XJ Wont move over 10 ft ! Help!!

Wow, the lists of problems this beast is giving me is absolutely insane!

Anyway, drove over to my buddies house last night, jeep ran perfect, I was happy

Get out of his house, and get in my XJ, put her in reverse, and she wont budge, the rpm's raise SLOWLY like im backed into something, so i get out, check, and im totally clear.

I put my jeep in gear (auto) and go forward, and it rolls forward 10 feet just like normal, and then it just STOPS like ive hit a tree or something.

Mind you, I was in a grassy FLAT field, wasnt hitting anything.

So I move the Jeep in reverse, and at that same place as before, it just STOPS.

Wont move past 10 ft . I dont get it....


1993 XJ 4.0 NP242 (Selectrac) AW-4 (auto)

Just scatter shooting for things to consider:

* Parking brake engaged and cables rusted so they won't release?

* Is it in 4WD and the tranfer case locked up?

* Any chance something broke in your diff and is causing the gears to lock up?

Try blocking the front wheels, jack up the rear axle, put tranny in neutral and try spinning the wheels by hand. If they spin, then fire up the engine and see what happens when you put it in gear. Have someone on the ground beside the rear wheel to listen for unusual noises.

Parking brake (pads, or w/e) havent worked in ages. Slight drag, but totally worn out keeping from braking.

I tried to move out of that 10 ft in 2wd, 4 PART, 4 FUll, and 4lo, and it wouldnt move either time.

I'll have to do that check tonight, thanks man.

Another random thought here - check the front axle u-joints. A total failure here might jam one wheel. You can jack up each front wheel and see if it is possible to rotate it a full 360 degrees.

Yeah, it was dark, didnt have a full chance to really crawl under it TOO WELL and really get poking around. Needed a ride home, and they were leaving in a hurry.

So Ill definitely check the U joints, the e brake linkage, and to see if I can tell if the tcase is fubar..

btt

Checked under it, no probs with the ujoints or steering knuckles.

No noises coming from diffs during a roll with tcase and tranny in nuetral..

Ok, took a measurement, and found out the the jeep is only moving about 8 ft.

So Brian and I, sat there and thought a few things up.

3.73 Gear (pretty sure) plus 32" tire = 100" movement on 1 full turn of the driveshaft

8 ft it travels x 12" per foot = 96" of movement.

Give or take the rough estimate of the movement, and it appears like the problem may be internal in the front diff, any thoughts?

Speed_racer said:

Ok, took a measurement, and found out the the jeep is only moving about 8 ft.

So Brian and I, sat there and thought a few things up.

3.73 Gear (pretty sure) plus 32" tire = 100" movement on 1 full turn of the driveshaft

8 ft it travels x 12" per foot = 96" of movement.

Give or take the rough estimate of the movement, and it appears like the problem may be internal in the front diff, any thoughts?

Click to expand...

That should be easy to test. Jack up the rear axle, start the engine, put it in gear (2WD) and see if it runs on jack stands. If it runs okay with the wheels off the ground but not on, that would point to the front diff.

If you have four good jack stands, the next test would be to jack up BOTH ends and try running it in 4WD.

I think I'll end up doing that after work. thx man.

Speed_racer said:

Ok, took a measurement, and found out the the jeep is only moving about 8 ft.

So Brian and I, sat there and thought a few things up.

3.73 Gear (pretty sure) plus 32" tire = 100" movement on 1 full turn of the tire = one full turn of the carrier

8 ft it travels x 12" per foot = 96" of movement.

Give or take the rough estimate of the movement, and it appears like the problem may be internal in the front diff, any thoughts?

Click to expand...

Above is corrected.