Sorry to revive a dead thread, but this 20 posts for a new thread thing is rediculous.
Anyways, I’m having the same issue. I just picked up this 99 Limited 4x4 with the e-locker, with no rust on the frame, and 270kmiles, for $400. I needed a bit of work, but it was all easy maintainence and cosmetic issues (his dog decided to eat half the interior). However, As soon as the weather got cold here(below freezing), my truck started having an issue where I’d have to rev it up to 3k just get it to move from park to drive. Reverse was a little easier, but I still had to rev a bit. When it finally gets going, it starts to lurch froward a bit. When I get up to speeds of 20mph+ it stops doing this, but the engine still feels like it’s under load. If I come to a rolling stop, the truck seems to have “wheel hop” as a front wheel drive car would, except in the rear wheels. It does this a few times and then stops once it gets over a certain speed.
Now, I just replaced the solenoids in the trans to see if that would fix the problem, and it did slightly, but I think it made improvements because now the trans shifts much better. Anyways, when I was in there, I inspected the fluid, which smelled like dirt and was EXTREMELY dark. I am assuming that it had only ever had its fluid a flushed once around 100k (the service manual inside has a few maintenance records filled out) but there were no metal chunks, just a little “dust” on the magnets. So i cleaned that and replaced the fluid and added Lucas trans fixer as well(took an hour to it get the whole bottle in because it was cold).
My thoughts, after ruling out busted trans(it shifts like butter when above 20mph) is that the brakes are seized a bit somewhere and/or rear passenger axle seal died. There’s a build up of gunk on the passenger side rear wheel which makes me think axle seal. If it is the axle seal, I feel like it may have gotten intoxicating the drum and has stuck the shoes. One other reason I feel it might be the brake is that i went to check the ebrake cables (the actualy ebrake doesn’t work, it’s too tight), and both of the things at the rear wheels are locked in place. The rear passenger is stuck in a pulled position, so I think it’s forcing the brakes against the shoe slightly. I wasn’t able to hammer it closed a bit,and it seemed to make the problem a little better. Reverse now works perfect, but drive still seems like the engine is under load. I’m going to get the brakes serviced here nic the next few days (it’s getting far too cold out here in Minnesota to do the work myself without a garage)
So after all that, I’m questioning if the “wheel hop” I’m feeling could be related to the rear diff, (or any of the diffs) could be low on fluid and is causing the hop? I also smell a burning smell after driving the car for ten minutes when I get out of the truck, but I can’t tell where it’s coming from. None of the brakes are overly hot (the rear drums actually seem cold even). It almost smells like trans fluid burning, but it smells the same when it’s idling for ten minutes. So im thinking that it’s just some fluid I spilled when filling up the trans?
Anyways, I figured I’d post my experience, as it seems to be rather unique. I will update this when I get the brakes done to tell you whether or not it fixed the issue!
