BG253

My brother in law has a 1995 Jeep Cherokee 4 wheel drive and some bolts in the rear axle broke and apparently got into the gears and broke some teeth, is there a way to disable the rear axle so he can use the vehicle to go to work until he can locate and replace the parts? Thanks

pdowty68

Interesting question... I'm not really sure... I don't know if would damage the transfer case with the rear driveshaft disconnected. I would assume it would mess something up, because if most of the power is not going anywhere, where is it gonna go? And you can't forget about using 4wd on dry pavement. But would it make a difference if the rear end isn't part of the equation? I'm asking myself a lot of questions here... I could see disconnecting the front end, but that defeats the purpose, you could just use 2wd... I'm not sure

NewKindOfClown

The spider gears inside the rear diffential will turn when the rear wheels turn. If it rolls, they move.

The rear driveshaft can be disconnected, the shift level put in 4HI, and you can use front wheel drive. It won't hurt anything. The only problem with that is the transfer case fluid will leak out the tail cone unless it's sealed up. Because the OP mentioned loose bolts inside the rear axle, this would still probably lead to damage. As I said above, the gears will turn whenever the tires do.

pdowty68

so smart... Didn't think of that...

salad

You can disassemble the diff and remove the ring and spider gears, leaving only the pinion and side gears. Then prop shaft can stay in and the C-clip axles won't fall out Drive in 4WD (which will effectively be FWD) until you can find a new axle. You'll have to remove the carrier to get the ring gear off.

NewKindOfClown

Thanks for the backup, salad. I wasn't sure about seals/leaks in that scenario.

salad

No seals are affected Worst that'll happen is the pinion gear and side gears slosh the oil around

Gatchmo5710

I've limped home a few times with only front wheel drive. ****ty but it works.

BG253

He got I back together but it will not shift into full time 4 wheel drive but will shift into part time. Are full time and part time geared differently? What are the limitations on part time 4 wheel drive?

salad

No they're the same gearing. I have no idea what can go wrong with an NP242 that would prevent it from entering 4 Full Time aside from the shifter assembly (I'm sure something internal could break if you tried hard enough).

4 Part Time should never be used on pavement, it's appropriate for Part Time use only as it locks the front and rear drive shafts together. 4 Full Time has a differential-like action so you can use it on pavement.

If you're driving around with no rear driveshaft or ring gear or whatever you'll want to use 4 Part Time. 4 Full Time will just spin the rear output and you won't go anywhere.

BG253

So in normal circumstances you would not use on pavement but with nothing driving the rear axle it would be best to use it in part time 4 wheel drive. Am I understanding correctly? Thanks

DFlintstone

I think that's right. Part time locks it so on pavement front and rear would bind. With the rear disabled there would be nothing to bind with.

Clever point there Salad! The spider shaft needs to be there to keep the axle from moving in and letting the C-clip's drop off, assuming it has them.

BG, it helps if you fill out your info....

salad

Yeeep