I have searched and searched and have found many similar threads to what I'm about to ask about, but I'm not sure if other people's problems are the same as this one. So here goes.

To start with, I have only had this '96 Cherokee for a few months. I have been under it to look and feel for worn u-joints and other misc loose things. The previous owner said that he'd had the rear brakes "done". I haven't had the chance to pull the wheels yet to examine the brakes on the front or rear yet.

Most of the time, but not every time, when I press the brakes and come to a stop, the brakes seem to slow me down to finally stick to a stop. When I switch from the brake to the gas, I feel the brakes release. But as I press the gas, something has a slip feel to it. It sort of feels like the rear brakes aren't completely releasing at first, or they aren't releasing completely fast enough as I switch from the brake to the gas. The result is a kind of a slip/bump startoff. It's like you had a big heavy bowling ball roll from front to back in the cargo area.

138,000 miles, this thing drives like a dream and has been well maintained as best I can tell. The transmission shifts very smoothly.

I do have a popping or bumping noise in the rear cargo area as I hit bumps. It sounds just like a noise I had in another vehicle when a bolt was loose in the receiver hitch mount while carrying a load. None of the hitch bolts are loose on this Cherokee. I'm thinking it may be an upper shock mount problem, and I'm planning on getting new shocks very soon. I'm only saying this paragraph to see if anyone thinks the noise could be related to the braking/accelerating bump.

Any ideas would be appreciated. I'm thinking drum brake problems (broken adjustment spring?), axle wrap (maybe?), or some problem possibly in the axle? Like I said, no grinding noises, no metallic clanking, no clicking. Drives great.

 

I think I have the same problem w/ my 2000 XJ. Feels like the rear brakes drag me to a stop and then don't release in time to get moving again. I haven't had time to pull the rear wheels off to take a look yet. Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

Place to start is rear brake inspection. When jacked rotate the tires, do the pads rub the drums? They should, just a little. Pull the rear drums off and have a look at the condition of shoes, drums, adusters, springs, any leakage from the wheel cylinder, is everything there? Is anything there that shouldn't be? I had to hose a pile of mud and muck out couple weeks ago. Post what you see.

 

So here's an update:

Yesterday, we had the chance to replace the stock shocks with new Monroe Sensa-Trac shocks. The passenger rear shock was still functional, but the bushing at the bottom was gone, so much so that the bolt hole was worn out of round. This had to be where the popping in the rear was coming from. The driver rear shock was not functional, neither was the passenger front. The driver front shock was working, but leaking fluid.

No problems with bolts breaking or seizing. Whew!

Then we inspected the brakes. The drum brakes looked fine, nothing broken or out of place, plenty of pad.

It seems like my bumping/slipping problem may have gone away with the new shocks in place. Perhaps it was due to having broken shocks on opposite ends of the Jeep?

 

I spoke too soon - the shocks did nothing for my problem.

We did get to look at the drum brakes. From what I could tell everything looked fine.

I'm wondering now if it's something wrong with the rear axle or rearend period.

If you really want to make this issue appear, come to a near rolling stop and then gun the accelerator. It's like something has slack and then catches up quick. Any ideas?

 

Your slip yoke is sticking. It does feel like a loose bowling ball when you start and stop, lol.
Pull the driveshaft and lube the splines with anti-seize.

 

^THIS. my '94 did the bowling ball thing BAD and it took me forever to figure out it was that lol

 

UPDATE:

Finally got around to dropping the driveshaft and lubing that output shaft from the transfer case to the driveshaft.

Drives like new! Finally. Thanks!

 

So I have a 2000 xj and I already dropped the driveshaft and greased the slip yoke but I still get " the bowling ball" feeling at take off... could it be anything else! We're moving to Florida and i need this vehicle to take the dogs down in