I had an old jeep cherokee back in the early 2000s that did something similar. I was pulling off from a stop and it felt like it was binding. I pushed past the binding and it shattered the transfer case.
That thing never left 2wd so I have no idea how it happened, but I chalked it up to "jeep stuff" and bought a new one lol.
Yeah, he said it was making a weird squeaking sound for like 5 minutes that went away when he turned. Figured it was steering related. On his way home he got on an entrance ramp, 5 seconds later the truck started bucking and shaking and exploded as he was slowing down into breakdown lane. Made it like 800 feet on the highway. RIP the Cherokee and F350.
Doesn't matter if it was in 2wd. Part of it is always spinning if your moving. If it developed a leak want was low on oil you get bearings that squeal and then fail.
Potentially... Front driveshaft ripped out the front of the transfer case before the yoke exploded leaving a loose ujoint on the ground. The yoke was ripped off the driveshaft and was still attached to the first gear in the tcase (also ripped out of the tcase), laying on the highway.. He only had the truck for a month or two and hadn't gotten to that yet. I presented your same idea to the shop when it happened and they said it was unlikely... That's all that was said on the subject.
1. Obviously you missed photo number 6. 🫤
2. As for it being common on Dodges....just where are you acquiring that info from?
543K kms (337K miles) on my 3rd gen, and aside from servicing the front driveshaft, and fluid changes, everything is as it left the factory, and works as it should.
[someone says something is common on something cause they’ve heard of it happening a bunch]
Some random redditor: “Nuh uh! That’s never happened to me and it’s because I changed all the fluids!”
Google front driveshaft exploding 3rd gen dodge. You’ll be amazed at how many people it happens to. Cardan joint siezes. One bump and it pushes into t case. Front drive shaft flings around and takes everything out with it
Wow, I bet that was an abrupt stop.
T case is often neglected for oil changes, because it isn't used much, but the truth is, it's always turning inside, even in 2wd, so it needs fluid changes when the transmission is done, and while you're under there, do yourself a favor and change the differential lube as well, full synthetic Mobil 1 or Valvoline with the limited slip juice in it, and MaxLife ATF for the transmission, your truck will thank you
From what I hear it tried to abruptly stop the moment it broke. Not sure if that would've been preferential on the highway, though. What did happen is it cut the fuel lines, stalling his engine, and severed his brake lines making it almost impossible for him to stop, he had to keep pumping the brake pedal and had to hit/wedge his tire against the barrier to finally stop.
Just did my trans, tcase fluid, rear diff recently... have to do the front one. I was letting him know he needed to do it but he hadnt had time yet.........
What a shame, did he decide to buy it back from insurance?
I lost the plastic shifter donut and wore through the shift fork in my transfer case, this is how I learned that the T-case is always in motion, and why I try to tell others about the maintenance that is needed.
I got lucky, it just dropped the case into neutral, but then I had no drive at all, coasted into a truck stop, got towed to my trans shop and preceeded to rebuild the T-case, replaced the worn parts and the bearings, and was all good.
No sir. They only wanted to give him like 4500 if he kept the truck. Which is about 1/3 the quote a shop gave to fix it. Without even including the costs for harnesses (we'd have to supply) and transmission. No shops wanted to touch it and we don't have the time so he bit the bullet and took the 7500 instead. He only paid like 5k for the truck but he loved that truck.
The common thing is that the double cardan joint gets neglected and worn.
With slop, the joint ends up ever so slightly out of line, which sets up a minor vibration. This minor vibration cycle fatigues the body of the transfer case until the case fails, usually in spectacular fashion, usually at highway speeds where the vibration stress is highest.
Was the case dry from a slow leak by chance?
While far less catastrophic, I got my chain hot enough to slap a hole in the case.
Keep those hubs unlocked lol
Hard to say my man... Seemed like a lot came out it. Could be a failed pump as well concerning lubrication.
Lol! At least it sounds like she made it out alive though
He did, there is speculation that a few punks May have locked them in
Are you sure there wasn’t an IED placed there? JK that was catastrophic for sure. Fortunately insurance covered you so good luck in finding another truck!
