Complicated?? question

How do I know if my transfer case is bad? I got this XJ a few months ago and both axles are bad (bearings in rear, gears/bearings in front) and the front driveshaft is messed up also. Wondering if the TC is causing this, its a 99, auto, with NP242.

I had to move it yesterday with just the front shaft in. I put it in full-time to move it and it went a few yards and popped out of gear. I had to put it in part-time to get it to go. Also when shifting from Park to drive, the gauges went weird, showing 25-30mph on the speedo when I was actually stopped, and then it would be out of gear. So I'd have to use part-time to move again.

Can anyone tell me what any of this means? Thanks

rammie said:

I put it in full-time to move it and it went a few yards and popped out of gear. I had to put it in part-time to get it to go.

Click to expand...

thats what its supposed to do. when in full-time, the 242 acts as a differental, and with no load on the rear, thats where all the torque is going. when in part time, its as if the differential is locked, but then the front shaft is forced to turn.

my guess on the speedo issue is that the shaft had to turn a bit to align, and that caused the speedo gear to turn a bit.

The reason the spedo jumped to 25-30 mph, is because the rear output shaft for the transfer case was spinning. When in full time, the center differential in the transfer case (allows the front and rear driveshafts to turn at different speeds while cornering on hard surfaces in full time, kinda like an AWD system) was allowing the rear output (which drives the speedo gear) to spin because the front output was stopped by the driveshaft. When you shift the transfer case into part time, the center differential inside the transfer case is locked, and the case works like a conventional 4wd case... i.e. cornering on hard surfaces = bad news bears. So, from the sounds of it, your 242 is working perfectly, as is your speedometer! So get the axles fixed and you'll be in good shape!

Awesome, thanks for the info guys. Great explanations, now it makes sense:cheers: