So far, has been an excellent vehicle. Just started making a dry grinding sound in the front drive differential. Added 3/4 qt droppping to the differential, didn't help. Mechanic says may cost several hundred to a thousand dollars to repair. Something about the bearings in the front drive and may be in the axle hubs or transfer case. No one mentioned this problem before and it has been a great car up to this point. 4wd has been rarely used and only to go forward about a 100 yds to turn the gears. I don't understand why I am having this problem unless it is wear and tear from the "all time" 4wd from the stability mode. Anyone else having this problem and what did you do to resolve?

Thanks.

Bob

As I understand, in 2004, chevy changed their 4WD system to incorporate their Stabilitrak antislipping system. However, in the 4WD models, this system does not work and is actually dangerous. Allegedly you are always in the Stabilitrak system so you won't slide, supposedly similar to chevy's auto 4WD, but by experience, in the snow and slush, the vehicle slides all over the road with little control. The most discouraging and pain in the rear aspect is that in order to put the vehicle in 4WD, you have to stop, put it in park, push the 4WD button, and then put it in drive again. There is no indicator light to tell you if you are in 4WD, and until you start slipping on the road again can you tell that you were unsuccessful in getting it into 4WD. Eventually, if you are lucky, you will get it into 4WD low, but then you can't drive much faster than 10 mph. We have never successfully gotten into 4WD high, even after several attempts driving in circles in the Wal-Mart parking lot. This is not a functional 4WD vehicle, and it is definitely unsafe and hazardous to drive, and is several steps backward from the 2000 model we owned previously. In fact, I think it is false advertising and fraudulent to pass this off as a safe 4WD vehicle. The instructions on how to use the 4WD buttons are so poorly written in the manual that we went to the dealership to be instructed, but only one mechanic there knew how to use it because he had previously owned one. He told us that he got rid of his because it never worked properly. How's that for a testimonial from a certified Suburban mechanic. If there are any mechanical solutions or possible recourse I would like to know.