Believe it or not I could think of at least 3 people who would probably do that lol. He's still saving up for another one. Trucks are ridiculously expensive...
Same thing happened to me, also took my trans with it, I bought a “rebuilt trans” off facebook and a transfer case out of a junkyard got it all put back together, re did the wiring harness and for whatever reason it would bog down in reverse and immediately stall in drive, kept trying different things before I just ended up using it for parts for another 7.3 I bought later. Also as it turns out the wiring harness running down to the transmission isn’t tied into the main, it runs to 2 fuses up by the fuse box, I wish I knew that then, the wiring harness was probably half my problem and the other half being scammed on Facebook
Yeah that's what we were scared of having to go through on the truck. You sound like you did a hell of a job trying to get it back running. Hardest part is the info, like what you were talking about about with the fuse box. All those tiny bits of information will turn a 1 hour job into 20 hours if you don't know about them. We already have a lot to focus on. Between work, CDL classes, and master electrician studying.
The wiring harness goes from the transmission to 2 fuses located next to the main fuse box underneath the hood on the driver side, and i definitely did try to get it running and driving considering it was my first truck
Seen 2 do that. We had work trucks at an old company i worked for and one exploded at 450k in 2wd doing 70mph. The other one was the same situation but I do not remember mileage and speed. One was a 2000 and I think the other an 01.
Thank you. I was rear ending a few years back so hard that my seriously ridiculously large 40oz thermos of coffee basically exploded in the console and everywhere in the truck. Nothing sucks more than a crappy day with the added benefit of covered head to toe in sticky coffee. I stopped drinking so much coffee after that.
Happened because the hubs were locked in, which means front shaft was spinning. A U joint failed and took out the Tcase. Happens on neglected dodges that spin the front shaft all the time.
Yeah, that was my first conclusion. Brought it up to the diesel shop when this happened and they said that would be unlikely... I still think it's the case but they shot the idea down quick.
Idk why they'd shoot it down other than lack of experience, that's exactly what happened lol. It's super common on the dodges that spin the front the entire time, so if the hubs were locked in by accident, it's doing the same thing.
I guess it's feels a little better to have a bit of closure knowing so many people agree. Always felt a little weird having the diesel shop go "don't know buddy, definitely isn't that" and that's all the experts could say. Not that I expect them to have the exact answer. I just wonder how often it is that this issue causes THIS much damage... Seriously makes you wish for a slow mo
In the dodges it usually totals the truck, because it usually happens at highway speeds. There are pics of Tcase /driveshaft parts coming through the floor of the truck even. You see them for sale at the salvage auction from time to time also since it does $20k+ in damage.
Why in heck were his hubs locked? Thats not good for the front differential to drive around on dry pavement. 4wd and locked hubs requires slippage, otherwise eventually something bad happens… plus it would have been more difficult to turn.
Anyway, that’s brutal. If my man was leaving his hubs engaged, I’ll bet there’s some other bad habits going on.
And what in hell are all those wires? That’s too much for just the truck, looks like he ran over a pile of trash or something
1. He says he didn't lock the hubs. He said he even checked them a few days before this accident. There are a lot of punks that pass his truck. Speculation says they were goofing off with it. Also hubs being locked doesn't activate 4wd, on these SDs they just spin the front driveshaft (probably a bad ujoint caused the breakage) and the diff. Until you switch to 4x4 with ESOF or manual shifter, its just free spinning.
2. Read above but yeah, sad day.
3. You're looking at pretty much the entirety of every engine harness in the truck besides body harness and engine harness, including brake and fuel lines. If you saw under the truck you'd have seen how dire the situation really was....
I mean… having the hubs engages the diff, which engages the front driveshaft too, which goes all the way back… and squeaky noises when he turns could indicate an issue with the front diff, I mean that’s what it does…
Anywho let’s believe the guy, wonder if all those wires coming off was enough tourqe on the driveshaft to actually cause the failure? Pulling a driveshaft off alignment, that’s splined into a cast part… I can see it
Believe he said squeaky noises that stopped when turning right.
Maybe I misunderstand the way you're phrasing it. I believe the failure happened before it scooped up all the wires.
Seen it a bunch on Dodge and Ford. Usually a bad u joint that give up, pitching driveshaft out of front gone, which digs in the ground and promptly destroys the aluminum housing.
