Hi

I’m fixing my '02 Laredo, it has a broken front axle and selec-trac four wheel drive.
At the auto parts store they have 2 options, full time and part time 4 wheel drive. The guy at the store recommended part time so thats what I bought and installed.

The install went fine and everything seemed to fit fine. But when I took it for a test drive it was stuck in 4wheel part time and would bind the wheels if I turned them at all. finally I got it out of part time and it seems to work fine in full time and 2wheel but it still feels like in binds a bit every now and then in sharp turns and if I put it back in part time it still binds really really bad if I turn the wheels at all.

So basically i’m wondering whats the difference between the 2 axles and which one should I use. I need to know if I need to take this one back because i’m using her truck on a trail on Tuesday.

Thank you in advance

Dustin

 

The only difference in the axles is the part time front axles during some years had a vacuum operated disconnect on the passenger side and the full time never had that feature. Even the fulltime will have a slight bind on sharp turns but you should never operate the part time on dry pavement or you will damage the transfer case. The added traction puts an extreme strain on the components in the transfer case, so care should be taken to only use the part time off road in dirt or other loose surfaces.

 

i know i dont use it on pavement i was just testing everything. but before the axle broke you could turn the wheels in part time and they wouldnt bind until just before the end steering travel. now you cant move them really at all.

the other thing im worried about is that my mother was driving the truck when the axle broke and she contiued to drive it around and aparently she was driving it in part time the whole time even though i told her not to(i was out of town the whole time). the broken axle was actually completly severed at the CV joint so i guess she didnt notice any binding because the drivers side wheel was technically not connected.
is there any chance there is damage to the diffs or transfer case? how could i tell? also is there any chance that the axle not being connected to the wheel durring all this crap may have saved it from damage.

also how do i know which axle i should have(full or part time)? im also replacing the passenger side next week.

 

What made the axle break?

 

It's a low pinion Dana 30. The differences are full time 4wd will have CV shafts instead of U-joints like the none full time will have..

Blue '02 is well past the disconnect front axles.

 

time and abuse. and about 170,000 miles.

they broke at the CV joint.



i compared both types of axles at the store and both were CV joints not U-joints. the one i installed was the part time and it was a CV shaft.

so im still a little lost on what the differences are and which one i should have bought. ive got to figure this out by monday afternoon.

also im still wondering about the possible damage from her driving in part time and how i can tell if there is damage.

 

on wj's that have the quadradrive(247 case w/vari-lock lsd's) the axleshafts are a different length. You picked the right axleshafts since you have the 242,the quadradrive shafts wouldn't even fit. Anyway, in part time with the 242 the driveshafts are locked together so driving around with a snapped axleshaft for any length of time may have done some damage

 

how could i figure out what if any damage has been done?

 

anyone?

 

to find the damage tear stuff apart...let me get this straight though,she drove the jeep in part-time 4wd for a period of time with the axle shaft snapped in two? the inner and outer shafts were completely separated at the CV?

 

yes lol for about 2 weeks while i was gone. she said it was quieter sounding with it in part-time.

my thinking/hope though is that since the drivers side wheel was disconected from the passenger side via the broken cv joint maybe it made it so that the diff wasnt really locked in the sense that the wheels could still turn at different speeds. maybe.

 

the diff doesn't lock,it's open. The driveshafts(front and rear) are locked via the t-case in part-time(thats why it for off road only) so it's more so the t-case thats probably grenaded,hence the severe binding your experiancing

probably wasn't real good on that front diff though either

 

I need to replace my axle shaft, but I don't know which one to get, how can I tell if I have the Vari-lock progressive front DSB axle?
IT's a 2000 grand cherokee 4.0L 4x4 didn't come with an owners manual. Thanks

 

You would only have vari-loks if it has quadradrive.

 

I have a 2000 limited grand cherokee with quadra trac II and about a month ago, I was turning a hard down right turn and heard a gun go off, or at least it sounded like that. I thought it was on the driver side but pulled the left driver side axle and found that the splines looked pretty good, except for the last 1/8 inch of the inner spline. It looked like it had a little damage right at the end of the shaft. The booted area that has the u-joints in it seem to move about a quarter inch if you push the axle shafts together and then pull them back a part. I was wondering is someone has changed the shaft before I picked this vehicle up last year. When I bought it, the front axle wouldn't even work until I changed the Tcase fluid and then the front axles started working. I am thinking the driver side axle shaft I have is almost 2 short for this vehicle but am not sure. How do I find out what axle I need to put back in this front axle....Thanks for any info I can get on this problem..I live in Iowa and need this vehicle for the snow badly....Thanks again, to anyone who can give me a good answer to fix this vehicle......I am also new to the grand cherokee..I have had a wrangler (99) for about 12 years now and love it...just want to love this grand cherokee also if I can fix it....