angieb83

I may not be posting this in the right section, sorry if I'm not.

I have been googling and googling and everyone here seems really helpful so I thought I'd give this a try.

I have a 98 Grand Cherokee Limited and have had a growling (sort of helicopter) noise coming from the front end of my car. My dad, who does alot of my car work was all but sure it was a bearing. He replaced the front, drivers side wheel bearing and it didnt fix the problem. I took it to a mechanic and he said its a bearing in the front differential. He's wanting to charge me $170 to open the cover to check to see if the bearing can be replaced or if the entire differential has to be replaced. He's also saying that if the bearing can be replaced, best case scenario, it'll be $400 more, worst case, the whole differential needs to be replaced for $1300. Does this seem right?

My dad has done many many things to my car, and his car. He's never done a differential before but said he'd give it a shot. If he was to take it on himself how much money would I really be saving. I know its hard to say for sure but is this something I should be doing?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Bustedback

Buy a complete axle from the local pick-n-pull or auto recyler and do the swap with your dad. About 200 bucks and you're done.

CheapCherokee

just find a good used axle for a couple hundred bucks at most, swap all your brakes and new bearings over and call it good.

GI-Jeepin'

Does the sound go away when you turn left or right? or is a constant growl not matter where your turning?

LongArmXJ

A friend has a 99 grand with same issue. Its the bearings in the diff for the carrier on his. It was a growl that got louder as speed increased.

angieb83

Yeah, the noise is constant. It does get louder as the speed increases and seems like its a bit more quiet when I decelerate, but the noise is still there. It doesn't change much when it turn left or right.
Thanks so much everyone!! I really appreciate it.

angieb83

and yes, its definitely a growling noise. Its like groooowl.clunk.groooowl.clunk.
The clunk is less of a sound than a "feeling". Seems strange but I can almost feel it catching on something.

Gee oh Dee

Find a JY axle.

Just make sure its the correct gear ratio.

zed johnson

depending where you live and whats around , the you pull it junk yard here charges $130 for a front axle thats d2d(drum to drum) like gee oh dee said make sure its the right ratio , theres a tag on the front of the axle where the differential cover is , just look at your current front axle and match it

ManiacXJ

Or if the tag isn't on the outside, another option would be, disconnect the driveshaft and count the rotations.

If you have a 3.56:1 then rotating the flange where the driveshaft connects about 3.5 full rotations will cause 1 full rotation at the wheel.

4.10:1 will be just over 4 full rotations at the differential for 1 full rotation at the wheel.


Otherwise you can take off the diff cover and look on the ring gear itself for the ratio. You'll lose your gear oil when you take off the cover (make sure to have a catch pan under it) so be ready to refill when done.



On that vertical gear is etched in some information, including the gear ratio.

PatriotGT

also uf you can't fine the ratio on the front - check the rear axle.

angieb83

I am unable to locate the front assembly with the matching transfer case, gear ratio and CV vs. U Joint attachment. What I have is a 249 transfer case, CVs at the driveshaft and axles and a 3.55 gear ratio.
The person at the junkyard is telling me that the cvs can be swaped out for a ujoints but being that i just had a new driveshaft put in, it seems like doing that isn't a great idea.
Is it ever possible to swap out the CVs for U joints at the axles at NOT the driveshaft. Is it a nightmare?

Bustedback

You can swap in the CV shafts with very little hassel and you can use a ujoint drive shaft. Do you plan on swapping the t-case in the future?

1tonxj

if you gots a grand Cherokee ZJ ...you do...and it's a v8 you will have 3.73 gears since all V8 ZJ's are tow prepped...I-6 are 3.55's ...So if you go to a bone yard and the donor ZJ is an I-6 pretty much walk away ...lol

ok93zj

Not completely true most i-6's are goin to be 3.55 gears but my 93 zj has the 4.0 np 231 and 3.73 gears. And not all v8 are tow prepped. The tow prepped one will have 3.73 but they also have a d44a rear and not all of them do. A Zj limited is what you wanna look for to get 3.73 gears for sure but it's always a good idea to check and make sure.