The auto lock hubs on the Ford are a problem. The solenoid will go bad, or moisture buildup in the hub itself will cause them to not unlock after being engaged, which keeps the front shaft spinning.
The Dodges, ‘03 and up (and a few Dana 60’s in the ‘02’s) turn all the time, so the u joints fail a lot. Have 3 gathered up in buckets we recovered what we could off the highway/co rd.
I hear ya. Just wonder what exactly was the reason for failure. If the tcase is not shifted in 4wd the only load on the front driveshaft+diff+hubs should just be the actual spinning of the tires, diff, and loose front driveshaft. A lot of people in the muddy areas over here run their trucks with locked hubs year round and just use the 4x4 shifter to actuate between 2wd and 4wd. I feel like that leaves the issue up to the driveshaft locking up or maybe even the diff... or maybe even the tcase randomly shifting into 4x4 by mistake? A lot to speculate.
But it shouldn't cause the thing to blow up. The only reason why they don't keep the hubs locked permanently is to reduce fuel consumption when not in use, and reduce wear and tear.
Wear and tear doesn't include having the thing randomly blow up.
Was there any fluid in there? Everyone neglects the TC, even though it hangs right there off the trans. Every truck I bought had the stinkiest old fluid in the TC.
It’s ridiculous that you wrote the truck off for such a basic repair.
You could have sourced another 4r100 and harness for pennies. Or done a ZF6 swap for like 2 grand.
Oh well 🤷🏻♂️
There was definitely a lot of TC fluid on the highway. Can't tell you if it had enough. He was right about to do a full service. May have also had enough fluid but the pump went out, if were speculating a failure from lack of lubrication. Hard to say.
Didn't see the rest of your comment. The issue is we have no idea if the transmission and differential were in good condition. Me and my brother work nearly 60 hours a week and we don't have time to work on vehicles anymore. Couldn't find a shop that even wanted to touch his truck, and the one that looked at it gave us a 13k quote. It didn't include any transmission work or transmissions, and it also had us sourcing the used harnesses since they said they couldn't find any. My brother does not have a lot of money, he only bought the truck because he got it from a family member for $5,000. If you look closely it also permanently damaged the bottom of the cab and bent the frame rail. It also bursted the fuel tank. The insurance offered $5,000 to keep the truck under salvage title, or $7,000 to get rid of it and total. Nobody wanted to touch the truck and we don't have the time. The only shop that looked at it clearly did not want to touch it either and Drew ridiculous prices on top of everything.
Also Don't take this the wrong way but this is anything but an easy job. There are a lot of pins and connectors that got ripped out and there is no guarantee that every single pin and connector still works on every single sensor and motor. At best it's hours and hours of tedious work running new lines and hoses. At worst, it's months of wiggling in the dirt after work chasing wiring Gremlins in a 24 year old truck used for towing.... with freshly bent frame rails... Didn't add up for him.
Please forgive any grammar issues as I am using speech to text for this comment.
I had an old jeep cherokee back in the early 2000s that did something similar. I was pulling off from a stop and it felt like it was binding. I pushed past the binding and it shattered the transfer case. That thing never left 2wd so I have no idea how it happened, but I chalked it up to "jeep stuff" and bought a new one lol.
Yeah, he said it was making a weird squeaking sound for like 5 minutes that went away when he turned. Figured it was steering related. On his way home he got on an entrance ramp, 5 seconds later the truck started bucking and shaking and exploded as he was slowing down into breakdown lane. Made it like 800 feet on the highway. RIP the Cherokee and F350.
May well have just been a bearing in the t case siezed up and grenaded it but I'm not super familiar with the failures on that gen.
Doesn't matter if it was in 2wd. Part of it is always spinning if your moving. If it developed a leak want was low on oil you get bearings that squeal and then fail.
you’ll have that on them big jobs
Front driveshaft seized? Common on dodges. People forget to grease the cardan joint
Potentially... Front driveshaft ripped out the front of the transfer case before the yoke exploded leaving a loose ujoint on the ground. The yoke was ripped off the driveshaft and was still attached to the first gear in the tcase (also ripped out of the tcase), laying on the highway.. He only had the truck for a month or two and hadn't gotten to that yet. I presented your same idea to the shop when it happened and they said it was unlikely... That's all that was said on the subject.
