So I have a pretty awesome steering binding issue going on. It feels like I am in 4wd on sharp turns and the steering wheel "skips" around, somewhat violently, when turning like it doesn't want to be turning.

It's a 2000 XJ that was originally a NP231. I had a guy put in a NP242 from a ZJ and he used a drive-shaft from some ford and it has a SYE. It worked fine in the winter with slight "binding", but now it seems worse in 2wd. Any thoughts? Fluid maybe?

It's not enough binding to cause the tire noise when turning, so that's good I guess. There are no clunks, vibrations, rubs, anything, just weird and violent steering.

I just want to make sure it's not going to break, I don't really care what's wrong with it as long as it still drives. Even if the VC is bad can I still drive it without problems?

And yes, it's in 2wd as I can spin the open diff super easy.

 

remove front shaft and test drive...

 

just because you can spin an open diff doesnt mean its in 2wd, Sounds like the tcase is stuck in 4x4 part time

 

bingo....

 

I can still put it into 4x4 part time. When I do that there is 'real' binding and the tires really, really fight the pavement. This isn't quite like that. I can drive in parking lots and the tires never make a noise.