NP231J Toast?

[Blindtheft]

The wife took it for a 600 mile road trip and it was slinging fluid from the rear output shaft when she brought it home. Looks like the snap ring snapped! And then chewed up the bearings and seal. I will pull and split the case, but it almost certainly needs replacement (or rebuilding), yeah?

 

[RCP Phx]

A HD sye would replace all that, a great time to up-grade!

 

[Blindtheft]

A HD sye would replace all that, a great time to up-grade!

Much appreciated! That's exactly what I'm trying to figure out; whether I just upgrade to the SYE, or spring for the NVG241OR swap. Waiting for brown Santa to show up today with a 10MM allen socket so that I can pull the drain plug and see what sort of metal shavings come out with the fluid...

 

[Blindtheft]

Much appreciated! That's exactly what I'm trying to figure out; whether I just upgrade to the SYE, or spring for the NVG241OR swap. Waiting for brown Santa to show up today with a 10MM allen socket so that I can pull the drain plug and see what sort of metal shavings come out with the fluid...

Pulled the plugs this morning and do not see any metal bits! But, the fluid was quite low. Maybe 1 1/2" from bottom of the fill plug and I drained something like half a quart out of it. We're at the 190,000 mile mark on this t-case and fluid changes have not been timely. Anything I should do to otherwise confirm the internals are in good shape before I slap a SYE on it?

From what I read, I need the CV yoke kit. Any reason to look at these other options?

 

[lawsoncl]

Is the rear shaft too long? It almost looks like the slip joint got jammed in hard enough to break the clip and shove things into the bearing.

 

[Blindtheft]

Is the rear shaft too long? It almost looks like the slip joint got jammed in hard enough to break the clip and shove things into the bearing.

I've been puzzling about the cause too.

It's the stock shaft and I'm running a ~3.5" lift.

I put in the Boostwerks linkage a couple of weeks prior to the issue. Seemed to shift fine, but maybe I got the throw adjustment off? I don't see how that would be a cause of this failure though.

Someone also cut the cat off when it was parked on the street, so I had a new one welded in shortly before this failed. But again, that doesn't seem to relate at all.

My best guess is that it was weakened by a problem I had several years ago. I don't have a welding setup, so I hired a guy to weld the spring perches and shock mount on a MJ d44 for the rear. The welds did not hold and the axle rotated on the trail, throwing the driveshaft up into the floor of the jeep with enough force to cause a significant crack. That was a good five years ago, but nothing else makes any sense to me.