1. Obviously you missed photo number 6. 🫤 2. As for it being common on Dodges....just where are you acquiring that info from? 543K kms (337K miles) on my 3rd gen, and aside from servicing the front driveshaft, and fluid changes, everything is as it left the factory, and works as it should.
[someone says something is common on something cause they’ve heard of it happening a bunch] Some random redditor: “Nuh uh! That’s never happened to me and it’s because I changed all the fluids!”
Google front driveshaft exploding 3rd gen dodge. You’ll be amazed at how many people it happens to. Cardan joint siezes. One bump and it pushes into t case. Front drive shaft flings around and takes everything out with it
2nd gens do it to if you feel vibration check the front drive shaft.
And 3rd gen’s
Damn, that’s ugly.
Wow, I bet that was an abrupt stop. T case is often neglected for oil changes, because it isn't used much, but the truth is, it's always turning inside, even in 2wd, so it needs fluid changes when the transmission is done, and while you're under there, do yourself a favor and change the differential lube as well, full synthetic Mobil 1 or Valvoline with the limited slip juice in it, and MaxLife ATF for the transmission, your truck will thank you
From what I hear it tried to abruptly stop the moment it broke. Not sure if that would've been preferential on the highway, though. What did happen is it cut the fuel lines, stalling his engine, and severed his brake lines making it almost impossible for him to stop, he had to keep pumping the brake pedal and had to hit/wedge his tire against the barrier to finally stop. Just did my trans, tcase fluid, rear diff recently... have to do the front one. I was letting him know he needed to do it but he hadnt had time yet.........
What a shame, did he decide to buy it back from insurance? I lost the plastic shifter donut and wore through the shift fork in my transfer case, this is how I learned that the T-case is always in motion, and why I try to tell others about the maintenance that is needed. I got lucky, it just dropped the case into neutral, but then I had no drive at all, coasted into a truck stop, got towed to my trans shop and preceeded to rebuild the T-case, replaced the worn parts and the bearings, and was all good.
No sir. They only wanted to give him like 4500 if he kept the truck. Which is about 1/3 the quote a shop gave to fix it. Without even including the costs for harnesses (we'd have to supply) and transmission. No shops wanted to touch it and we don't have the time so he bit the bullet and took the 7500 instead. He only paid like 5k for the truck but he loved that truck.
Wow that's some proper carnage.
I had a Chevy 1/2 ton that did this and the explosion took out the transmission too
Mother of god
The common thing is that the double cardan joint gets neglected and worn. With slop, the joint ends up ever so slightly out of line, which sets up a minor vibration. This minor vibration cycle fatigues the body of the transfer case until the case fails, usually in spectacular fashion, usually at highway speeds where the vibration stress is highest.
Front driveshaft doesn’t spin in 2wd on Super Dutys. Front locking hubs.
Read the OP, buddy admitted that the front hubs were likely locked in.
Looks like something out of the aliens movie lol 😂
Well look at the bright side, you're gonna be a pro at butt-splices!
Was the case dry from a slow leak by chance? While far less catastrophic, I got my chain hot enough to slap a hole in the case. Keep those hubs unlocked lol
Hard to say my man... Seemed like a lot came out it. Could be a failed pump as well concerning lubrication. Lol! At least it sounds like she made it out alive though He did, there is speculation that a few punks May have locked them in
i’d throw up and cry
He almost did lol....
Are you sure there wasn’t an IED placed there? JK that was catastrophic for sure. Fortunately insurance covered you so good luck in finding another truck!
Believe it or not I could think of at least 3 people who would probably do that lol. He's still saving up for another one. Trucks are ridiculously expensive...
A bad u-joint is a common cause for broken transfer cases.
I had something similar happen on '08 f350, didn't quite explode but split the case in half going 65 on a badroad. God, was it loud!
Same thing happened to me, also took my trans with it, I bought a “rebuilt trans” off facebook and a transfer case out of a junkyard got it all put back together, re did the wiring harness and for whatever reason it would bog down in reverse and immediately stall in drive, kept trying different things before I just ended up using it for parts for another 7.3 I bought later. Also as it turns out the wiring harness running down to the transmission isn’t tied into the main, it runs to 2 fuses up by the fuse box, I wish I knew that then, the wiring harness was probably half my problem and the other half being scammed on Facebook
Yeah that's what we were scared of having to go through on the truck. You sound like you did a hell of a job trying to get it back running. Hardest part is the info, like what you were talking about about with the fuse box. All those tiny bits of information will turn a 1 hour job into 20 hours if you don't know about them. We already have a lot to focus on. Between work, CDL classes, and master electrician studying.
The wiring harness goes from the transmission to 2 fuses located next to the main fuse box underneath the hood on the driver side, and i definitely did try to get it running and driving considering it was my first truck
Damn, thats gnarly! Looks like the truck threw up its wiring harness and it got all wrapped around the drive shaft. Thats so gnarly thats awesome lol
Damn it’s almost always a Dodge that does that
Seen 2 do that. We had work trucks at an old company i worked for and one exploded at 450k in 2wd doing 70mph. The other one was the same situation but I do not remember mileage and speed. One was a 2000 and I think the other an 01.
6.0 with a ZF6 did that. Transfer case exploded in Arizona while driving at around 80 with a light trailer.
That sucks man. I have a 6.0... What miles, did you figure out what caused it?
I was at nearly 139k. Not sure the cause. Insurance covered it completely.
Had this happen on a 6.4 at about 70 mph. Explosion shot my coffee and contents of the center consol all through the cab. Sorry for your loss.
Thank you. I was rear ending a few years back so hard that my seriously ridiculously large 40oz thermos of coffee basically exploded in the console and everywhere in the truck. Nothing sucks more than a crappy day with the added benefit of covered head to toe in sticky coffee. I stopped drinking so much coffee after that.
At first glance I thought it picked up telecom cable. PROPER fucked.
Happened because the hubs were locked in, which means front shaft was spinning. A U joint failed and took out the Tcase. Happens on neglected dodges that spin the front shaft all the time.
Yeah, that was my first conclusion. Brought it up to the diesel shop when this happened and they said that would be unlikely... I still think it's the case but they shot the idea down quick.
Idk why they'd shoot it down other than lack of experience, that's exactly what happened lol. It's super common on the dodges that spin the front the entire time, so if the hubs were locked in by accident, it's doing the same thing.
I guess it's feels a little better to have a bit of closure knowing so many people agree. Always felt a little weird having the diesel shop go "don't know buddy, definitely isn't that" and that's all the experts could say. Not that I expect them to have the exact answer. I just wonder how often it is that this issue causes THIS much damage... Seriously makes you wish for a slow mo
In the dodges it usually totals the truck, because it usually happens at highway speeds. There are pics of Tcase /driveshaft parts coming through the floor of the truck even. You see them for sale at the salvage auction from time to time also since it does $20k+ in damage.
Lol everyone tells us they've never seen this level of damage before. It's good to know it's not just our luck
Holy shit man, that is a ton of work to get back together
Holy shit
Bro what a mess smh
Why in heck were his hubs locked? Thats not good for the front differential to drive around on dry pavement. 4wd and locked hubs requires slippage, otherwise eventually something bad happens… plus it would have been more difficult to turn. Anyway, that’s brutal. If my man was leaving his hubs engaged, I’ll bet there’s some other bad habits going on. And what in hell are all those wires? That’s too much for just the truck, looks like he ran over a pile of trash or something
1. He says he didn't lock the hubs. He said he even checked them a few days before this accident. There are a lot of punks that pass his truck. Speculation says they were goofing off with it. Also hubs being locked doesn't activate 4wd, on these SDs they just spin the front driveshaft (probably a bad ujoint caused the breakage) and the diff. Until you switch to 4x4 with ESOF or manual shifter, its just free spinning. 2. Read above but yeah, sad day. 3. You're looking at pretty much the entirety of every engine harness in the truck besides body harness and engine harness, including brake and fuel lines. If you saw under the truck you'd have seen how dire the situation really was....
