Front right crunching noise in 4wd

So headed out to Teewah beach on friday morning for a 3 day camping trip, fully loaded with trailer in tow. So aired down before the beach, locked the hubs and in 4low and hear a crunch/thudder from the front right wheel when I take off (my front right has been causing me issues lately...bearing, replaced the front free wheeling hub too)

So I take it out of 4wd and unlock the hubs and all is good. Then lock it in again, 4low and begin to move and after a rotation the wheel shudders, enough to make a deeper inprint in the sand. Oh well, rear wheel drive it is for the weekend. Suprisingly didnt get bogged even leaving the beach, i think the 3 days of rain helped

Anyway, does it sound like its just the right free wheeling hub that is gone? It was replaced a few months ago with a secondhand one due to the old one not being able to go fully in the locked position. Or could it be something more? Just want an idea before I take it to a 4wd mechanic seeing as the last lot have caused me more pain than anything else

CV joint possibly?

I was thinking that as a possibility but I haven't used it in 4wd for a while. Had one beach run about 2-3mths ago, nothing major in offroad terms

I would be starting with the hub. Pull it off then apart and see if there are any filings of aluminium or steel.
Then go from there.

Try some alternate scenarios, like 4 low with free hubs UN locked or free hubs in LOCKED position but in 2wd to see if anything changes, it may help narrow down the cause.
A possibility that comes to mind is the bushing that the drive shaft passes through in the hub assembly on it's way to the free hub could be wallowed out allowing the shaft to move eccentrically, that would give a thudding sort of sensation.
If you grab the shaft from behind the disc rotor and push it up and down, front to back does it move a decent amount ? a slight amount, say .50mm is not going to be bad enough to worry about but a bush that's chewed out or collapsed will give quite a few mm's and feel pretty bad.

Also might pay to check the torsion bars. I had a similar issue. And after changing the bearings, cv and checking the hub the noise was still there but only when in 4wd. It turned out to be a broken torsion bar.

A few interesting possibilities there. It is only happening when the hub is in the locked position. I will get all of those options checked out hopefully tomorrow, seeing as the weather is up the crapper today.

4low said:

A few interesting possibilities there. It is only happening when the hub is in the locked position. I will get all of those options checked out hopefully tomorrow, seeing as the weather is up the crapper today.

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wonder if you got round to having a look at that noise. Just curious because mine is making a noise like yours and i replaced the torsion bars like they they thought but still have the noise and im just looking for options on what it could be

hosery said:

wonder if you got round to having a look at that noise. Just curious because mine is making a noise like yours and i replaced the torsion bars like they they thought but still have the noise and im just looking for options on what it could be

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Mate I dropped off the Nav at Fourbys today and found the issue, or issues more like it. One of the bearings in the hub had shit itself, leaving little balls floating around everywhere which created further problems. Also found out I need a new cv shaft as the splines were chewed out a bit, again due to parts in the hub dislodging themselves. Many filings were also in there along with shards of metal parts from something

I am not certain on some of the correct terms in and around the hub, but a part of the hub that is joined together you could say by a bearing had the bearing disintegrate leaving 2 separate parts which meant the part that was driven by the shaft would turn, but not turn anything in that regard. One of the guys there was kind enough to show me all that had gone wrong which was a great insight as to how it all went to poo.

So in all i am getting a new front right cv shaft, new aftermarket hubs (both sides), new bearings and some other bits that attach themselves to the hub assembly? Hopefully will go and pick it up this afternoon, unfortunately a bit of money gone but I know it will be done right this time and not by some shoddy "mechanics"

Mate fourby's are the best, they know what they are talking about so u are in good hand

bryce223 said:

Mate fourby's are the best, they know what they are talking about so u are in good hand

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Yeah that is true, I had them change over a clutch when I had the Bravo and they did great work. Won't get the Nav back till monday as a few parts hadn't arrived but it will be worth the wait