Ninjeff

Hey folks. New Cherokee owner here. I just picked up a 97 Cherokee sport, 176,000 miles on it. 4.0 I6.
I've never owned a Jeep before, hell, i've never owned anything other than import sport compacts lol, so you'll have to excuse my newbness. At least for a little while.

The current issue i'm having doesn't horribly affect drivability right now, but since its a "new to me" Jeep, i'm trying to nip all the problems in the butt before they become big issues.

Right now when i put the Jeep into "drive" from park, it really kind of chunks into gear pretty hard. From 1st to second it seems ok, maybe a little heavy, but from 2nd to 3rd and so on its smooth as silk. When coming to a stop, it feel just slightly hard back into first and then so on and so on. I checked the trans fluid, and its brand new. I suspect they changed it at the dealer before i purchased it, but i have no way of knowing if its the "right" fluid for the Jeep. What could be causing this? Is it expensive?
I sure hope not, but be honest with me here.
I'm pretty quickly falling in love with my Jeep, and i'd hate for it to turn out to be a short term relationship if you know what i mean.

brutalxj

Sounds to me like your trans is fine. All I hear is that you have a bad u joint on your rear drive shaft. Vary simple fix and only about 20 or 30 for parts. You will need a 8mm wrench and ratchet-socket also 8mm. You need to take out 4 bolts holding 2 straps on. The straps hold the u joint on to the axle yoke. You may have to put the jeep in N to get to all the bolts. Anyway remove bolts then use a long screwdriver to help brake the rust and free you joint from the yoke like a pry bar. the drive shaft should pull right off of the T-case. Then torch the u joint out of the drive shaft. If you don't have a torch or cant use one. Take it to a shop they will charge you 5 dollars. there are other ways to take them out but they suck. using a hammer lightly tap the caps on the u joint on the drive shaft side slide the drive shaft on the t-case output bolt on the yoke side. and your dune. 20 min for a newbe and only 4 tools!

EVcherokee

Welcome to the Cherokeeforum

Be for you go swapping parts do some diagnostic work. I'd suspect it a bad tranny or motor mount or a bad TPS sensor. It may very well be a bad u-joint, but theres usually vibration at cruising speed with those in my experience. Get underneath your jeep and start by trying to move the yokes on the driveline, there shouldn't be much play. The tranny should be centered on the crossmember(When my tranny mount went out, it was pushed to the side and hitting the exhaust) and not moving around. A pry bar can help tell if theres slop in the motor mounts. Keep us updated and we'll help get ya figured out!

Ninjeff

Wow. Excellent guys. Thanks.
I'll be giving these things a try in the next week or so. It wouldn't suprise me if its a combo of various little things.
Brutal, is there any photo links or walk thru's you know of? It doesn't sound very hard, but i'm a visual kind of guy. So it'd help to "see" what you mean.
Thanks!

brutalxj

Don't have a pick of the hole proses but here is one of your rear u joint and the 2 straps. there is probably a write up on the form somewhere.

brutalxj

By the way welcome to the form.

Ninjeff

Heyheyhey. Awesome. Thanks Brutal. Mega help!

At least i know what i'm looking for now.