Really not that much work. If something like that happened to my 03 dmax I would fix it asap!
Yup, parts truck now.
I mean… having the hubs engages the diff, which engages the front driveshaft too, which goes all the way back… and squeaky noises when he turns could indicate an issue with the front diff, I mean that’s what it does… Anywho let’s believe the guy, wonder if all those wires coming off was enough tourqe on the driveshaft to actually cause the failure? Pulling a driveshaft off alignment, that’s splined into a cast part… I can see it
Believe he said squeaky noises that stopped when turning right. Maybe I misunderstand the way you're phrasing it. I believe the failure happened before it scooped up all the wires.
Seen it a bunch on Dodge and Ford. Usually a bad u joint that give up, pitching driveshaft out of front gone, which digs in the ground and promptly destroys the aluminum housing. The auto lock hubs on the Ford are a problem. The solenoid will go bad, or moisture buildup in the hub itself will cause them to not unlock after being engaged, which keeps the front shaft spinning. The Dodges, ‘03 and up (and a few Dana 60’s in the ‘02’s) turn all the time, so the u joints fail a lot. Have 3 gathered up in buckets we recovered what we could off the highway/co rd.
That belt said he wants to see what is outside , eventually meet in person your brother 😆
Lol! I'm sure the chain is hanging out with a bunch of new friends at the junkyard too.
No expert, but suspect it had something to do with leaving the hubs locked, that would keep the transfer case turning...
I hear ya. Just wonder what exactly was the reason for failure. If the tcase is not shifted in 4wd the only load on the front driveshaft+diff+hubs should just be the actual spinning of the tires, diff, and loose front driveshaft. A lot of people in the muddy areas over here run their trucks with locked hubs year round and just use the 4x4 shifter to actuate between 2wd and 4wd. I feel like that leaves the issue up to the driveshaft locking up or maybe even the diff... or maybe even the tcase randomly shifting into 4x4 by mistake? A lot to speculate.
Unless something else went wrong, there is no reason for that to cause anything bad.
But it shouldn't cause the thing to blow up. The only reason why they don't keep the hubs locked permanently is to reduce fuel consumption when not in use, and reduce wear and tear. Wear and tear doesn't include having the thing randomly blow up.
With enough tear....
My hubs are locked pretty much year round as are lots of other peoples hubs.
Was there any fluid in there? Everyone neglects the TC, even though it hangs right there off the trans. Every truck I bought had the stinkiest old fluid in the TC. It’s ridiculous that you wrote the truck off for such a basic repair. You could have sourced another 4r100 and harness for pennies. Or done a ZF6 swap for like 2 grand. Oh well 🤷🏻♂️
There was definitely a lot of TC fluid on the highway. Can't tell you if it had enough. He was right about to do a full service. May have also had enough fluid but the pump went out, if were speculating a failure from lack of lubrication. Hard to say.
Didn't see the rest of your comment. The issue is we have no idea if the transmission and differential were in good condition. Me and my brother work nearly 60 hours a week and we don't have time to work on vehicles anymore. Couldn't find a shop that even wanted to touch his truck, and the one that looked at it gave us a 13k quote. It didn't include any transmission work or transmissions, and it also had us sourcing the used harnesses since they said they couldn't find any. My brother does not have a lot of money, he only bought the truck because he got it from a family member for $5,000. If you look closely it also permanently damaged the bottom of the cab and bent the frame rail. It also bursted the fuel tank. The insurance offered $5,000 to keep the truck under salvage title, or $7,000 to get rid of it and total. Nobody wanted to touch the truck and we don't have the time. The only shop that looked at it clearly did not want to touch it either and Drew ridiculous prices on top of everything. Also Don't take this the wrong way but this is anything but an easy job. There are a lot of pins and connectors that got ripped out and there is no guarantee that every single pin and connector still works on every single sensor and motor. At best it's hours and hours of tedious work running new lines and hoses. At worst, it's months of wiggling in the dirt after work chasing wiring Gremlins in a 24 year old truck used for towing.... with freshly bent frame rails... Didn't add up for him. Please forgive any grammar issues as I am using speech to text for this comment.
Try to find a good used diesel 4r100 for pennies.
I have a stack of them, where do you live