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need some help BAD!

freerider15

NAXJA Forum User
Location
FoCo, Crawlorado
A friend and I were doing some donuts in a parking lots, (using the e-brake for turns), and he hit a dry spot. There was a LOUD clunk, then nothing. I got out and looked under the Jeep, and the rear shaft had popped TOTALLY of the splines of the rear of the T-case. It is a manual by the way. I disconnected the rear shaft and had it in 4WD so the we could limp home with the front shaft, BUT when I go to shift it, the jeep doesnt do anything, no movement. You cant shift it 1st through fifth without using the clutch. I had someone think that the gears are shot, could it be inside the T-case? I know the underside of a Jeep pretty well, but im stumped. Had him shift it and the shifting linkage on the T-case wasn't doing anything. Anyone have any ideas as to what it could be? ANY help would be appreciated...I would go work on it more, but its -11* out!
 
Well, when your shifting 1st thru 5th, your shifting the transmission, not the transfer case. Dont know jeeps too well myself, just barely got into the 4x4 thing :D But watching the transfer case linkage and having him shift the transmission, you wont see anything!
 
Disregarding for the moment the obvious comments about how this problem arose, and the wisdom of horsing around like that :flame: ..... It's not clear whether you were able to limp home, or had no movement at all from the start. You also haven't stated what kind of Jeep this is, what year. Does it have a front axle disconnect? When you say the shift linkage on the transfer case wasn't doing anything, what is meant here? I'd try first putting it into 4 high with one front wheel off the ground, and see if it is engaging the front driveshaft at all (Tranny in gear, engine off, turn the front driveshaft, and make SURE the damn thing doesn't fall on you!). If not, I'd suspect that the transfer case is blown. You might have broken the chain, or stripped something inside. If the transfer case is indeed engaging the front axle, then your next step is the transmission and clutch. If you put the transmission in neutral, and turn the front driveshaft as before while the TC is engaged in 4 HI, and have someone else move the shift lever, does anything happen? You should feel some shifting, or a change in gear resistance when it changes gear. If not, it's goodbye tranny. If so, it's possible (hope hard for this!) that the damage is to the clutch itself.

Any way you slice it, an event violent enough to rip the driveshaft out is likely to have done some kind of damage, and you'll be lucky if you get out of it cheaply.
 
Is it a part time or full time t-case?
The driveshaft is easy to put back on, all you need is a 10mm socket (I think). Take the straps off at the pinion put the slip yoke back up on the t-case output shaft and put the driveshaft back on at the pinion.
I doubt if you busted anything mechanical inside. Its probably linkage going to your t-case has you in neutral. That will cause no movement of the vehicle and it will grind if you try to shift through the gears.
 
Matthew Currie said:
Disregarding for the moment the obvious comments about how this problem arose, and the wisdom of horsing around like that :flame: .
Dude! You are such a Ninny! God put snow on this planet SO we could do doughnuts! :laugh3:
That being said...Yeah we need more info before we can help you. You say he shifted in and the Tcase linkage wouldn't do anything...Do you mean shifted the Tcase or the tranny. If you meant the tranny then the tcase linkage wont do anything anyway.
From the little info you gave this is what I think happend...
The only way that the driveshaft could come out is if the axle moves violently or the moter and tranny do. So now...if you can't shift the tcase I am guessing that you broke the tranny mount and maybe the motermounts too thus knocking the tcase linkage out of whack. It might be in nutral and you can't get it into a 4wd gear....What I would do if I was you is go out...Undo the linkage from the Tcase and shift it manualy. If that works make sure your mounts are all good...If they are then just readjust the linkage and you should be all set.
 
So I take it from your post that the rear driveshaft is intact? Only the front of the drive shaft pulled out from the tcase? How much lift are you running?

From the limited info we are working from, it sounds like you were running a lift without a sye and the driveshaft was a bit short. When the rear tires hit the dry ground, you either got a ton of axle wrap on the rear and it pulled the shaft out, or like was said, the tranny mount is shot and the transfer case moved. The tcase moving can cause the cross shaft on the tcase shifter linkage to drop out. Like the man said, I would think the tcase is most likely in neutral. If it isn't then you probably popped a chain in the tcase.

Do a little looking on your own first and if you can't figure it out, there are tons of NAXJA guys in the Springs that can probably help you for a few minutes to diagnose it.
 
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