2000 jeep cherokee sport

[gretzb]

Recently purchased 2000 jeep cherokee sport for cheap. Vehicle has sat for 2 years after minor front driverside impact. Minor cosmetic damage otherwise jeep is very solid for year. So far New sway bars and bushings front and rear. Not familiar with rear wheel drive.
After initial difficulty getting it into 4wd noticed it felt like it drove / handled better in 4wd, but started to clunk during tight turn(parking) and after wide turns(pulling out into traffic. One loud clunk. Can feel on drivers floor. Also tires skid/slip parking and sometimes turning. ?? Not as bad in 2wd

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

Do not drive in 4wd on dry pavement unless you have a full-time 4wd option. Part-time 4wd will self-destruct on dry pavement, Tell us which model transfer case you have (round tag on rear of transfer case).

 

[gretzb]

The tag is illegible. I believe its a stock part. The rear differential looks pretty fouled and the rubber immediately in back of the transfer case is shot....still investigating...can only do a little work at a time (financially) my commute is less than half a mile. I only had it in 4wld high in heavy snow and wet, icy sandy roads for short trips.

 

[superj]

it probably needs new mounts for the trans and engine. since the front wheels will bark and jerk when in 4x4 and turning on anything where they get good grip, its probably putting extra force on the old mounts and moving the engine and trans around a bit

 

[TerryMason]

Feeling the Jeep jump or clunk during turns when it 4WD is to be expected (but not desired). When in 4WD the front and rear driveshaft need to spin at the same rate which won't allow for the slightly different rate at which your wheels must turn when they on pavement while trying to go around a corner. If you're on snow or ice the tire slipping isn't bad, but if you are on clean asphalt you'll eventually break something as Bounty said.

Only put your Jeep in 4wd when the road is completely covered in snow.

Check out this video to learn more about differentials - start at 1:50

 

[gretzb]

Thank you! I am most worried about a plan of attack. I am not familiar with how a jeep should handle, but am too familiar with bad axles , differentials, sway bars tie rods ball jointsi etc. Anyway I know its gonna need alot of work. Front Track arm joint at frame end looks bad, rear differential case looks bad, noticed transmission pan leaking when i was looking for the transfer case model

 

[superj]

i would just lay under there and start wiggling stuff and look for parts that move in spots or ways that they shouldn't. that will get most of your stuff found and then you can do the particularly hard parts like tcase and diffs.

if you can drive it around fine right now, there probably isn;t anything to terribly wrong.

 

[gretzb]

Thanks again, I had the same thought origi ally when I got it but didnt want to destroy annything in the mean time.
Have one vehicle sitting in the yard already ha! Things just looked alot more leaky than i hope. Gonna clean it up and change fluis this weekend and check em for metal.
Watch for leaks after that. I know a lot of the seals are probably bad. Again thank you
I wasnt psyched about wrecking the diffs etc

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

The round tag on the bag of the transfer case has the numbers stamped in, so you should be able to read them with a good cleaning. Wire brush works well.

 

[superj]

luckily, everything is easy to change/fix on the jeep cherokee, minus the stupid oil pan gasket and the rear main seal. if you have to do those ones, you have to unbolt the motor mounts and jack the engine up after you put the jeep on jack stands and let the front axle hang as low as possible. i hate having to mess with either of those.

everything else is super easy though

 

[gretzb]

luckily, everything is easy to change/fix on the jeep cherokee, minus the stupid oil pan gasket and the rear main seal. if you have to do those ones, you have to unbolt the motor mounts and jack the engine up after you put the jeep on jack stands and let the front axle hang as low as possible. i hate having to mess with either of those.

everything else is super easy though

Pretty sure seals are bad, butvwr are going to put it up on the lift and cleaneverything up and try and change all the fluids and then watch for leaks

 

[gretzb]

Cleaned it up 231J

 

[superj]

That's a good tcase.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

Cleaned it up 231J

That's what I suspected. A smaller number of Cherokees had the 242j as an option, which added a full-time 4wd option that can be used on any surface.

Just be sure to not use 4wd on dry pavement with the 231j. It's a good common case, can easily find used replacements in the $100-$200 range.

 

[gretzb]

Had the kids at the highschool VOC look it over
Crack in left front spring
Oil leak
Play in drive shaft
Pinion seal leak

 

[superj]

crack in the front spring? holy crap, how random is that? nothing super duper killer though

 

[gretzb]

Random? Its where it got hit so i think it makes sense, but we didnt notice it when we had it up ...play in the drive shaft, that seemed vague to me, can mean alot of things cant it?

 

[gretzb]

I dont want to cause further damage, but would like to keep driving it, less than 2 miles a day if that, or is that stupid. I was walking it before, i can again : )

 

[JPNinPA]

If you mean crack in a leaf spring that could be dangerous. I had a pickup that creeped each time I pulled out. It turned out it was a cracked spring that eventually fell apart while the service tech was driving. The back end broke loose on the pavement and it felt like a flat tire. Not good.

 

[gretzb]

Ya i jear you...Iwasnt sure about the way it was handling and there is def a clunk sometimes around turns...Iwas hoping to a get a little more info about what might be going on with the drive ahaft, if it has play in it, that could be alot of thimgs, they looked it over for what it would need for inspection