4wd not working

Just went wheeling only to find out that my 89 Cherokee Pioneeer has no 4wd. Now that its snowing I need a 4wd vehicle as to where I live is all up hill. Before I took it off roading I assumed that the it worked on the streets because it make a sound of it grinding then it stopped and then it made a scraping noise or some sound like that.

My friend says that my diaphragm is gone and my other friend says that my '89 probably has the vacuum disconnect front axle. Whatever that means I'm very bad when it comes to car mechanics.

I read that I can lock my sleeve? Whats that mean? http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/free-d30-cad-bypass-91-a-38629/

If I lock the sleeve does that mean that I will have a permanent 4wd as in Always in 4wd? That's something that I do not want.

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The vacuum disconnect front axle is likely and is easy to fix. I had the same issue on my '90 and found that when I crawled under the passenger side (behind) the front tire, there was a small vacuum valve connected to the axle with another small vacuum nub near it on the axle itself. Also hanging free was a matching vacuum connector.

The "fix" was to run to Advance Auto and pick up a little bit of vacuum hose and a couple of plastic vacuum connectors (the ones with barbs on both sides). I installed the vacuum connectors onto the vacuum connector and then ran two small pieces of vacuum hose between the two axle connections and the vacuum fitting. On the next start I placed it in 4WD and immediately my 4wd light started to work properly and the 4WD engaged.

Pretty easy job and it took less than 20 min.

You may be able to simply plug the vacuum hose fitting back onto the axle but I found that it didn't fit very well which is why it came off to begin with. The barbed connection works MUCH better.

Here is a pic:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/1/1/683227--plastic-hose-connector-by-dayco-part-80610.html

The link in your original post is a good one. No, you will not be in 4wd alll the time, only when you pull the lever inside the cab.

I had an 87, and every single part of that vacuum system failed at some point. It's handy when troubleshooting this to have a vacuum pump with a gauge.

Before shelling out money for a new disconnect motor (the thing with the diaphragm that may be leaking) make sure that all the vacuum lines to it are connnected and tight. There's a rubber connector on it that can get soft and leak. There's also a short stretch of metal tubing leading to it that can rust out and leak. In addition the vacuum switch in the transfer case can go bad.

If I still had one of these, I'd take the advice of many and use washers or other means to lock the disconnect fork into place. Later models do not have disconnecting axles, and they suffer little if any loss in fuel economy. The only trouble you'll have if you do this is that the 4WD indicator will no longer work unless you rig something else up, or perhaps replace the vacuum switch in the transfer case with a later electrical one to actuate the light.