Possible damage from shock load?

[jcflo683011]

Hi all,

I have a stock manual 03 Rubicon with stock tire size. First ever 4wd vehicle. Ever since, I’ve been trying to learn and soak in as much knowledge as possible about wheeling…

Anyway, took her for smog inspection and inspector accidentally directs me to drive forward into their dyno.

Rear wheels were on the rollers and wasn’t able to drive off in 2wd, mind you it was a rain day and tires were also very wet.

After failed attempts to get pushed off, decided to engage 4hi to gain front wheel traction to help. Was pretty gentle throttling out, however once I gained traction on all wheels I heard an audible ping/pop and the lost power to the wheels. Wasn’t like a sudden engine stall, rather engine slowly sputtering, shutting off.

I turned the motor off and restarted right up and was able to drive away completely fine thereafter.

Even tested 4wd on a nearby dirt gravel road and it appears to be engaging as I can feel binding and front tires grabbing while turning. Jeep drives fine, and don’t hear any abnormal sounds while driving.

However, I’m still worried about any potential damage from the shock load I put on the driveline once the rear wheels gained traction off the rollers. Once again, it drives fine and 4wd does appear to still engage.

Should I inspect my diff internals, driveshaft joints? Hoping I dodged a bullet… thanks all in advance!

 

[JustDandee]

not sure I completly understand the situation but if you had one axle on the rollers and the other on ground- what I think you heard was pop of gear engagements due to dis-similar speeds of the front and rear drive lines. depending on the amount of speed/throttle its hard to guess level of concern- popping does not necessarily mean damage but the loss of power that you are mentioning that I am not sure about.

For me though I would drain the transfer case looking for some metal, probably could use the service anyway and driving it until something indicates a closer look is necessary. Thinking that based on you road tests that ifnit anint broke- I am not going to be that concerned.

More experience opinions may follow

welcome to the forum and some good times.

 

[JEEPCJTJ]

...however once I gained traction on all wheels I heard an audible ping/pop and the lost power to the wheels...

That sounds like the transfer case popped out of 4wd.

...Wasn’t like a sudden engine stall, rather engine slowly sputtering, shutting off.

The green part would have me believe what I typed above.

Until I read the red part that has me totally unsure what happened.

Maybe your story (or my brain) is a little bit off. Who really knows?

 

[Rickyd]

That sounds like the transfer case popped out of 4wd.



The green part would have me believe what I typed above.

Until I read the red part that has me totally unsure what happened.

Maybe your story (or my brain) is a little bit off. Who really knows?

Bogged down and then stalled the jeep. Move on with life

 

[LONGJP2]

However, I’m still worried about any potential damage from the shock load I put on the driveline once the rear wheels gained traction off the rollers.

There really shouldn't have been any shock load.
The rear tires would have been spinning the same (slow) speed as the fronts were pulling.

 

[JEEPCJTJ]

Bogged down and then stalled the jeep. Move on with life

OK, SOMETHING made it bog down and stall the Jeep. Thanks for sharing that as if anyone would know WTF caused it to stall.

and what's "Move on with life" supposed to mean?

 

[Rickyd]

OK, SOMETHING made it bog down and stall the Jeep.

"First ever 4wd vehicle"

"Move on with life"

it means drive the jeep and report back if something actually comes of the incedent