2005 Grand Cherokee Tcase question/s

[89wrangler]

Trying to help a neighbor out. Has loud noise coming from jeep. He pulled cover off rearend and all good. called me over and in gear on lift, there was a loud pop noise that sounded like coming from transfer case. but would not do it after that, assuming because there was no load on it. It is a full time tcase with no shifter or buttons, single speed, NV140 I think ( actually never heard of one). Done some web research, but not much out there. One source said maybe the from drive shaft? Main question is can this case be ran with only the rear shaft installed? #2 would be anyone have suggestions on how to tell if Tcase is bad?
Thanks!

 

[a_kelley]

Check the CV drive shaft joints.. they'll make a racket when they go out.

I'm not sure if it can be run without a front shaft... Pull it and try, either it won't pull or it will. If it doesn't, you know it needs the front shaft installed. You could also swap in a different case.

Book says it's differentiated front and rear shafts.

 

[tsconver]

It Is AWD do not drive it without both shafts.