I drive a 1995 GMC Jimmy 4.3l Vortec V6 4WD.
I have been working on my car a lot lately and while I had the front hubs off I turned the front drive shaft and noticed that the only CV axle that responded to the movement was the front driver side. Should that movement make both of them turn, or only one?
I'm not totally sure about the whole layout of everything, but you have the transfer case where there is the transfer case motor which shifts a small coil depending on what drive you are in (2wd, 4hi, 4lo), then the front drive shaft coming off of that going to the front differential where you have the CV axles going to the front hubs.
I had the car in neutral while it was off and I tried shifting to see if it was working. Well when I shifted from each gear it seemed like it was working fine. I would go from 2wd to 4hi and I would hear a quick movement/click. The same thing happened from 4hi to 4lo, but I thought that shift was supposed to take longer.
What I'm trying to ask is what is normal for a car like this? Does anything sound like it isn't working, or does it sound alright. Last winter it didnt seem like my 4wd works even though it sounds like it engages.
Any help would be much appreciated! Let me know if I need to clarify anything, because that post may be confusing to everybody but myself.
Thanks

 

*Wrong section. Moved to '2nd Gen Tech'*

 

The part you are describing sounds normal. The other part to look at is the actuator under the battery tray that locks the front hubs (actually, it pulls on a cable that slides a collar which joins the axle shafts). All of what you describe can work just fine, but if there's no vacuum to the actuator, or the actuator isn't working correctly, then you won't have 4WD.

 

^ X2 (normal operation)

The left front half shaft is always engaged with the front differential. In 2WD, the front differential and driveshaft are driven by the left front wheel. This is what provides the ability to "shift on the fly", (all of the gears are turning). When you select 4WD, the axle actuator locks the right half shaft to the differential, the transfer case applies power to the front drive shaft, the differential becomes live, the axle engagement switch, (on the right front axle tube) is activated, which tells the TCCM that the axle is engaged. If the axle engagement switch is not activated, the 4WD lights will blink, the encoder motor will shift the transfer case back to 2WD, and the axle actuator will disengage the right front axle.