WJ 4wd grinding
 

Hi I have an 02 Grand Cherokee Laredo 4.0 with select trac. The Jeep drives fine in 2wd, but when I put it in 4wd I hear horrible grinding noises, and it feels like it's binding up. The front driveshaft seemed to have a lot of play in it so I took it out. Now I can put it in 4wd (although it's obviously still in 2wd) and it sounds fine without the driveshaft in. I read a lot about the driveshaft cv failing and causing grinding noises, but I'm not sure what's normal, if there should be any play in it or not. The Jeep has 415600 miles on it but it was very well cared for by the previous owner. The front cv's are 6 mos old, transfer case input and output seals are new and the fluid was changed 20k ago. Rear end was rebuilt 5 mos ago along with u-joints, and rear wheel bearings. Am I safe to assume that because the noise stopped by removing the front driveshaft, that the driveshaft cv is my issue? I may be wrong, please correct me if I am wrong, but I think the front differential is always engaged so I don't think that's the issue. The front driveshaft looks like it's fairly new, so I'm not sure that's really the issue. The part # tag is still intact and not even dirty or worn out. It looks fairly new. The boot inside the driveshaft cv is torn, but I'm not sure if that could be the issue. Anyone ever have this issue? Can you give me your opinions please? Thanks

when we spoke before i told you i was having the same trouble,well i figured mine out today.first thing i changed when this all started was the front diff,well evidently someone had changed it before because even though i made sure i replaced it with the same ratio that came out of it,it doesnt match the back,obviously it had been changed before.it had a 355 in the front and i put a 355 back in,but the back is a 373...explains it all