Hey, guys.
I have only had my 1996 5spd for a couple of months (my first 4wd vehicle). Everything has been working great, including 4wd which I tried out on dirt a little bit of snow and breifly on wet pavement. 133k miles, runs like new.

Tonight I had a chance to go fooling around on some deserted/snow covered roads near my house...and I jumped at the chance. The 4wd was working like a charm until...(and in retrospect, this was dumb as hell), I pulled the parking brake to bring the tail around a corner like I have done with every other car I have owned since I was 16 (many moons ago).

When I executed this maneuver in the Cherokee, I heard a grinding nose that made me sick...4wd still works but when I apply the brakes, the noise returns I don't know if it would also make the noise under heavy throttle, etc...I just carefully returned home at that point. . 4WD low seems unaffected.

So...how bad is it? Thanks for any input...definitely ashamed of this already.
Mike

 

I bet Its something with your brakes or u joints.. your E brake isn't going to have enough force to break the Tcase. just think about all the stress the Tcase goes though transmitting all of the engines power to the axles. now think of the last time you forgot to take the E brake off before you started driving. It may have slowed you down but it sure as hell wasn't going to keep you from moving if you tried hard enough. Just my opinion tho anything is possible. Im just saying i would start by looking at brakes and u joints.

 

Yep, I'm guessing you popped a spring in one of your rear drums (or something like that). I seriously doubt you've harmed your TC. Odd that it only seems to happen in 4hi but that's still my guess based on your description. Applying the e-brake is no different than applying the brakes using the pedal other than it only affects the rear wheels. The logic of this suggests that you cannot use your brakes when in 4x4. I use brakes and throttle all the time when I'm on the trail and I drift using the e-brake occasionally, never had a problem.

 

Sounds like the braking mechanism is jammed. On most vehicles now the grinding noise you heard us the result of a safety feature. It's preventing the ebrake from producing a skid. If you're hearing that noise and the lever is down, I'd assume the mechanism is still engaged at the wheel and disconnected along the line preventing it from disengaging.

 

I absolutely have never heard of that before. Where did you get your information?

 

sounds like he's talking about anti lock brakes and maybe something to do with the tone rings. you know that sound and feeling you get when you lock up with anti lock brakes...

but if the op locked his rear wheels with the e-brake when both front and rear axles were locked in 4wd, he could have skipped the chain in the t-case... not likely, but who knows the condition it was in before.

you will have to pin point where the noise is coming from and start looking there.

 

Exactly, there is no differential so somethings got to give. The OP will just have to have a look around and see what popped.

 

Well my first thought was he did something to the transfer case chain.

That's why I wondered what the brakes would have to do with it as someone posted earlier. If it was the brakes, then it would do it in 2WD or 4WD.

With the rears locked and the fronts turning at speed, and in a sharp turn at that, the normal slippage couldn't happen.

It's either the chain or the 4HI gears.

 

In the np231 there needs to be that slippage difference. Just like you can't use it on dry pavement. I wonder if your right and the OP screwed up something internal. Normally when braes lock up all the tires do it but he locked up the rear and the front tires where spinning normally. Sometimes putting it on jacks an engaging 4wf will help to see if the noise is from the TC. Maybe check u joints. Give a look around. Sorry this seems like a disorganized thought but I have a bad migraine.

Oh, OP, what TC do you have. If you don't know off hand what choice on the Tc shifter are there

 

SCRATCH THAT! It was late and I had just finished my HIDs......lol I was thinking of throwing it in reverse and/or park...not the e-brake...

 

lets organize some thought here....
-does the sound happen in 2wd when you apply the brakes?
or does it only make the sound when you are in 4wd hi?
-is your parking brake light still on or did it come on when you pulled the lever?
- does your jeep have Abs?
-does your e-bake still work?
-if it is only make the sound when you apply the brakes you may have broken something inside the rear drums... water and junk collect inside the drums... making the hardware inside them weak.. so the springs and hardware could have just fell apart inside... i do not think you broke your transfer case because it would make the sound as you are driving not just when you hit the brakes...
btw welcome to cf sorry this is your 1st post.. and dont feel dumb no one here is perfect..

 

Hopefully the OP comes back with some info. My personal opinion tho is no hardware should break and/or fall apart in the drum. I would hope that before that happened the brakes would apply enough force to tear the backing plate off the axle. If the brakes are actually any weaker than that, my rides for sale.

 

I dont have rear brakes in my rig at the moment so when I wheel in 4wd I only have front brakes I have yet to break something when I stomp on the pedal and front disks are way stronger than his drums. like I said before anythign is possible, we dont know the condition of the tcase or other components.

 

well thats part of the problem we have no idea of the condition of these parts... we do not know if who jeep brought the jeep kept up on this stuff.... i brought a jeep that stopped ok but the drums where shot didnt make any noise because they were frozen at that mileage i opened them up and everything went to dust... he is close to having to do them at 133k if you do them ever 70k or so... so lets see what he comes back with... im hoping your right... but i think its brake related...also drum brakes do not have enough brake pressure to break anything off of an axle... from what i know...

 

Thank you guys for all of the insight and help...you guys are great!

The suggestion of the chain jumping seems to ring true...that is what it felt/sounded like. While I agree that the parking brake shouldn't be strong enough to break the transfer case, it's possible to imagine that the combination of extremely low traction meant that the rear wheels could easily lock up (which they did) and the inertia of the driveshaft, differential axles and weight of the wheels/tires/brakes could put enough of a shock on the system to jolt the system pretty hard.

To complicate things, it's worlking normally now! The noise seems to be gone.

There was still plenty of snow on the road this morning and I went out for a ride and tentatively put it in 4-high and after a new but brief grinding sensation when pulling the lever, the system functioned normally...4wd worked well, grinding noise when hitting the brakes was gone. I'm glad...but more puzzled...and I don't trust that it's 100% ok. Also, there may be a new/slight "rumbling" sound coming from the transmission area when rolling along at 30ish mph in 4wd...but then again, it could be normal.

So if the chain did jump, is the transfer case shot? How big of a deal is a rebuild?

Thanks..

2WD operation was normal last night...still is
Parking brake and brakes work normally (thank God)
No ABS
The suggestion of the rebuild of the rear brakes is a good one. The fronts were done right before I got the car....based on what you said, I bet the rears are due even if it wasn't related.

So... I guess it's wait and see at this point.
I will keep everyone posted.