This morning i drove on the highway through all 5 gears no issues, picked up a hay wagon, again all 5 gears on the way home no issues or noises. Dropped wagon and went back onto the highway. Getting on the highway all gears through 4 were fine no noises or issues, shifted into 5th and it made a horrid grinding sound almost as if it wasn't in gear all the way, tried again to check and it was the same so i left it in 4th and got off the first exit. Now it is making a grinding sound all the time when it is moving regardless of gear, if it is in gear or not, 4wd or not. Could this be the 5th gear nut backing off or t-case? I'm pretty stumped right now and i need to fixed asap as it is my dd/ work truck

 

Sounds like when you were hauling the hay wagon in 5th it started backing the nut off. Now, even when you are not in 5th gear the gear is freespinning but since the nut isn't holding it in the right spot it is making the grinding sound. A quick fix would be to tighten the nut up and put a weld on it so it can't back off. The best fix would be to intall an upgraded mainshaft that is fully splined for 5th gear, but that requires transmission disassembly.

 

Thank you for your quick response. That is kind of what i was thinking and hoping for as it is cheaper than a new unit. If the nut were all the way off it wouldn't feel as though there were no gear when i shifted into it correct? Now that i think about it i was only going in 5th for about 30 seconds(a lot of hills and trying to keep the wagon under 40) and it was making a very very small noise

 

Check the fix in my signature if it turns out to be the problem.

 

Well I pulled everything apart today and the 5th gear nut is tight and in place. Unfortunately, the gear itself has about a 2 inch piece chipped out of it. The gear that it connects to also has small pieces chipped out so it needs to be replaced as well. Anybody have this happen before? If so, how long/ difficult was the fix and does the whole unit have to come out? Also, does anyone know how this could have happened??

 

when i bought my 97 it was hung in 5th gear. the dogs in the synchronizer had broke and fell out. it didn't chew up the gears but there was some wear marks on the back of the aluminum housing. I cleaned all the pieces out and replaced the syncro which cured this problem for about 5,000 miles when the jam nut came off. All of these gears are fairly easy to get off.