[Browny]

We went out this weekend riding and were climbing a pretty steep long rocky road, then something began slipping, and when I say slipping I mean an occasional fairly loud bang and jarring slip. As we continued up the rocky road it began to get worse to about every 40-50 feet, not the same distance each time (2 & 4WD, Hi & Low). At one point I told my wife this thing is going to dissinigrate a shaft or something and we are going to be dead in the water. We made it to the top but I am telling you it was so loud our friends following behind us in another T4 could hear it pop, they were driving 50' behind us! Going down the hill it was fine, we went up another steeper but much shorter hill and it was even worse, so bad when it slipped or let loose it would jar the T4 and we all could feel it. The friends following us described it as "it sounded like we were shooting a 20 gauge shotgun". I have no idea what it could be, maybe one of the clutches slipping on a shaft under load or something? It felt like it was coming from the engine area and not from a differential. Dealers are closed today but it will be interesting to see if they can figure it out as it is fine on flat ground. Has anyone dealt with this or have any ideas? Stock T4 LE.

 

[Ca51flatty]

noise

Chances are your front diff is not disengaging completely either from 4wd to 2wd or from lock to unlock. Next time look at your dash If the 2wd / 4wd indicator light is blinking then it is not fully engaged or disengaged. Always try to get the thing to unlock whenever possible. depending on wheel traction and load it might take a little messing around to get it to unlock. When under a slight load it sometimes is hard to unlock

 

[hondabob]

Since it does it in 2WD I expect the rear drive shaft splines may be damaged. On flat ground you may be able to reproduce it by adding some brake load. Let us know what you find.

 

[Browny]

Hondabob, the rear drive shaft out of the transmission is my guess as well. It is something that is heavy and strong or it would have blew apart. Its heading to the shop this week so I will let you know what the result is. Thanks.

Hopefully we'll get it figured out, thanks for your reply Ca51flatty.