Front Dif spider gears
 

So after a little too much fun wheeling around in Miami over the weekend in some thick mud, my adventure has turned into a headache.

After dissembling the front axle shafts, removing the gear, then removing the broken pieces for I could drive home (the front seized up) i'm left with some repairs.

This is the first time this occurs so would love some feedback. I have a 99 XJ 4.0 Automatic, with a8.25 rear and I believe dana 30 up front. What is going to be the cheapest way to fix this?

Depends on the damage. Spiders only or what? I would go to a U-pull-it and purchase a good shape entire front axle with same gear ratio. Put it under there. I can get an entire front around me for less than $100 so that's the route I would go. Then you would have spares of just about everything else. That's the cheapest route.

That's a great idea. I didn't think about that. Going to check my local JY!

So now on top of this problem I have this now. Any suggestions? As I drove the jeep normal down a straight street the steering starts fighting me and pulling right. Then all of a sudden it drives fine. Just now I went to turn a slight right and the jeep didn't react to me turning the wheel. A second later it jerked to the right hard.

My old tow rig was doing kinda the same thing. Ended up being a worn out hub lockout, it would lock and unlock at random on its own, talk about a wild ride. Lol
It was undriveable to say the least.

lol! For sure adventurous! What's the best way to know if the hub is bad ?

Pull the tire off.

Pull the brake caliper off.

Remove the rotor.

Grab the hub and spin it by hand. See if you hear/feel anything weird.

Pull it in and out to check for play that way.

Yup
Anything weird meaning even if it feels a tiny bit gritty its shot. On my truck the hub spun free untill i tapped on it then it would grind and lock. Tapped more it wwoild unlock etc..

Looks like I will be checking that out this weekend.