Venom1970

ok i purchased a 90 cherokee for $900, so i know i got a deal.
but heres the thing, there is a growling noise that can be heard very quitly as soon as im moving, and gets quite loud around 35mph and up. its coming from the front.
i have checked for wheel bearing wear, by jacking up the front, and trying to wiggle the front tires in all directions. also i closely inspected all u joints, and checked diff oil.
at this point i have decided that its prolly my diff, either having too much or not enough space in the lash setting.

this is where it gets tricky, ok the dif i believe to be a dana 30, the housing is on the driver side, and there is no vacume thing on the axle. so i think its a later model xj dana 30. i cant however figure out how or if the hubs unlock. there doesnt seem to be a way.

questions:
do the hubs unlock? if so how?
what are my options to stop noise VERY LOW BUDGET?
any other info and imput would be very nice

BlueXJ

First that is the original D30 because you bought a limited thus you got the 242 transfercase and they came with a HP D30 and no disco axles. If it was used much in fulltime the front axle may be worn out. You can rebuild it or you can replace it with a late model D30.
No you don't have lockout hubs and yes they can be converted to lockouts but it is not cheap.
Cheapest route is going to be a replacement front axle for about $250-$400 plas your time to change it. Make sure the gearing is the same before you plunk down your hard earned cash. Nice Jeep BTW looks just exactly like mine did when I bought it.

Venom1970

thanks a bunch for that info, ive been going nuts trying to figure out what exactly i had. so many different setups have been used on the poor cherokee.

btw i painted the top, and the strips on the side using some wheel well dressing stuff from walmart, its like 3 bucks a can, and gives the "sprayon bed liner" look.

can you believe the ac actually works! in fact everything does, except the power antenna.

the noise from the front is annoying though, lol. i have decided to try and get a used axle from somewhere. where can i find the gear ratio? is it stamped somewhere?

o and can i run 31x10.50s with the stock setup or would i need a lift?

BlueXJ

Gear ratio should be on a tag on the rear D35. They have to match so whatever that tag says will be true for the front D30 as well. I bet it is 3.55:1 as that was the most common. Save your old D30 b/c you have the 297 u-joints and they are stronger than the 260s. You will need spares if you drive much on trails and such.

Venom1970

i checked out ur jeep very nice, gj on that bumper too man, many props there!

so u have a 3.5 inch lift? how expensive was that?

o and i LOVE the rack on the top, i want to make one for mine, i know you can buy em, but id rather get creative.

muddeprived

One thing worth checking is the front driveshaft. Maybe you can take it off (8 little bolts) and drive without it and see if the growling stops.

Venom1970

did that, still growls, but while it was off i cleaned it up and greased it, and painted it. but yea i tried it already thanks though.

BlueXJ

RE lift was about $700 but I got other stuff at the same time so can't give an exact figure. That is a purchased rack and looks much different now than then. It was on another sites for sale section and I talked the guy into disassembling it and boxing it up and shipping it. He wanted local sale only.
Bumper was my invention after looking at so many I could not afford I decided I could build it better and cheaper than buying one.

76ANTHONY

if i see one more fricken jeep cherokee in the hundreds:brickwal l:
nice jeep ya got there

BlueXJ

They are out there ya just gotta keep searching for them Anthony.

Venom1970

lol, yea its another Cherokee, but hey its a Cherokee forum......
.................................................. .......................................
im gonna try and do a lift on the cheap, ill take pics and stuff.

""btw i noticed ur a cat guy, AWESOME, i am too, we have 6 that live inside.""

ive done some interior mods, more to come. got a decent system in there, spent less than 500 on that. [pix to come].

and in the near future i plan on a bit of trail ridin, in the awesome ozarks near branson, with my wife, [pix to come].

BlueXJ

Include pics of the cats too. I have 13 inside and 4 outside ones.

Venom1970

OMG, lol, sure ill post some pix, lemee take some fresh ones

have to wait for now, my crappy cam needs batteries

76ANTHONY

are you telling me i cant be lazy? im really just not lookin hard right now, but tax season its on like donkey kong...

Venom1970

ok i found some nice body and suspension lifts, at www.roughcountry.com

theres a 4 inch suspension lift for about 400 bucks, and a 2 inch body lift for 130. with 6 total inches for 530 i think thats decent

this http://roughcountry.com/jeep_xj_4.html is a nice kit for 459 though
at 4.5 inches