OK the 4 wheel drive took a dump in my 03 Chevy2500HD.
Here's what happened...had it in 4 wheel drive and drove about 300 yards in the sand at Glamis to pick up a buddy's bike that died. It ran fine there, stopped loaded the bike in the back, started the truck, put it in drive..and started to go....truck kinda lurched forward and then stopped like the parking brake was on..... gas it a little gas and the rear tires would spin but the front acted like the brakes were on and wouldn't spin.... put it in 4 low, 4 high, reverse...nothing, put it in 2 wheel drive and same thing so I gave it some gas and got it rolling but again felt like park brake was on or front brakes were dragging....went about 20 feet and then a clunk and then it was back in two wheel drive and driving fine..... stop hit the button to go back to 4 high and it clunks(much louder than normal) and then no go, front tires won't spin......back to two wheel drive and no problem...made it all the way home it two wheel towing the trailer and nothing noticable but when in 4 wheel drive the front tires won't spin. Any ideas before I go drop it off at the dealer and get raped???
Thanks,
Chris
I grenaded the front axel on my 93 z-71 by romping on it before it was fully engaged in 4x4 in the mud. The problem with chevy IFS is that it is actuated by a solenoid or vacuum valve or something, no hubs to turn/lock. So sometimes it may take a few seconds to fully lock in. When you turn the truck off I believe it disengages. When you turn the key back on it goes back in 4x4 if you left the selector in 4x4. Sounds like that happened to you.
I had a buddy who was a service writer at the time warranty it with no questions asked. It was over $2k in work. I would tell the dealer you went to the mountains and were in the snow on a public road and it just locked up on you. Don't give the dealer any room to get out of paying for the warranty work. If they think you were abusing it in the sand dunes they may try to weasel out of the repair.
Good luck,
OL