mfascuba
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- North Central Florida
OK, here goes. The jeep is a 1997 XJ, 4.0 automatic, NP242 xfer case with a 2" budget boost (coil spacers up front, shackles and 1/2" spacers in the rear), on 31" tires.
When I first put it on the road after lifting and "freshening up" the suspension (new upper & lower control arms/bushings, all U-joints replaced, end unit bearings replaced), there was a lot of "road noise", but it was just loud. I started getting some clunking in the front end so I took it to a shop that does quite a bit of jeep work and had the front and rear diffs checked out, and seals replaced. They also did the front & rear pinion bearings, and rear carrier bearings. Apparently the previous owner had grenaded the D35 rear somewhere along the way and had it rebuilt but the shop had left metal shavings in the axle tubes that were gradually taking their toll. Anyway, I picked it up late last week without the front driveshaft, as they were keeping that to put a new cardan joint on it, so I've been 2wd by default since then.
Before on the highway the jeep was just loud from road noise, now it has vibrations that kick in around 65 mph and continue/get worse up to the 85 mph range where I stopped accellerating.
When I did the U-joints in the front axle I also did the rear drive shaft u-joints (and tried the front DS joints).
The rear axle is much tighter (less lash) than before, as it doesn't clunk when I put it in gear (NICE!!). The rear end almost feels like a tire out of balance, but the weights are all in place and they ran smooth before the axle work. The shop said my planetary gears in the front of the transfer case were very worn and causing what I'd categorized as road noise, and after his explaination it made sense.
Anyway, am I now at the point where my rear axle has been refreshed to the point where my driveshaft needs to be replaced? If so, I'm thinking of doing a SYE kit (hack-n-tap) on a remanufactured transfer case, all at once.
Am I barking up the right tree, or am I just confused?
Thanks,
Mark
When I first put it on the road after lifting and "freshening up" the suspension (new upper & lower control arms/bushings, all U-joints replaced, end unit bearings replaced), there was a lot of "road noise", but it was just loud. I started getting some clunking in the front end so I took it to a shop that does quite a bit of jeep work and had the front and rear diffs checked out, and seals replaced. They also did the front & rear pinion bearings, and rear carrier bearings. Apparently the previous owner had grenaded the D35 rear somewhere along the way and had it rebuilt but the shop had left metal shavings in the axle tubes that were gradually taking their toll. Anyway, I picked it up late last week without the front driveshaft, as they were keeping that to put a new cardan joint on it, so I've been 2wd by default since then.
Before on the highway the jeep was just loud from road noise, now it has vibrations that kick in around 65 mph and continue/get worse up to the 85 mph range where I stopped accellerating.
When I did the U-joints in the front axle I also did the rear drive shaft u-joints (and tried the front DS joints).
The rear axle is much tighter (less lash) than before, as it doesn't clunk when I put it in gear (NICE!!). The rear end almost feels like a tire out of balance, but the weights are all in place and they ran smooth before the axle work. The shop said my planetary gears in the front of the transfer case were very worn and causing what I'd categorized as road noise, and after his explaination it made sense.
Anyway, am I now at the point where my rear axle has been refreshed to the point where my driveshaft needs to be replaced? If so, I'm thinking of doing a SYE kit (hack-n-tap) on a remanufactured transfer case, all at once.
Am I barking up the right tree, or am I just confused?
Thanks,
Mark