Hi TJ People - did a little wheeling on Saturday and ended up limping my jeep home. we had a good day in the trails (lots of deep mud and water crossings, some good tight wooded stuff, and a bunch of rocky and uneven inclines), but when we were toward the end of the trail, I tried to shift my T-Case from 4H back to 2H...when I did this, as soon as I let the clutch out and started to move, I heard a VERY loud grinding/clunking and the jeep barely moved in 2H and sort of "jumped" or "jerked" when it did move. I shifted back to 4H and I get similar noise and feel, but less loud and aggressive. The clunking and grinding is worse when I let out of the accelerator than when I'm cruising at a steady speed. I was able to get out of the trails and drive home in 4H, but it was a noisy and uncomfortable ride. I have a standard NP231 TC, 5 speed, 4.0 with Dana 35 rearend. 4 inch lift with stock driveshaft (no SYE) with TC drop kit.
After getting the jeep home (~30 miles on the highway) I felt the rear pumpkin and it was cool as a cucumber leading me to believe that the rear wheels may not have been getting any torque and I was probably moving with just my front wheels. This would also likely explain why the problem is so prominent in 2H but not as bad in 4WD.
I'm trying to figure out where to start diagnosing. does this sound more like a transfer case issue or a rear diff issue? given that it seams like the t-case is spinning but seems like no torque is getting to the rear diff, I'm thinking output shaft from the TC or pinion on the diff? I have no lift to be able to get all four wheels off the ground to run it in 4WD and see if the rear drive shaft is spinning when the jeep is in gear and moving and I don't have a mountable camera to look either.
Anybody run into something like this before and able to share suggestions/experiences? Please bear with the amateur assessment above, Im a desk job guy that likes to get dirty and do a little wrenching on the weekends so my mechanical skills are lacking in comparison to most on here.
Thanks in advance!!!
After getting the jeep home (~30 miles on the highway) I felt the rear pumpkin and it was cool as a cucumber leading me to believe that the rear wheels may not have been getting any torque and I was probably moving with just my front wheels. This would also likely explain why the problem is so prominent in 2H but not as bad in 4WD.
I'm trying to figure out where to start diagnosing. does this sound more like a transfer case issue or a rear diff issue? given that it seams like the t-case is spinning but seems like no torque is getting to the rear diff, I'm thinking output shaft from the TC or pinion on the diff? I have no lift to be able to get all four wheels off the ground to run it in 4WD and see if the rear drive shaft is spinning when the jeep is in gear and moving and I don't have a mountable camera to look either.
Anybody run into something like this before and able to share suggestions/experiences? Please bear with the amateur assessment above, Im a desk job guy that likes to get dirty and do a little wrenching on the weekends so my mechanical skills are lacking in comparison to most on here.
Thanks in advance!!!