AK ID
Junior Member
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2026
- Posts
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Teton Valley, Idaho
- First Name
- Aaron
- Truck Year
- 1983
- Truck Model
- K20
- Engine Size
- 350
Greetings...
I recently purchased a 83 K20 that had been sitting for about 3-4 years. Previous owner is a neighbor/friend and he daily drove it until he bought a new truck when this one got parked. He says he doesn't remember it having any problems before.
Anyway, I got it started from its resting place and drove it up and down his driveway as a test drive and left it parked it in his driveway. I dont remember it making any sound or if it was in 4wd or 2WD when i did the test drive (driveway was snow covered).
Later that day had a friend come with me and we started it again and drove it home. That is when the sound was first noticed. It makes a "soft clunk" from the front end when it's in 2WD but the sound goes away when in 4WD. We couldn't figure it out and a storm was blowing in so we just left it in 4WD and drove it home about 2 miles. It has the auto hubs with the 4x4 decal where the hub would be.
When its in 4WD, there is no funny sound and its defiantly in 4WD as you can feel it crabbing when turning. The problem comes when it's shifted into 2WD. It has a soft clunk sound from the "front driveline area" about every 8 feet of distance traveled (kind of hard to drive and hang your head down to see what's happening by yourself) that doesn't go away until it's shifted back into 4WD. I've tried the shift into 2WD and back up 10-15 feet trick but that doesn't seem to make the sound go away. It makes the sound going forward and reverse. Once it's shifted back into 4WD, the sound goes away and drives just fine.
I have not checked any fluids. All I've down is crawled under and inspected the linkage which appears fine. The transfer case also seems like it moves fine between 2H, 4H or 4Lo range too.
My guess is its the auto hubs are sticking (no idea when they were last serviced if ever)
Do you think it's the auto hubs and they need switched out to some Warn manual hubs? If so, is there a different hub for the 3/4 ton vs the 1/2 ton?
I recently purchased a 83 K20 that had been sitting for about 3-4 years. Previous owner is a neighbor/friend and he daily drove it until he bought a new truck when this one got parked. He says he doesn't remember it having any problems before.
Anyway, I got it started from its resting place and drove it up and down his driveway as a test drive and left it parked it in his driveway. I dont remember it making any sound or if it was in 4wd or 2WD when i did the test drive (driveway was snow covered).
Later that day had a friend come with me and we started it again and drove it home. That is when the sound was first noticed. It makes a "soft clunk" from the front end when it's in 2WD but the sound goes away when in 4WD. We couldn't figure it out and a storm was blowing in so we just left it in 4WD and drove it home about 2 miles. It has the auto hubs with the 4x4 decal where the hub would be.
When its in 4WD, there is no funny sound and its defiantly in 4WD as you can feel it crabbing when turning. The problem comes when it's shifted into 2WD. It has a soft clunk sound from the "front driveline area" about every 8 feet of distance traveled (kind of hard to drive and hang your head down to see what's happening by yourself) that doesn't go away until it's shifted back into 4WD. I've tried the shift into 2WD and back up 10-15 feet trick but that doesn't seem to make the sound go away. It makes the sound going forward and reverse. Once it's shifted back into 4WD, the sound goes away and drives just fine.
I have not checked any fluids. All I've down is crawled under and inspected the linkage which appears fine. The transfer case also seems like it moves fine between 2H, 4H or 4Lo range too.
My guess is its the auto hubs are sticking (no idea when they were last serviced if ever)
Do you think it's the auto hubs and they need switched out to some Warn manual hubs? If so, is there a different hub for the 3/4 ton vs the 1/2 ton?
