Dfread

Wow... so I was just going to simply adjust the rear drums and proceeded to lift the passenger side rear wheel. When both rear tires went into the air the jeep thought it would go for a ride without me. I could've sworn that when your in park the front rotors somewhat lock up. Are there some park cables or something that could have corroded and now both front wheels don't engage in park?? This was a bit of a worry for me, it happened 5 minutes ago and I'm bleeding all over the place from jumping for the jack. I know I should have put something in front of the front tires, but I was 100% positive that they lock up in park. That's why it's called park isn't it?

s346k

"park" has everything to do with the transmission. nothing to do w the front wheels...unless you put it in 4wd.

Gee oh Dee

Nope. Front does not lock unless you've got it in 4wd.

cherokeelaredo'90

Even then, is it that hard to put some chocks on the tires just to be sure? Remember, safety first..
And I hope everything is okay with you though. Just banged up and bruised or worse?

Xj88

Yea...lol.

Should have thought that one through a bit more lol.

Did it fall off jacks or anything? If so put some pics up.

Gee oh Dee

I'm guessing if he can punch keys on a keyboard he's gonna be fine...

Dfread

No no, only thing that really hurts is my pride. Only thing that happened to the car was it got some scrapes on the axle from ripping out the jack, and some metal on the jack was smashed when I pulled it out. Bad news is I did something pretty stupid, good news is I don't have to fix anything (which is a scary thought now).
So I always thought that when I parked and it made this click noise, that was some front wheel locking device, but I guess that seems pretty stupid. But what really happens is the transmission is locking the rear driveshaft/differential?? That doesn't seem very safe that the only thing that locks up in park is the rear wheels. I guess that's all that you need though...

s346k

no, it does not lock the differential. it deals with the transmission and only the transmission. basically it's a little metal pin about the size of a pencil that keeps your car from moving.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-p...r-in-park1.htm

HudsonN

He's really not kidding. It's pretty scary just how little that pin is. After seeing one in person i refuse to park without the E-brake engaged.

bambam0417

Wheel chocks!!!! I usurally use them and put the jeep in 4x4 when I'm picking up the back wheels. Even when it looks like its on flat ground I still use them. Think safety first and you wont be in the hospital later.

RTorrez1

Not to sound mean or try to make you look stupid or anything like that. But, I really do hope that you don't plan on doing any more work on it unless you have someone that knows what they are doing. Just so you don't get hurt or worse. That could have ended really bad!

hbracing13

If you were just adjusting the brakes, wouldn't of it just been easier to pop off the plug on the backing plate and adjust them that way.

Dfread

Great information guys, thanks for that. Looks like I'll be chocking the wheels at all times from now on, seeing as how the front spins freely.

I fully understand your concern and thank you, but I have worked on the jeep numerous times with jacking up the car and always... ALWAYS have a back up plan. Even if I have it secured on jack stands I always plan on, "what if the car falls off this way or that way". I'm always thinking about what could happen and take special care. In this instance I planned on that if my car were to somehow roll away, (little did I know), it would have hit this groove at the bottom of my driveway and the jack would have popped right off the axle. Even if it didn't pop off I knew that it would have gone straight into a curb at a pretty low speed and would stop. Now that I no longer ignorant about the free to spin front wheels, this should never happen again. And don't worry about pointing out that that was a really stupid act, I'm fully aware that it was *laugh goes here* . Unfortunately I don't have anyone to help me that knows how to work on a car.

Dfread

I thought you had to spin the wheel to see if it spins freely (super minor drag) to get the best drum brake possible out of it.

hbracing13

Yes and no its usually easier to lift up the wheel and spin it or you can go till the adjuster get tight and then about 6 clicks back or so I've done it like that, once your close enought in theory your sospose to be able to reverse and have them get adjusted automatically but it usually don't work that way.