(before any says search ive been looking).

not new to cars, but new to 4wd (projects). so heres the deal i bought this 1989 xj for 500 bucks. thing is pretty beat up but runs fine and starts right up. when i bought i test drove it and switched it to 4x4 hi and had no issues. well yesterday i figured lets go in the back yard and get stuck for a bit. when i did i put it in 4x4 (at this point im at a complete stop as oppose to like a 30 roll) i felt it lock in but as soon as i gave it gas theres this horrible grinding noise. so i left it in 4x4 while someone pushed and it worked. so after we got out and i was driving back to the house in 2wd (doing about 20) i decided to test again. went to 4 hi (20 roll) and it worked fine. then there was a small hill i went up and the grinding came back.

so far my diagnosis is when there is a load put on while in 4 wheel drive its like the gears arent lining up and its just hitting. but as long as im just driving through the mud its fine. any ideas? i opened up the front axel today. all 4 gears have the teeth on them still and looked good. any help would be great. im almost thinking its the transfer case

 

Is it coming from the front axle, or the tcase?

My guess would be front axle, the 89 d30 has a locking collar that locks the passengers side axle together, it has to slide over and engage the splines. Youre most likely hearing it try to engage the splines. What I would do is put it in 4wd, and let off the brake (back tires slowly turning) and it should lock together fine.

 

its hard to tell if its coming from front or tcase. reason i say that is the jeep is gutted to include door panels so its noisy all over i got a guy that has the axle for 75 locally. and a 242 tcase for 150. i pretty sure mine is the 231 tcase tho. so is there a way to check the axle to see if that is trully what is going on?

 

I wonder if you could jack the front up, put it in 4wd/neutral, and try turning the front drive shaft and see if you can hear it.

I dont really know what to tell you, besides lock the CAD over like I did, or swap in a 91+ front (if it really is the front axle)

If you read my writeup, it will give you an Idea of what Im talking about when I say "locking collar"
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/fr...ss-91-a-38629/

 

not sure what you mean by lock the CAD over

 

The axle disconnect/locking collar Ive been talking about is called "CAD" or "Center axle Disconnect"

 

ok just looked at your right up. makes some sense but i got a couple questions. if i put it in the "locked" position does that mean ill be in full time 4wd? or does that mean when i shift to 4hi or lo the axle no longer has to slide over because i manually did it?

 

yeah, the collar doesnt move back and forth anymore.

They got rid of this system in 91 or 92 cause of all the problems it makes, the new jeeps just have solid axles on both sides.

 

you might want to also check the adjustment on the t-case linkage, it might not be engaging all the way. I had similar symptoms in my jeep and the linkage was out of adjustment.

 

how do i go about doing that? like i said im new to working on 4 wheel drives.. thanks.

 

gonna try and do the CAD bypass tommorrow. seems pretty easy. so basically i pull the c-clip, slide that big metal thing over, then put the c-clip on other side right?

 

just for good maintenance, make sure you lubricate your linkage well too, if not used for a long time they tend to seize up. your t case might have just in between the 2wd and 4wd hub and moving a little got it to engage. hopefully its as simple as that

 

defiance, pm sent

 

Yup... Just follow the writeup.
If that doesnt fix it, I would be looking at the tcase.
(Maybe time for that 242 if its a DD...)

My girlfriends popped out of gear and was stuck between 2 and 4, all it did was rev like it was in neutral. No grinding noises.

 

will the 242 bolt right up? or is there something special that has to get done? its not a DD its strictly mud truck. i got a jk for a DD