Drewlahr

Hello everyone, i have just swapped my 247 tcase with the 242wj tcase. The swap went good. I had used the rear drive shaft off the doner jeep, and moved the shift cable to the lower slot on bracket. Everything else was a direct swap. My question is why would there be binding and every now and there is a load clunk from what im assuming is the tcase. Chain possibly? This only occurred in 4 low in the 247 and only had 2 wheel drive The allwheel drive did not work anymore. I received the jeep in that shape so not sure what could of happened prior to my purchase. The binding and clunking occurs in all positions of the 242 tcase. Including 2 wheel. Like as if it were in 4 wheel. I put the 247 back in untill i can figure this out. Thanks for any suggestions.

dave1123

Sounds like you should do an internal inspection of the 242. I think there is something wrong with the shift forks.

Drewlahr

Thanks Dave, im gonna split this case probably in the next couple of days. Hopefully to find the culprit. I will get back with my findings.

Guywitha92

I'm no expert on t cases, but the 242 has dual planetary gears. Maybe one or the other isn't disengaging?

dave1123

Planetary gears are engaged all the time. It's the slide ring that chooses which one to connect to the main shaft, therefore it's the shift forks that aren't putting it where it needs to be. OR the chain is stretched and skipping over the sprockets.

SteveMongr

Could be the shift linkage is not indented correctly or has incorrect throw. I would remove linkage and manually shift TC to confirm the TC is at fault.

Guywitha92

Thanks for clearing that up

Drewlahr

Thanks guys this is all great stuff. I didnt get a chance to crack open the case which hopefully i will get around to it soon. I did forget to mention that the first thing i did was removed linkage and shifted it manually. After i removed the 242 everything seemed to be in working order. Shifting, and turning input and output shafts ect. Im guessing while under load its a different story. Thanks again. Will let yas know shortly.

dave1123

There's a couple of good videos on YouTube on how to rebuild them, disassembly, inspection, and re-assembly. You can tell a worn chain by holding it sideways and noticing the droop. If it bends too much, replace it. ACTUALLY, as long as you have it apart, why not replace it anyhow?

Drewlahr

Opened it up today. And to be honest this thing looks new. No visual wear fork is in good shape. No wear or chips out of any gears. Any possibilities with front diff? Just curious. The chain has hardly and sag what so ever. ???? I was really hoping to find somethong broke.

GCWJ

1st post, hope I'm not out of line.

I found that same thing with the 01 WJ with a 242 that I bought for my wife two months ago. Her tcase was stuck in 4 part time. The solution was to flip it into 4 full time, drive backwards for a few feet, then shift the tcase back into 2wd. It's been working great since then.

Well, it was one or the other 4hi settings. Try 'em both.

Hope that helps. If it works, you're welcome, if no, then I gave it a shot. I'm new to Jeeps but somehow I've ended up with two in the household.

SteveMongr

The 242 can be tricky to shift. I have had three of them on different vehicles, one was professionally remanufactured. They all required extra care or steps when shifting into and out of 4x4.
Rolling backwards is an excellent trick when having difficulties disengaging.

Drewlahr

Thanks, for some more ideas. I should be receiving my parts this week to put this thing back together. Thanks again.

dave1123

Yeah, the 242 has more detents for the placement of the selector sleeve and it can be tricky to get it to shift right. I seem to recall I had the same problem when I first drove one and I learned to shift it "smartly" as in fast and positive. My 2000 WJ the lever will pop back just a little after you shift back into 2wd after adding power again. Only about 1/8", but you can hear it pop. I also make sure to take my foot off the throttle when shifting every time. I also find when I shift from 2wd to 4 full time, I have to snap it back to the stop or it will jump into part time. The cable shift on the WJ is much easier than the linkage on the ZJ because it doesn't rust up if you don't use it much. I actually used Triumph chain lube on my ZJ linkage because I found it laying in my garage from years ago. It's a black liquid that sets up as a sticky grease.