If your front axle was engaged all the time, you were basically doing the same thing as everybody who swaps in a one-piece Bravada axle shaft, and I've never heard of any of them having binding issues when turning in 2WD.

 

Well that's just it, the dash button was set to 2WD but vacuum was being applied to the diaphragm, so to some degree or another I was getting engagement. This was not an AWD situation, I recognized the feeling of wheel hop due to the front wheels not traveling the same distance when turning so I kept it to minimum but that's not good to do on dry pavement even in a straight line so hopefully I'll be ok.