Alright guys I finally took my Cherokee in to a mechanic to get this looked at.

It's been squeaking for about a month now, possibly longer. The squeaks coming from the driveshaft/tcase (mechanic verified this) and increases in volume/speed as you go faster.

Mechanic took the driveshaft off, no squeak. So he took it apart and greased everything, and said it went away.

Well a day after I pick it up, it's squeaking again. I've been driving it for a good few
weeks now and it sounds worse, if anything.

I'm wondering if it's not something to do with the tcase, because if you take that driveshaft off, the parts inside the tcase wouldn't be spinning (?). Driveshaft ujoints are new as of last summer, did not replace the joint. It's a double cardan joint driveshaft.

Any ideas? This is really starting to worry me.

 

When I dug into my double joint was just rust dust, nothing left. Joint was not loose or wobbly but burnt up for sure.

 

When I replaced the ujoints, the ball inside there *looked* fine, but... well I dunno. The mechanic thought it looked good and just greased everything, didn't replace anything.

 

Alright got off the phone with my mechanic. He took the driveshaft off, span the yokes on both the tcase and the diff, and there was no squeak. Put the driveshaft back on, span it, didn't squeak. That matches up with my own testing; jacking up the front axle and spinning the axle will cause it to squeak, but only for awhile, it goes away. After you drop the front and start driving again, it starts squeaking again.


I'm at a loss. I'm gonna drain and change the tcase this weekend and see if there's any metal in it, because at this point that's all I can think of.

 

Angry sparrows....typically this is a sign that the double cardan joint is trashed and needs a rebuild. Hard to replicate with the driveshaft off, or spinning without any load on it, but it's a telltale sign that under load while driving you hear the chirping coming from that vicinity.

 

See that's what I kind of thought, because if it was coming from the tcase, it'd squeak when you'd spin the yoke, correct? And it goes away when you take the load off.

 

This happens because the greasing of that joint is difficult so it gets ignored. Heck, if you have to, remove the shaft and lube it once in a while. Takes about 20 minutes.

 

That's what I do, I disconnect the driveshafts at the transfer case to grease the u-joints and centering ball. Faster than trying to get a needle fitting on the centering ball zerk.

 

Gotta rebuild my front this spring, and regrease my rear. Thanks for the reminder

 

Agreed.

 

Very old thread, but I just addressed this damn noise, and it was my front drive shaft. Replaced it, noise gone.