Recently bought an 02 GC for my son. Runs and drives great but it has a grinding noise in the rear end that sounds like the differential. Noise goes almost away when coasting downhill but comes back when you give it the gas. It has about 128,000 miles on it. This is my third Jeep but first Cherokee. I drive a wrangler and have had no issues.

How hard is it to change the rear bearings? I've torn apart a Dana 30 front axle and Ford 9 inch on my 68 Bronco but had someone else set them up.

 

Have you checked the U-Joints on the driveshaft first since you didn't mention if you looked at them?

 

I doubt its the carrier bearings going out. I would be leaning more to wheel bearings, or cv shafts. Also the WJ has a drum/disc set up, so the E-brake could be improperly adjusted. I'd tear into it a little before planning for the worst! Good luck

 

Start by taking the diff cover off, simple to do, inspect, look for shavings. Just be sure to have a new gasket, rtv and fluid on hand.

 

I'm having the same problem, check the fluid in my diff and while it was a little low...I saw no shavings. However the differential is wet where the driveshaft meets the front of it. I seen a post that said if the seal is leaking the bearing is most likely bad. Haven't had a chance to check it out yet.