I recently picked up a 2000 WJ with the 242 transfer case. Whenever I would put into anything besides 2wd I can feel the vehicle start to fight itself and bind up. I figured well the transfer case is rated for about 140-150K miles before needing rebuilt ( read that somewhere ). So I went to the yard and bought another used case. It was nice because I got the WD stamp which I think is the heavy duty version. Anyway, put it in and it's doing the exact same thing. I did read somewhere that the Jeep has to be moving when you shift from 2 to 4 so I figured I would try it at a low speed. When I shift it still binds and I start getting the wheel hop. Drives great in 2WD, I checked the front differential, previous owner redid the CV's so I just wanted to be sure it didn't go back together wrong. I guess I could have two cases that need rebuilt and are doing the exact same thing but I wanted to ask in case there are other things I should check first. Thanks in advance.

 

There are nylon wear shoes on the 2wd-4wd shift fork that the edges sometimes break off causing the shifts to be incomplete. Try shifting from 2wd to 4wd full time while rolling by slamming the shifter very quickly and as hard as you can back against the stop. If that works, it's a sure sign of worn shifter pads. The way mine shifts now is I do that, then the first corner I take there is a loud "bang" and it goes into full time. The same thing happens when shifting out. I've got 264K on it though.

If you've still got your old t/case, why not take it apart and see what you see? It's not that complicated and no special tools are needed except maybe some snapring pliers.