

I've tried various iterations of locking/unlocking hubs, shifting levers, backing up to disengage, wait for the "thunk" etc. Perhaps I haven't hit on the exact magic combination though?

Not sure what to do ... any advice?

[Schwa]

If you drove the van in 4WD on normal road (not snowy or gravel) that may have caused damage to the transfer case gears since there's no differential between front/back drive.

[Sailing Deli]

Just a thought that someone else maybe can confirm....if you remove the front shaft then your in 2wd. Ive removed the rear shaft when I blew a ujoint in a old pickup once.....just a thought

[loki]

Just a thought that someone else maybe can confirm....if you remove the front shaft then your in 2wd. Ive removed the rear shaft when I blew a ujoint in a old pickup once.....just a thought

that should work, had to do that on my brothers Jeep many times as it was lifted to high and the shaft wasn't lengthened and the axle wasn't angled up so he blew u-joints all the time.

[docsavage]

Take the hubs apart and remove the locking ring at the bottom. You may be able to get a dust cap and drive it without the auto hubs.

James

[Adrock]

take this opportunity to buy some sick manual hubs, I would bet california will have them cheaper than here anyways provided there are some that will fit the deli. It may not solve your problems but that should get you home in 4x4 without actually engaging the front wheels and thus causing more damage, not to mention some fairly worn out tires.

[inferno]

I did not start driving in the 4H (ever) until after the noises developed. This grinding developed after about 1000km highway driving in 2H with hubs unlocked. Locking the hubs and switching to 4H caused the grinding to cease (at least in an audible sense) so that I could complete my drive from 'nowhere' to 'somewhere'. These are manual hubs on manual 5spd, not autolocks.

Thanks for the suggestions about removing front drive shaft or disassembling hubs. Can anyone point me to a PDF manual online that might outline servicing these parts?

[EricN]

Lock the hubs and drive in 2wd? Does it still do it?
Lock just one hub and drive in 4wd does it do it, swap sides as well, does it do it? (your diff will not like that one for very long).
Drive in 4wd with the hubs unlocked, does it do it?
My gut feeling is if you need to engage the t-case into 4wd to make it stop, it will be something in the transfercase or more likely the linkage out of adjustment (I think the 4wd stuff is cable operated, need to double check).

[docsavage]

How are the bearings?? Driving them in 4wd may stabilize the bearing - maybe?

James

[inferno]

I got about 700km back driving in 4WD. Tried driving in 2W again with the hubs locked and got about 2km before something went crunch and caught on fire, dribbling a green and black slick across the Hwy99. Luckily the fire went out on its own.

"Delica for sale. Needs some work"