96 grand cherokee 4 wheel drive binding
 

hello im a newbie to the forum. so im still trying to figure this whole posting stuff, so hopefully i am in the right place. lol. i have a 96 jeep gc laredo 4.0 4 wheel drive. my issue is when i put the jeep in full time 4 wd and i get in a parking lot( dry condition) and make a sharp turn the jeep gets real jerky and makes some strange grinding noise like worn out pads eating into rotors, does it every time you make a some what hard turn. when going back into 2 wd it does it a few times then works its way out that it wont make the noise untill it is put back into full time 4wd. so is this normal ? this is the firs 4 wd i have owned and have never had this problem at the shop i worked at with other jeeps from the 90's. if not is it fixable? i have read that its normal and others have said that the tc needs replaced, or a coupler in the tc needs replaced, any help would be great and any lessons would be much appreciated. thanks again

Yea Im not sure about the binding but you definitely shouldn't use 4wd on dry pavement

Driving in 4X4 on dry pavement while doing a full lock turn is a No No!

But he said "full time 4wd"...


Full-time should be okay for dry pavement. I don't have a 242, so I don't know much about them.

1) never, ever put it in 4wd and turn hard like that on dry surfaces. Ever. The binding is the diff in the tc binding and the grinding sound is the teeth grinding to move from the binding. So yea, you may have to replace it now because your night have already broke some teeth.

2) why did you put it in 4wd in a parking lot anyways?

FULL TIME FOUR WHEEL DRIVE PEOPLE! It doesn't work like part time four wheel drive. It seems most of those replying are having a knee-jerk reaction based on part time four wheel drive. Full time four wheel drive is designed to be ran, as the name suggests, all the time. Dry pavement, dirt, gravel, snow... its not supposed to matter!

Maybe someone with some familiarity with the 242 and full time 4x4 will come along and answer the OP's question. ;)

Not if he shifts it into 4wd, it still binds in the tcase just like a 231.

If that is the case, what is the difference between part-time and full-time 4wd?

What he said. I believe there is a viscous coupler that wears out and causes the binding. They can be kinda spendy but will not usually cause any kind of catastrophic failure. You can usually drive it like that without any other side effects. If it is working as designed, full time 4wd can be used full time. No matter the road conditions. I would recommend just using 2wd if it is dry out and you are not going to need the 4. You will get better gas mileage that way anyway. Try changing the fluid, that may help a little but it likely needs to be replaced or rebuilt.

we do just drive it in 2 wheel rear wheel drive. but i do remember it binding up last winter like that, just cant remember if there was snow on the ground or if it was dry. i wanna say it was dry. i bought the jeep in march for my wife and she told me about it so she has driven it in 2 wheel drive ever since. only reason i put it in 4 wd on dry pavement is i wanted to see if the 4wd would go into gear since the jeep was new to us. i did change the fluids and replace difs and tc with the correct fluid per jeep manufacture recommendations. i think the tc called for dex/merc and the difs used syn gear oil. i know i looked it up on mitchell and used what was recommended.

here is another newbie ? when should part time 4 wd be used and when should full time 4 wd drive be used. thanks for all the replies so far guys

I've owned 2 Jeeps, both with the 242 transfer, so I think I know what I'm talking about. Part time 4WD locks both axles together so you get power drive equally to both axles at the same time. Part time should only be used when traction is unequal because of surface conditions, such as sand, mud, or snow. Full time 4WD incorporates a differential in the transfer case so you can get unequal drive to the axles without binding. It becomes AWD for the most part, same as the 249. 4 lo is also part time.

The 242 does NOT have a viscous clutch.

I think your binding in the front end is your wheel-end universal joints. They will cause a hop or skip even when they're good if you go to a full lock turn in 4WD. They are inexpensive and relatively easy to replace. The hardest part is the axle nut.

so you think the u joints in the axles are the binding issue?

U joints will bind no matter what position the tcase is in. They can easily be checked by jacking up the front, turning the wheel to the side and turning the wheel. You will be able to tell if they are binding.

i dont think its the u joints if it does not do it in 2wd. i think what happened is that the 4 wd was not engaging all the way into full time and getting hung up in part time. drove it all day yesterday after shifting the stick back and forth several times from 2wd to full time 4wd. i think there was a issue with the linkage cause we have not used it in almost a year. now its not doing it at all. thanks for all the replys and i will post again if it happens in the future. i will also see about lubing the linkage with some thing if i can