It is good you found the pieces and it is good you removed them.
If it's not broken how do you know what to fix?
You can get a new fork, stock aluminum, aftermarket iron.
I installed the Posi Lok cable system with the iron fork. I really like it and the engagement is positive and stays put. I used to have a from disconnect that would pop out on embarassing occasions, not to mention the mental torment from the real nice noises accompanying the situation.
I recommend the posi lock system. Not cheap, quality of parts is excellent, just flat out works.

 

Wellll my 4 wheel drive is shot. Ive taken it apart hundredssss of time now! well It slides back and fourth now so does the vac shifter everything works great. I put it back together went everywhere cuz its dumping i get to a friends shut the jeep off and BAM start it again and bye bye 4 wheel drive. the collar is all the way to the left in 4 high but when im driving im still hearing grinding gears OMG Im gonna blow this car up

 

When mine was on the vac controlled system I had many partial engagements. Also frozen out of 4, frozen in 4 etc. You could pull the vac pod and do a bolt into position. Would be harder on the gas mileage as you will turn more mass staying connected when your transfer case goes back to 2 wheel. Is there any other possible sources of your grinding noise. Not uncommon for me to eat thru a couple of universals every year (I do grease em too).

 

Just my two cents, but I've been thinking about this for when I buggy my '89... On my later jeeps there is no disconnect on the front axle, and the problem with earlier front disconnects is that they have various issues ranging from intermittant connection to various broken parts due to wear and whatnot. I have heard of some people replacing the split shaft with a later year solid shaft and removing all of the vacum disco system. since the newer jeeps dont have a disco, it seems reasonable that it isnt necessary, and this is the understanding I have.
Personally, Im not going to spend money when I dont have to. Therefore what I plan to do is lock the sleeve in the "four wheel" position and remove the vacuum disco completely. I will still have the two wheel option as the transfer case will still switch, but there will be less moving parts to break and I will have little concern that if the sleeve fully enguaged or not. From what I hear its not because they axles are weak that they break, it is because the sleeve gets sluggish and wond go fully to the enguaged or disenguaged position.

My suggestion is to look at doing the same, if it will stay in "4wd" position manually. The tcase is what truely determines if it is in 2 or 4 wd. The vac disco serves no purpose IMO.

 

Huh its weird it will be engaged. Then i take it off and push the collar back and fourth and then it goes in im sooo confused

 

bump

 

There was an article covering some alternative fixes to the disco front D30, used on YJ and XJ jeeps, also on fords, gm, etc. The tech article can be referenced in JP magazine on their web site. Perhaps the bolt into position option would work for you for a while, bolt and nuts position the fork in the engaged position. This way you are sure it is engaged and not moving while you drive. Allows you to review other areas of the front drive axle for noises and problems.

 

i know its engages thats whats weird i put it in 4 high. Then drive around and it doesnt work. i get home take the shifter fok off and its all the way engaged. I wiggle the collar back and forth and then it works like that! Then i drive for like 10 minutes and it stops working again!!!!

 

Are you sure it is the axle sleave slipping and not the transfer case? Occasionally my transfer case will slip out of 4wd, and I dont have a split axle. I had been hoping for a transfer case adjustment proceedure when I stumbled on this thread.

Just to reiterate my last post it is my opinion that the split shaft was a "donothing" option to put some people's minds at ease. Locking hubs were a big thing with fords in the '80s, as the ford drivetrains would overheat or have other issues id they remained turning while disengagued. Jeeps dont have that issue, at least the in the '90s, which have the same model number transfer case and front axle. Do the bolt lock thing peep said. If it can be left in permanently I would leave it in.

If you keep slipping out of 4wd then, either:
the splines broke off the shaft already and arent really holding anyway,
Your transfer case is slipping,
You have some kind of 'strange issue'
or you are not accurately able to tell when 4wd is engaged or not, and that it is working ok or not all the time, but whatever test you are using is not accurate.

In some ways I get the impression that you might be thinking that the sleeve on the axle determines whether or not the vehicle is in 4wd or 2wd. This is not the case. The Transfer case selection determines if power is applied to the front drive shaft via the transfer case. The vacuum disconnect system is supposed to lock the front passenger side axle halves together when the transfer case is shifted into 4wd.

On all other xjs, the front passenger axle is solid, and the front driveline spins at all times the vehicle is in motion, even if the transfer case is in 2wd. The difference is that in 2wd, there is no torque applied to the front driveline, an it spins free.

In a vacuum disconnect system the passenger side axle has a sleeve that disconnects the two halves of the passenger side axle shaft when in 2wd. With the axle disconnected on one side, the differential has a wheel connected on one side and nothing connected on the other. As the driveline (disconnected at the transfer case internally) has to go through a gear reduction to spin with the wheel, the differential finds it easier to make half of the passenger axle spin backward through the spider.gears than to spin the driveline, so the driveline stays put. All this doesnt really do anything other than make it so that the front driveline doesnt spin when the transfer case is in 2wd.

Not to say that if the vacuum disco disconnected while in 4wd that it wouldnt result in basically 2wd. This is why so many people have issues with it and get rid of the disconnect. Not to mention it plays havoc with things if you try to put a locker or whatnot up front.

One way to pinpoint what your real issue is would be to put all four wheels off the ground (VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE THE VEHICLE SECURELY BRACED, AND NOT JUST UP ON JACKS!!!), put the vehicle in 2wd and turn off. The passenger wheel should spin free without spinning the driver's side or the driveshaft. The driveshaft should spin free without turning either wheel. This is assuming that the disconnect is able to stay in the disconnected position with the engine off. It is a vacuum device and may need to have the engine running to stay in one position or the other. Its been a while since I looked at mine and cant remember if this is so.

Repeat the process for 4wd. If the sleave is working in 4wd, the front wheels will spin opposite to each other, assuming you have a differential and not a locker. Regardless if the sleeve is working, the front driveline should stay put and not turn at all if you try to turn it, as it should be locked in at the transfer case. If you can still turn the front driveline you have issues with your transfer case and it doesnt matter if the disconnect is working or not. (Word of note: if you have a manual transmission and leave it in neutral, or you have a NP242 transfer case amd put it in "full time" it may be possible to turn the front drive shaft. Make sure you are in part time with the parking brake engaged).

Well, i got distracted while posting this this morning, but Id saved it so though Im derailed at the moment Ill post what I had. Hope it helps. I may take a look under my parts jeep and see if anything I posted needs corrected.or added to.

 

This seems like a good place to start. I recently did a full fluid change on my XJ transmission, diffs, and transfer case. the latter being what is giving me problems. after the fluid change (i used mobil one synthetic ATF) i first started driving and it was great and i shifted much smother, after a little while it started popping out of 4HIGH so i would have to stop and force it back in to 2HIGH which often resulted in getting stuck on crappy roads. The funny thing is that 4LO works great. I have also topped up the fluid and check it to make sure everything is working i adjusted the linkage. i am a lose of what to do maybe I just have to bite the bullet and do a rebuild. HELP PLEASE!!

 

I recently had to do a new drive shaft on my 1999 Jeep Cherokee and bought it from rough country installed it myself put everything back together and when I went to put it into 2 wheel drive I could move forward but when I’d go to put it in reverse it would pop out of 2 wheel drive mind you I don’t have a 4 wheel drive linkage also didn’t have it before the old drive shaft blew out and Also was able to shift into 2 wheel and 4 wheel very easily now with the new set up I have a hard time to even shift into 2 or 4 wheel

 

This is an old thread. You might be better off starting a new one of your own