I didn't smell it or taste it lol no really I didn't but another buddy local to me thought the same. Thought is if it were red to begin with then got dirty it would be dark brown not a creme color

 

By the way I stopped at parts store tonight bought some DEX III and put it in. Daughters birthday is today so I couldn't play long with it. After she goes to bed I'm going to attempt to see how it worked out. I hope for my sake its not damaged and salvageable.

Should I have maybe flushed it somehow? If so with what?

 

One thing I forgot to ask you all long time ago is what causes a high idle? Even if I drive jeep around a bit and it warms up once I stop shift into park and such it goes into a high idle

 

How high? Could be your IAC /throttle body needs cleaning or a vacuum leak.

 

Its pretty high idle for sure

 

I was able to test jeep in part time 4wd and well still get that noise maybe little less but defiantly still does it. Still sounds and feels like something binding.

Too hard for me to get under it during that time and take video.

Full time 4wd high it wasn't as bad but still there again too.

I'm still going to have my buddy nearby help me out with it this weekend but unless its something else I'm convinced its T case and chain like you all said.

Okay I also tried this, put jeep in neutral had my son keep foot on break and I got under it and attempted to twist drive shafts for u joint play. Front was very minimal and rear had more twist and while doing it I could hear a little noise near t case where rear shaft goes in. I don't know if shafts should twist at all or some is okay?

 

Here's what I suspect because of the drive line test you did unless you have a bad U-joint and can't see or hear it yet. This used to be a common problem with early 4X4's and was the main cause of what we called "four wheel drive hop" now they call it death wobble. While you haven't yet got the wobble it is probably about to.

What happens is the rear gears get far more wear than the front gears get because you don't use 4 wheel drive as often to make the front wear the same as the rear. Even though these front axles do turn the gears and driveline all the time there really is no "wear load" on the front gears in 2 wheel drive. Because of this you get an uneven load between the front and the rear.

This situation happens more often in earlier 4X4's that have locking front hubs because the front gears end up getting almost no wear at all but the back gears get worn much much more. The wear difference finally becomes great enough that the rear starts to try and "run over" the front because the tolerance lash is so much greater and it puts your TC in a bind.

The difference in wear is almost like having a slightly different gear ratio in the front than in the rear. I currently have a 53 ****** M38A1 military that has the exact same symptoms and problem right now. And I know what I have to do to fix it, I have to reset the lash and remove the slack out of those rear gears to match the lesser slack in the front.

 

So what your saying is I need to do the same to mine and likely my rear gears are out of wack?

 

If there is quite a difference in how much the drive shaft turns in the rear compared to the front this very well could be the initial problem. You did the check the correct way by having someone hold the brakes while you checked these, and from what you said this would be the classic symptom of what I shared. But this will also cause residual affects to the TC after awhile.

But if you know the U-joints are tight, the TC output shaft is tight, and all the play is in the gears, this might be the problem. I have run into this a LOT over the years and if it has caused damage to the TC it will just do it to the next one too. The front and rear need to have close to the same amount of tolerance, slack, and load on the TC.

And yes the only way to tighten up these rear gears is to reset the lash. Or replace them. But this is where replacing them gets sticky. Finding a "tight" used replacement rear axle might be hard. And any other option is going to require them to be "set up" anyhow. If it were mine I would just reset the lash while it's still in the vehicle. It's a lot less work than changing it out.

But before you do anything, would it be possible to get a short video showing the difference between how much the rear twists than the front using the same check method you did with brake applied and TC in neutral? With this I could tell you right off "yep that's way too much slack" or "that's not too much slack" between the two.

 

I'm by no means an expert, but definitely second the recommendation to look at the IAC. It's easy to check (2 screws!) and I find it easier to check than a vacuum leak.

If the IAC is clean, also confirm the initial stroke/ position of the pintle is set correctly and the IAC is tight enough to the body (no air leaks). At least the IAC I have you can spin the pintle to thread it in/out and change the initial position. There's a spec for how far out it should protrude from the sealing face.

When I was originally working through issues on my engine, I was working through and testing all of the sensors. Early on I put a new IAC in, and idle was fine. But after swapping out some aging sensors and parts (in particular the coolant temp sensor which was out of spec) the idle suddenly jumped from 600 RPM to ~ 1800 RPM.

To fix it, I had to correct the initial pintle position on the IAC. Turns out when I first installed the IAC, I had it set to the wrong initial position but the engine was idling fine. Everything just happened to balance out. Then when I started working on stuff I impacted A/F at idle and I needed to actually set the IAC stroke to the right specification to get it to idle right again.

Just keep it in mind, even if it's clean, if you start disturbing things that could impact idle (fuel or air leaks) you might need to check the IAC pintle position to get everything in the right equilibrium again.

 

Alright I didn't see your reply until today and I'm on duty but tomorrow sometime I will get under the Jeep and ask my son to do the same method but this time I will take a quick video and show you what slack I may have. Hopefully that will help.

 

Right good information up there ^ however; I just need to figure out what the IAC is and where it is lol!

 

So after watching a few videos today while bored at work I'm pretty convinced that my T case chain is stretched and basically ****ed! So I'm looking at picking up a 231 this weekend and attempting to start swapping them over. I may not get to the swap but we shall see.

JY has one for $110 which I don't think is bad but wish I could find one cheaper. Plus what I don't want to do is get one and then have issues with that one too.

Supposed to go on my first run a week from today....I could either run it the way it is and if I blow T case who cares its getting replaced anyhow or fix it and make the next run. Decisions to be made.......
The T case is another issue I will find out. I can put in another one before next Friday but I just don't know if I want to spare the time doing that right now.

I did attempt to put my Brake line extensions on yesterday only to find out my brake line factory would not disconnect at the inner fender bracket that attaches to second line going into caliper. Flange brake line nut was stripping and stuck. I think I broke it loose last night so I plan to put ext. brake lines on this weekend.

 

I see you are convinced the chain is stretched, most likely, but something caused this and the difference I explained would do this and will do it again. It would be great to see this difference if you get the chance but please take your time. I'm going to be busy for a couple days myself.

 

Well I have my spare C8.25 axle what I could do is swap axle out assuming the gears are good on that one but since its in my garage and I already drained oil I could check all that now right?

Yea sorry been busy but I will get video before weekend is over.