So here is what happened.(don't you know it is going to be good with that opening) About a month ago we had a decent snow storm up here in the TN mountains. My parent own rental properties and I help the with up keep and maintenance. One of our properties came empty and I needed to make sure the water and heat had been left on to protect pipes and such from freezing. The S10 was doing fine around our place with 5-6 inches of snow however the house we were going to was at a higher elevation and had received 14-15 inches of this wonderful white stuff and the road to it only plowed by locals and no salt.
We drove the road part fine even though 4" of snow covered it. However the fairly long up hill driveway was a no go. So I pushed the the 4lo button and and after a couple of tries go up the drive far enough to be out of the road. We walked from there to take care of everything. Once back I backed up and my drivers front wheel slid over into a ditch. So I was a little stuck and tried rocking it gently but no go. Now to make things more interesting this is a narrow road with a 6ft drop off into a creek right behind me so just going power nuts would likely result in very bad things. So I leave it in 4lo for control and more low rpm toque. I start a more aggressive rocking and start cutting the wheel a bit while in reverse to hunt for traction and finely the little 10 is free.
However not without cost. Once on the clear road I can feel a funky vibe and I know things aren't right. At that point I'm thinking t-case mount or u-joint damaged from lo range torque. It is not bad enough to fight with in the snow so I figure I'll look at it once the weather clears. The next week is wet and nasty and we were only driving at low speeds around town and it only had the vibe at speeds over 50 so I let it slide still hoping for better weather.
Then snow started again and I had to go to parents house 30 miles away. Half the trip is through a national forest the speed limit is 45 so I felt safe enough about the trip and the vibe was just there but not bad. Made most of the trip ok till we get in my parents gated community. The road is paved and all mountain parents live on the first or second highest peak on the mountain at 4000ft. In a couple of places springs come up through the pavement and freeze. One is in a up hill straight section another is in a not too steep switch back. I was in 4HI and crossing part of the frozen spring again with the drives side. The front had no problem but the rear spun a second and then caught violently even though I was doing less than 5mph. Everything felt ok till the trip home vibes started at 40 mph and were harsh. I'm starting to think from the feel of them it was the t-case mount that is what it felt like because it was worst under throttle or up hills. Once back closer to home at the grocery store I start hearing a clank. I have my wife run it through the gears while I look under. My drive shaft has 1/4 turn of play before it finds something to grab.
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
I want to rip the cover off and look but in the middle of all this I slipped on ice and shattered my right wrist and had to have surgery on it. To top it of I'm right handed of coarse.
So what you guys think will be found once the cover comes off. 1. gears are toast 2. pin got pulled on grenade-loc. 3. everything in there is wasted.
Sorry for long post just wanted to give background on the events leading up to problem.
Chris