ihavenoideawhatimdoing

Ok, so I bought my first jeep about a week ago after having a toyota fall apart on me, and my idiot brother in law convinced me to shift it out of 4wd into N and try to drive it. When I did it made this god awful grinding noise when i tried to shift gears. I turned it off, put it in park, and put it back in 4wd. Did i screw anything up? It hasn't driven weird or anything since, I just have never owned a jeep before and I don't know what in the world I did to make it make that noise. I know I'm probably stupid and should have stuck to a smaller car like what I'm used to, but I didn't have a ton of money and I could afford it, so help would be appreciated.

Erik Hoeffner

The Jeep is probably fine. The grinding you heard is because you did not put the transmission in neutral first, which you need to do anytime you put the transfer case in 4low or neutral. I'm not really sure why you would try to "drive" with the transfer case in neutral; neutral on a transfer case is just like neutral in a transmission, you will roll downhill or go nowhere. So i suggest no more dumb ideas from the brother in law...anyways again the Jeep is probably fine, just get informed about everything in and on your Jeep to take pride in it and give it a good life, otherwise, you can always sell it and get a Camry.

Bustedback

You're fine, nothing is broken.

ihavenoideawhatimdoing

thanks. I really want to be more informed and take good care of my jeep. I have spent hours on here and talking to jeep mechanics to see what my problems are so I don't make the same mistakes twice. I appreciate the responses

dave1123

I'll see if I can explain to you what happened. The design of transfer cases is such the there is no way to go from 4WD to 4 LOW without going thru a neutral position. The speed of the gears is too different to engage easily. The grinding you heard was because the transmission shaft was still spinning under power and not allowing the gears to engage. The proper way to engage 4 LOW is to shift the transmission to neutral, slow to about 5 mph or just about stop, then shift to 4 LOW, shift the transmission back into drive, and go. After a few times, you'll get the hang of the best way for you to do it. Shift out of LOW the same way, although slowing down is not as critical.

If you've ever driven a manual transmission, the gears are similar but you don't have a clutch to disengage the engine with. That's why you have to disengage the transmission power output by shifting THAT to neutral.

I know, clear as mud, right?

ihavenoideawhatimdoing

actually, you just made it clear as crystal. I completely understand what I did wrong now. Thanks ^_^

dave1123

I'm glad I could help. I sometimes get long winded and carry on. My wife called me "The Sponge" who's head is filled with useless trivia. I just like to pass on the knowledge and experiences I've had so that other people don't have the heartache of learning the hard way. I've done some really boneheaded things in my youth. I will also NOT tell you something is fact if I don't know for sure it is. If it's my opinion, I'll say so.

Welcome to CF!

Erik Hoeffner

Good deal then. At least your first incident to alert your senses was this. My first major incident was almost hydrolocking an engine lol.
So yep, just get knowledgable about your Jeep and once you know well about it, put some good money into it, go out there and have fun!

dave1123

When I first joined the forum, I spent several hours just reading the posts and learning about jeeps and what could go wrong with them. Actually, I read enough to know I wanted a jeep with the 242 transfer case BEFORE I bought my ZJ. I already knew the 4.0 was the most reliable engine because I'd serviced so many at Valvoline. I'm not saying the 5.2 or 5.9 aren't good engines, it's just that I'd seem so many high mileage 4.0s in good condition. I'm at a point in my life where power and performance isn't a priority anymore, but longevity is.

ihavenoideawhatimdoing

Honestly, I paid a grand for my jeep, I bought it from my brother in law (not the idiot, another one). Its got a lot of miles on it, but it still runs well and I'm not doing anything with it but using it to get from point a to point b so type of motor on it wasn't the main concern for me, the price and how to ran was.

txranger14

not to try and hijack the man's thread, but what happens when you put the transfer case into neutral and then put the trans into drive and it goes?

ihavenoideawhatimdoing

It's ok, I don't mind, also, I'm a woman lol

freegdr

Should not go with tc in neutral first of all.

dave1123

More power to you, lady! You seem to be intelligent and have a quick mind to be able to understand what I said about the inner workings of the transfer case. Don't let anyone put you down for being a newbie, we were all newbies once! Oh, and welcome to CF.

When I joined this elite group in 2010, I had just bought my first Jeep and didn't have a clue what I was getting involved in. I was shocked to find out how much electronics was involved with these vehicles. I've worked on cars and trucks for 50 years, but little was with computers. Needless to say, I got an education. The only good part is the computer will steer you CLOSE to the problem MOST of the time, but not always.

txranger14, I would be looking at the linkage.

Demonoid369

I thought it was women sacred code to not do or believe what a guy tells you to do?!? Lol you all know men aren't the smartest lol
Also I like your user name, freakin hilarious