About a month ago i started noticing a whirling noise, and it has started to get louder, it only makes the noise when im in driving , no noise when jeep is idling, i seem to notice it more when i come to a stop, ive been trying to pinpoint where it is coming from , aside from hanging out the jeep while driving it eludes me, to me it sounds more front, i notice it more when jeep is drifting to a stop, now i recently changed both rear seals and bearings and passenger side cv axle, i checked the tranny fluid today and it was a bit low, so i added some, then took the jeep to vote , and still hear the noise, it almost sounds like a whirling , whinning noise , with a hint of electronic towards the end of stopping. It notice it most about 10mph. What do you guys recommend to check .

 

Anyone think it could be a Front cv axle

 

Is it influenced by engine speed or vehicle speed?

 

not really engine speed since i can put the jeep in neutral down a hill and it will still do it,
and if engine is idle it does not make this noise, only when goin forward , i tried yesterday to listen in reverse and did not hear the noise, i would say vehicle speed, i got a buddy coming over today to try and help me pinpoint the noise , my daughter described it as a cow mooing , lol, its more of a whirling whinning noise, almost like a gear winding up, i noticed that i think my power steering pump is goin bad, but the noise isnt effected by turning.

 

had a buddy come over and he seems to think its the transfer case, we put it in 2low and drove it , and it hesitates and then lunges . how can i make sure it is , i dont want to throw money at it.

 

Speed influenced Whirling sound.... Usually a bearing of some kind, most common would be a wheel bearing. Check them out first. Im not saying it couldn't be the Tcase but I would start on the front end since these parts wear out quicker.

 

me and the buddy jacked each tire up on the front and did the wiggle to check for bad wheel bearings but, he said they were fine. his next suggestion was the transfer case , he said it didnt sound like tranny , and the jeep shifts fine. and goes in and out of gear pretty easy.

 

Your profile says it's a 249. That leads me to think it's the viscous clutch in the t/case. OR bad bearings, but I think it's the VC. Try shifting the t/case to neutral while rolling down a grade and see if it makes the same noise or changes.

BTW, thanks for filling that in. It's really handy to know right off what we're working with.

 

ok ill try that today, my buddy described the noise , as if you were driving in 2 lo, so thats why he suggested , sticking it in low and goin down thru the field , it close to the sound , but u can hear that sound and the 2 lo . Ive started my research on tcase swap to the 242, just incase it is the 249, it is a swap i wanted to do , but finding the extra cash is always a issue come this time of year.

 

In case this was not mentioned in your research, they changed the 242 in 99, taking the speed sensor out of the t/case and putting it internally in the transmission. Instead of it being a gear drive sensor, it reads the slots in the Park ring just like an ABS tone ring. SO, don't buy a 242 for a 99-04.

 

So i went for a spin to test the neutral out and yes it still makes the noise , with the transfer case in N and rolling down a hill, man my damn tc grinds to get it back into gear.
Does this help elminate the TC

 

is there any way to eliminate the transfer case from being the issue, i do believe my pinion gear in the back is goining out, but the whinning sure sounds like the front , i had a mechanic friend go for a ride , he said sounds like front diff is low, i checked it was about a half a bottle low, but the whinning is still there. im goin to try to get a video of the noise , its hard cause the damn fan belt wont stop crying.

 

Have you inspected for leaking seals? A bad bearing will often cause the seal to leak. Check front and rear pinion seals and both ends of rear axle.
An infra-red temperature gun is helpful for diagnosing bad bearings, including front hub bearings.

 

oh for sure my rear pinion seal is leaking has been for a while, front is good, and just recently like a month ago redid seals and bearings on rear diff. its just the whining noise really seems to be up front. im goin to jack her up soon as the frost melts , and put it on 4 stands see if i can hear exactly