TJ Front End Noise

[barlows]

So I was out muddin' yesterday in my TJ. I noticed a really strange noise coming from (guessing here) the T-case. It seems to only happen when the wheels are turned hard to one side, and spinning. From the sound of it, it's almost like gears not totally lined up and skipping teeth. I cut the trip a little short because of it, but I noticed on the way out that it does not happen when the front tires are fairly straight.

Any ideas on this one? It's a 2003 TJ, with 2" body lift and 2" coil spacer lift. It runs 33s and at the time the sway bar was off. I'm almost wondering if the body lift is causing the T-case shifter to hit the body and keep everything from shifting just right. I suppose that's as good a place to start as any, right? Any gurus have the hot ticket for adjusting the T-case shifter to see if that's my problem?

Of course, if I'm way off base and need to start looking at something else, let me know that too.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

 

[graewulf]

you sure you weren't rubbing somewhere with those 33's? I'd start there... More than likely your tires were hitting suspension/steering/body - especially with the sway bar unhooked which will allow you to stuff it alot further. With 2" suspension lift, you're pretty close on 33's.... You probably heard the lugs on the edge of the tires.. perfrectly normal under those conditions.. I have 30x9.5's on my GC stock and i get the same thing at a hard lock especially when flexed. If you weren't fully in gear, it would most likely pop out and you'd lose 4WD when that happend.

 

[barlows]

I'm pretty sure I wasn't rubbing anything. I can have a look though. It should be pretty easy to reproduce. Maybe this time I'll have a spotter see if anything looks out of place.

I've also got a 2" body lift, so I wouldn't think it was rubbing on the body. 4" should be just right with 33s I would think. I was also on pretty flat ground, just really soupy. You could be right about it rubbing on the steering though. We'll see.

Anybody else have any ideas?

Steve

 

[graewulf]

yeah but 33's with 2" suspension lift, you were most likely rubbing the frame - for 33's you should hae at least 4" suspension lift.... when I rub with my 30's its the frame i hit, not the body. the fact that you need to have the wheels turned means it has to be something in & around the wheels that is doing it.. check your brake lines too. could be them rubbing. You can probably fix the tire rub with a bigger backspace on the rims.

 

[barlows]

Got it. I'll have a look tonight and see what I can see. Thanks for the info.

Steve

 

[barlows]

So I had a look last night. I couldn't find any evidence of tire rubbing.

What I did find is that when the 2" body lift was installed (done by dealership before I bought it), the upper transfer case shift lever was not replaced with the longer one. It's all the way at the end of the adjustment, and looks like it is still a little bit short. Could it be that I'm not staying all the way in 4 high? I made a call to the dealership and they're supposed to get me the longer shift lever from the custom shop that did the work.

I sure wish I wouldn't have bought a Jeep with stuff already done to it...nobody does the job right it seems...it's a good thing they didn't try to do something difficult. :roll:

Steve

 

[graewulf]

easy thing to test.. unhook the lever at the T-cae, manually put it in 4 hi and see if you can reproduce the problem.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

The transfer case shifter on a TJ needs to be modified when installing a body lift, as the shifter is connected to the tub. Doesn't sound like the culprit though, if it were you would have the same noise when going straight.

Most TJ's I've seen have a hell of a chatter with the wheels spinning and turned full-lock left or right. I usually attribute it to the front axle ujoints. I don't know why YJ's don't do it as bad.

 

[jaketime81]

I have what sounds like the same problem: Any time I am engaged i 4wd and crank the wheel to one side I hear a metal grinding noise. It sounds like gear teeth grinding. It grinds at a complete stop and while moving but it is only when the wheels are all the way turned. I also have a 2 inch body lift but my shifter is dialed in pretty good. I just found this problem yesterday by testing out my new steering box, but it probably did it before too.

 

[barlows]

Well, we'll see if the shifter is my problem. I should get the correct linkage tomorrow and I'll go from there.

Yeah, mine sounds kind of like Bounty Hunter said, a chatter about sums up the sound.

Steve