4WD Shop in Nashville

I’m pretty sure my axel grenaded itself today. Loud bang and horrid grinding noise 5x worse than trying to put a car in gear without depressing the clutch. Now will roll well in N but makes loud grinding when put into D witout moving. Havnt checked to see if the DS turns while the car is in gear and not moving.

Anyone know of any good shops in Nashville? 2000XJ stock. Only place i know of is Tennessee Off-Road. I'm looking to avoid the stealership.

If it grinds in drive sitting still then it ain't the axle

thewrath said:

I’m pretty sure my axel grenaded itself today. Loud bang and horrid grinding noise 5x worse than trying to put a car in gear without depressing the clutch. Now will roll well in N but makes loud grinding when put into D witout moving. Havnt checked to see if the DS turns while the car is in gear and not moving.

Anyone know of any good shops in Nashville? 2000XJ stock. Only place i know of is Tennessee Off-Road. I'm looking to avoid the stealership.

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You've snapped the output shaft of the transfer case.

Put it in drive and lean out and look underneath. If it's grinding and the DS isn't moving, it's the output shaft of the TC.

If the DS moves while the rest remains stationary, it's in the rear housing or axles.

Yep, I knew that. Just hadn’t looked underneath with it in drive. I was thinking that if the ring gear lost some teeth, then the pinion wouldn’t engage and would make them noises when knocking against the reminisce of the ring gear.

I’m sure I can’t do the ring and pinion if that’s what went. But how doable is the output shaft replacement? all i got is basic sockets, torque wrench, and jack stands for equipment.

thewrath said:

Yep, I knew that. Just hadn’t looked underneath with it in drive. I was thinking that if the ring gear lost some teeth, then the pinion wouldn’t engage and would make them noises when knocking against the reminisce of the ring gear.

I’m sure I can’t do the ring and pinion if that’s what went. But how doable is the output shaft replacement? all i got is basic sockets, torque wrench, and jack stands for equipment.

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Wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers, and snap ring pliers.

Oh yeah, you'll also need a good memory or a good assembly chart.

I ended up taking it to TN Off Road. The t-case is fine but the axel grenaded. Everything inside is destroyed except the axel shafts. So im getting all new bearings and seals, new ring and pinion, new diff and diff carrier, and everything else fun that goes inside. On the bright side I am going to be getting a LS to replace the open one.The guy at the shop said the fluid looked like liquid glitter. Wish I could've tackled this one myself, but I dont have a 2nd car. At least the $$ is going to a local shop and not a stealership.

Go 4.56s or 4.88s the first time or you may regret not doing so later.

thewrath said:

I ended up taking it to TN Off Road. The t-case is fine but the axel grenaded. Everything inside is destroyed except the axel shafts. So im getting all new bearings and seals, new ring and pinion, new diff and diff carrier, and everything else fun that goes inside. On the bright side I am going to be getting a LS to replace the open one.The guy at the shop said the fluid looked like liquid glitter. Wish I could've tackled this one myself, but I dont have a 2nd car. At least the $$ is going to a local shop and not a stealership.

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What rear axle?

2000 XJ, so its an 8.25 axle. Wanted to go 4.56, but for now no lift and 235's. Cant hanle 1500mile drive around xmas with 4.56's. I'll just get that done after lift, tires, and SYE.

How was your experience with TN Off-Road? I used to go to them for everything. I haven't been there in awhile, as I heard that it changed over everyone from ownership to sales people to mechanics, and that the changes weren't for the better.

I always take my ZJ to Hansen downtown on Charlotte. I would not classify them as a "stealership." They have never done me wrong, and if the results required it...they went back in at no cost.

Example...they pulled my dash out due to an a/c evaporaor issue. The cleaning didn't take and needed to be redone about 2 weeks later, and they went in and did the whole dang thing over again and only charged me the cost of the evaporator...no labor. Initially we decided it would be best to try the cleaning route first to see if that fixed the problem. When it didn't, they didn't try to take advantage...they charged me only the cost of the part and fixed it no questions asked.

There are other Jeep dealers in the greater Nashville area (including one 3 miles from my house) that I won't use, but have NO problem asking Hansen to do anything to the Jeep.

For what it's worth.....

See I havnt had great experiances with Hanson. I spent $1600 chasing down a cooling problem that wouldnt seem to be fixed no matter what they did. As i posted somewhere else, I had no heat 2 winters ago (the one with the 12inch snow) and apparently the radiator was "almost empty" which is odd because i drove it to ATL and back and had no problems, never got above normal temp. New radiator, tstat, and pressure cap fixed the heat, but as soon as it got hot in the summer it began overheating. Took it in again and Hanson said the radiator was empty again. Now got a new tstat, tstat housing, waterpump (which they said was leaking out of the bleeder) and hoses. Still overheated a few months later. Took it to my old trusty mechanic back in MD and he was baffled becuase almost all the parts were replaced. He flushed and new tstat. And finally a few months ago i tracked it down. The coolent bottle was cracked and would fill the radiator with air everytime it cooled down. New bottle fixed the problem. Also had to flush out the trans becuase the fluid got nice and burnt. Ill let you know how the experiance goes once i get the jeep back today or tomarrow. But the labor rate and pollicies are definatly going to save me $$. 65/hr for TOR vs 95/hr for the dealership. Plus they only charge for the hours the use, not how many the dealership book tells them to charge.


I think I might be wrong about the axle being an 8.25. Just read elsewhere that the 8.25 never came with ABS, which i got. So I guess I have the D35.

Got my XJ back from Tennessee Off Road today. Very pleased with their service, very prompt. Guy said he stayed to finish my axle rebuild until 10pm last night. Total price was good in my opinion.

3.55 ring and pinion $204.28
Track Loc Diff and Carrier $223.37
Bearings, seals, and shims $90
shop supplies $40

7hrs labor $455

Runs great and is super quiet now. One of the carrier bearings is totally shot and was grinding down on the carrier shaft. Now has over 1/4in of play in just about any direction. I'll shoot some pictures tonight when I get home and post them.

I think I will be going back to TOR for any service in the future that I don't think I can take on myself. They even gave me an extra bottle of friction modifier and suggested I change the fluid again in 3-5K miles. Only thing I didn't get was a Detroit TureTrack LSD (TORSEN style, gears, not clutches) but that was another couple hundred $$.

So here’s some photos of the destroyed carrier and carrier bearing, and the scared pinion.









I'm amazed at how long i was able to drive on those messed up parts. A true testament to American engineering. Stuff has to be extremely fubared to actually stop functioning.