One week I'm up in Knoxville when the double cardon joint lets go.
First time I've had a jeep break that I couldn't nurse home or to a repair spot. That is only because I still had 3.55 gears up front and 4.10's in the back...so no front drive shaft to swap out.
Had the ol girl towed over to my buddy Matt's house (rredalty). He got on the phone to the jeep network and had a spare drive shaft delivered pronto.
Here is the damage.
Though she was back under her own power I still had a popping noise coming from the t-case. Time and money didn't permit waiting so I nursed her all the way home to Nashville.
Here is the breakdown of the t-case and what I found.
Back halved the t-case.
Turns out the plastic bushing on the range fork broke when the DS let go. That left the sleeve to bounce around inside the fork and wear down the aluminum fork badly. Here are some pics of the parts.
Here you can see how much play the sleeve had in the fork.
An easy trip out to the junk yard and I came home with the replacement part for free. Not the 5 finger discount, just a sweet cashier.
Here's a side by side for yall.
Once all back together she was good to go.