My 97 GC has a grinding noise in the front axle,works fine but that noise,not so loud noise,bugs the h... out of me,there should be no noise ,right,so what is the problem ,oil weight ,to change oil,the previous owner did not have the front wheel drive working,i put the drive shaft on my self,all sugesstions are welcome,thank you ahead.When it was only back, it did not make noise at all.Bearings are good.

 

Can you feel it in the brake pedal? Sounds like your brake pads may be worn past the wear indicators and are metal to metal.

 

No not brake wear,it is coming from the front differential,if that is correct term

 

I would look at the driveshaft then. I didnt see your last comment. It is the only thing that wasnt turning before until you put it in. Take it out and see if it goes away. the ujoints could be worn out. thats why the previous owner had it out.

 

I've recently had the same problem. I traced it to the drive shaft. In order to test it I took the drive shaft off and drove it around the block making a bunch of sharp turns. This caused it to stop. Also, try to check if the grinding rate increases with acceleration/speed. If it does then it's a good indicator that the drive shaft or u-joints are going out. Never a bad time to change out all the fluids in the differential and T-case if you're gonna be working on the driveshaft. I recently drained mine and it smelled like cigarettes. No bueno.

So yea, sounds more like the drive shaft and components. If you need a new one, Tom Woods custom drive shafts is a good place to look. http://www.4xshaft.com/index.html

 

If you remove the DS and it is NOT making the noise, then it is prolly the DS. The carrier will still be turning, regardless if the DS is in place or not. The axles would be forcing the carrier to spin, and therefore the noise would still be present. HTH!!

PS, on a side note, spend a little time on your posts, it makes them much easier for us to read, thanks much!!

 

Oh and just in case you DO find it to be the DS. Do NOT run it with the DS removed for an extended amount of time (anything more than 5 miles or so). The quadratrac system will "think" that the front wheels are constantly losing traction and will keep trying to engage the front differential. This can cause serious damage to the transfer case as it may overheat and lock the gears. Just a heads up as I've seen a few guys think that by taking off the front DS they have a 2wd drive car with better gas-mileage.

 

I forgot to mention that i am from Serbia & parts are almost impossible to get from, other countries,Jeep owners here help out each other just like you guys over the pond,i lived in Connecticut for 23 years & i know that you can buy almost everything,thank you very much on your help,i will have to drive it like this because my son just got married & finances are at the end,thank you again for your help.

 

Oh yes i forgot ,will keep ya updated what was the noise.