chasing a ghost.....HELP PLEASE

xjcritter

Active Member
Joined
May 3, 2010
Location
gastonia/clover
allright i got a 98xj 4x4 with the 8.25 rear axle geared 3.55. all stock. when I make a sharp left turn from stop it grinds/vibrates some times almost sounds like the gears are grinding together. When I accelorate I makes a fairly heavy vibration and at speeds its a steady vibration. Ive been told its in the xfer case[wich is a 242j] pulled the fill plugg to look at the gears in there they look fine. The chain feels tight from what I can tell I havent removed it. Pulled the diff cover off and inspected the gears they look fine as far as I can tell everything looks ok. Ive replaced the u joints in the rear axle and the fronts are basicly new. Im trying to fix it before it gets worse cause its my DD so if anyone has a hint or can swing buy and help me with this I could throw out some gas money an maybe a little more. I am toatly clueless about axles so any help would be great. Thanks guy
 
UPDATE.. I pulled the axles out and inspected the outer wheel bearings and axles an what not. every thing looks to be fine. could it be in the xfer case?????? its a 242j all stock if that helps with around 160k miles. but rear shaft and front shaft has slight play but Im gonna figure it to be normal as everyone ive ever delt with has slight play.

ANYBODY?????
 
Wife's WJ had a noise when she would turn. I thought for sure it was the CV axle and/or wheel bearing. Ordered the CV axle and wheel bearing so I would only have to tear it apart once, just to find it was the brakes when I pulled it apart. Did you check the brake pads?
 
my 92 xj pops,creaks,cracks and all different noises when i drive it. havnt found a solution yet. good luck
 
uhh good luck with you 92 also...I checked and adjusted the rear brakes even the ebrake...F..K if i know whats goin Im change the oil in the t-case take it apart an inspect it. or Im just gonna drive it till it explodes and go from there lmao
 
It could be the case. I have the same case in my liberty that just went bad. It could be the output bearing on the case. That could cause the acceleration vibes and the minor vibes at speed. That's what happened to mine because of bad ujoints on the rear d shaft. It took out the output bearing, everything got loose and ate itself up. I bet if you put it in 4wd and hammered it, you'd get chain skipping from the bad bearing. Good luck with it. It's exactly what happened to mine and it had the same exact symptoms.
 
the u joints werent that bad when I changed them out honestly. I just did them cause I figured they were the problem.. Ill try the 4wd when I get it back together and see what happends.. does anyone have a 2wd D shaft i could have lol
 
Try this. Drop the rear shaft, put it in 4 and stomp it. I'll bet the chain will jump. If you do this, don't forget to do the coke bottle trick to keep the fluid from spilling out the tailshaft.
 
bent D shaft wouldnt explain the grinding at normal take off. althought the skipping chain might, it may feel tight, but if the bearings are shot then things dont line up in there and would cuase binding and the noise your hearing.
is it an auotmatic? if so could be your converter, if its a stick then it could be a throw out bearing or something.
im no pro but thats my best guess if it helps
good luck bro!
 
Sorry all. I mentioned the bent d-shaft in my edited post. I thought the OP stated his was slightly bent, but I misread that.
 
It is a atuo. and I put it on jack stands and just let it run up to about 45mph in 2wd. The drive shaft doesnt seem to do anything funny. No wobble atleast. as far as the chain jumping with the rear shaft out?? that would mean what exactly?? I havent tried it with the shaft out but it doesnt do it in 4wd but then again it is preatty muddy so that may not have helped any.
 
xjcritter said:
It is a atuo. and I put it on jack stands and just let it run up to about 45mph in 2wd. The drive shaft doesnt seem to do anything funny. No wobble atleast. as far as the chain jumping with the rear shaft out?? that would mean what exactly?? I havent tried it with the shaft out but it doesnt do it in 4wd but then again it is preatty muddy so that may not have helped any.
Click to expand...
You gotta try it on the ground. With the rear shaft off, put it on the ground, keep it in 4 and then nail the gas. If that doesn't cause the chain to jump, time to look elsewhere. Esentially, what I'm telling you try is drive it like a front wheel drive.
 
the jack stand part was checking to see if the rear drive shaft was bent. Im gonna gess its to muddy and I dont want to do it on the pavement. Ill try it tomarrow if the rain stays away
 
I think what willness33 means is try that to put some load on the T-case to see if chain will skip, thus meaning if the chain skips, you know your problem is the T-case.
if not, screw it, drive it like you stole it!
 
well guys I tried the 4wd with the rear drive shaft and with out. got hassled by the cops cause aparently a old lady though I was gonna rob her 5 miles away from her house lol. to my not real suprise the chain didnt skip.......Ima say F it and drive it like i stole it....thanks for the suggestions on what it could be if an when it finnaly breaks ill let you know
 
yeah if and when u find out let us know man!
 
Im gonna assume after doing it back an fourth with someone actually sitting right beside it that it may be in the brakes.....Then after a few agravated hours on the web Ive seen this problem but never a solution so is there something that could be bad in the brakes with them being cleaned and adjusted with basicly new pads?? Like I siaid Im chasing a ghost lol an userbmx i would of hit you ud on that If i would have been anywhere near here .. thanks though
 
if i can get up around there ill hit you up.. To everyone else Ill let you know the fix and try and make a thread about it.. that is if i find the d--n thing
 
Back
Top