ok i have a 1996 jeep cherokee it was 2wd so i made it 4x4. i got a front axle from this guy on craigslist. but every axle i looked at has some kind of vaccume accuator on it. the one i have does not. its a dana but not sure which one and not sure how to check. please help

 

The axle that you bought is the right one for what your doing its most likely a dana 30 from a 92+ jeep cherokee or a 96+ wrangler before those years the dana 30's had a vaccum disconnect like what you have been finding.

So since your putting it in a 96 cherokee then the one's without the vaccum disconect on the dana 30 is what you want.

Also since i cant see the axle you bought, the wrangler and also the cheroke came factory with only the dana 30 so as long as you bought the front axle from one of those you should be good.

 

ok i have a nother question when i put the front driveshaft on it wheel hoops extremely bad do u have any idea what could be causing that

 

Does the wheel hop occur everytime you connect the drive shaft or only when the 4wd is engaged? We also need a little more info from you about the donor vehicle the front axle came from. Is it 4 or 6 cylinder, automatic or standard transmisson?

The first thing that comes to mind is that you have installed an axle with the incorrect gear ratio. Being that you have the 4.0 and standard trans, your factory gear ratio should be 3.07. If the front axle came from a 4.0 automatic it will have 3.55 gears. That would make the front turn at a different speed than the rear and it is spinning the tires trying to drag the rear axle.

Now this isn't exactly bad for your yet. If you plan on running oversize tires the taller gears will help you. You would just need to find a rear axle to match the front raito and install it. That should be an easy task considering the majority of the Cherokees came with the 4.0 and automatic trans.

And welcome to CF from a fellow Tennessean.

 

Yes just like wiston says you need to make sure that the axle you bought has the same gear ratio as yours.

to get a idea here is the normal gear ratios to find out what you have and also what you bought.

Engine/tranny gear ratio

2.5 4cyclinder 4.10

4.0 manual trans 3.07

4.0 auto trans 3.55

4.0 with tow package 3.73

Those are just a idea of what the axles should have in them so you can get a idea of what you have and also what you bought as long as you know what vehicle it came from.

Also what transfercase did you use to turn it into 4wd did you get one with selec trac which has a setting where you can use 4wd all the time or did you get one with command trac which only have 2 HI 4 HI N 4 LO

If you have the command trac one it cant be used on dry pavment or ashphalt only in offroad or slippery/snow condition if you do use it on dry pavement the transfercase will bind causing it to wheel hop in the front also eventually damaging the transfer case the selec trac one has a seperate diff inside the case allowing it to spin at seperate speeds front and back to prevent that.

 

the axle i got is from an auto with 3.55 gears and i changed the rear end gears to 3.55 and i have the 2wh 4 hi and 4 lo transfer case is np231

 

is there a difference in 2wd and 4wd transmission cross member or they all the same