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Question about 4wd and transfer case

1K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  Jerry Bransford 
#1 ·
Hey I have a question about my 4wd problems. A bit of background. I noticed that the TJ I just purchased had a problem with the 4wd. I noticed the back seemed to be pushing the front. I jacked it up and rotated the tires to count the driveshaft rotations. I noticed that it seemed as though the front was geared at 4.55 and the rear 3.07. My next step was to take it to a shop to get the rear geared the same as the front. The shop tells me that when they counted the gears that the jeep did in fact have the same gears in the front and back and the gear ratio wasn't my problem. They said their was some problems with the front differential (spider gears or something) and the transfer case. They haven't gotten into the transfer case to see what the problem actually is. My question is, Could a problem in the transfer case cause the difference in rotation with the front and rear? Everything I have read says that if the drive shaft is rotating at different rates then the gear ratio has to be off. I just want to make sure this guy is on the up and up about what he says. Thanks for any help yall could offer.
 
#4 ·
No in 4hi or 4low the 231 transfer case output rotates both driveshafts at the same RPM

In 2wd the two driveshafts have no spin relationship as rear is driven and front output just free wheels

If the transfer case were broken as in a missing chain the front shaft output would just free wheel

However in 4wd a sound a corner the tires have to slip as they front and rear take a different path and travel different distances
 
#6 ·
If I had to guess, somebody either regeared one axle with the intent of regeaing the other later or they swapped in a different axle with a different ratio.

If they only regeared one, they probably left the old axle tag on it and that is what the shop looked at instead of looking at the ring gear itself.
 
#8 ·
Hey I have a question about my 4wd problems. A bit of background. I noticed that the TJ I just purchased had a problem with the 4wd. I noticed the back seemed to be pushing the front. I jacked it up and rotated the tires to count the driveshaft rotations.
My bet is you're not expecting the TJ to drive and steer 'funny' with bucking & steering jerkiness when in 4x4 on the pavement. The Wrangler's 4x4 system is considered a "part-time" design which is only designed for offroad/non-paved road use. The only Jeeps with "full-time" 4x4 systems designed for the street that will drive normally are Liberties, Grand Cherokees, Cherokees, etc.

So don't test-drive your Wrangler in 4x4 on pavement, it's not designed for that and it won't drive normally in 4x4 on the street like a vehicle that has a full-time 4x4 system will on the street.

So far as the different driveshaft revolutions go, it's not just a spin a tire & count the driveshaft revolutions procedure. Like with an open axle, like the front is, you need to have one tire on the ground and spin the other tire twice before you'll get the driveshaft to rotate a number of revolutions to equal its ratio. It's the same with the rear if there's no LSD. If there is a LSD (Tracloc) in the rear axle, then you rotate a tire once.
 
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