4x4 POP!

[grogiefrog]

My wife drives our KJ to work each day (a short 7 miles each way). I have suggested that she use the four-wheel full-time (Selec-Trac) on wet roads, which we have had a lot of rain and slick roads lately. She called me this morning saying that she stopped at the post office which requires several tight turns, and she heard a loud "pop". It scared her as you can imagine. I recall hearing from others that this is normal, as it's wheel hop due to the turn, but I thought that the Selec-Trac's full-time wouldn't do this as using part-time would? She did have it in full-time. I hope it's not doing a lot of wear (or damage) on the transfer case when this happens...

Any comments? Thanks.

 

[JeepJeepster]

Its must not of been in full time. Sometimes mine will get stuck in part time and then when u turn it pops into full time. it shouldnt hurt a thing.

 

[grogiefrog]

So you are saying that it even tho' it said it was in full-time, it wasn't, but the pop put it into full-time?

 

[grogiefrog]

Okay, I had a good outside suggestion. Shift to neutral (transmission) before the four-wheel drive shift, then the intended mode is always selected accurately and quickly (as I was told). But this isn't really then "shift on the fly" four-wheel drive.

 

[yoda13]

this is not that uncommon unfortunately. Mine does this sometimes as well, as does pops XJ. Putting it into neutral sometimes helps, but I have heard the "pop" when doing it that way too, so I don't really know if that helps or not, but it is worth a try if that noise scares you. I know it scared me at first, but after years of Jeeps, I have grown used to it.

 

[JeepJeepster]

U will always hear a pop when going into and out of 4wheel drive. but sometimes its alot louder then usual. like when turning. Ive went out of full time before and went all the the way 2wd, but it gets stuck in part time then pops abruptly out of part time into 2wd while turning, Its kind of scary. drive down the road and put it into full time then tap the gas, u will hear it pop into 4wd, then u can do it back into 4wd also, thats normal pop, but when its really loud, i dont think its good on things.

 

[Tokyojoe1965]

I get the pop. Seems to occur more for me if I shift it when not moving and then move and make turns. I don't get it if I shift while driving and make turns later.

 

[grogiefrog]

I do not hear any clicking, poping, banging, or anything when moving the four-wheel drive lever. My concern is if the full-time is working? I know that the four-wheel low does! From what I hear, the full-time shouldn't pop, or more likely BANG when turning corners.

I might take it into the dealer, but I hate to call in the first place, as I never know if the guy I talk to is going to know anything about Selec-Trac, not to mention Jeeps. I don't want them to poke around and mess something up, or just keep it for a three days and say, "Looks good to me."

 

[grogiefrog]

drive down the road and put it into full time then tap the gas, u will hear it pop into 4wd, then u can do it back into 4wd also, thats normal pop, but when its really loud, i dont think its good on things.

I am going to take it out tomorrow morning as I hear that it's going to snow and try different things. I just don't want to cause too much wear. I don't have the extended warranty!

 

[yoda13]

I hear you as far as the dealer is concerned. I hate taking it in unless it is a necessity, because they mess things up as much as they help them it seems to me.

 

[JeepJeepster]

No, u should not hear any poping when moving the lever. The only time it should be a loud pop is when taking a curve in full time, and it has gotten stuck in part time. I do not believe that is that good on the t-case my self, but theres really nothing u can do about it. ive had that happen 2 times now when going out of full time and into 2wd. Ill take a turn and it has gotten stuck in part time, and the whole jeep jerks and i hear a loud BANG from the tcase. the first time it happened i thought i broke an axle or something. Then another time i was going into 4low, i was stuck so there was nothing i could do for the moving thing ur sussposed to do for going into 4low, so i put it into N and Pulled the lever back, all was well so i put it in D and gave it some gas, it All of a sudden went into 4low and ****** really hard forward, i thought i had broke the tcase in half, but ive not had any problems out of it, so i guess its fine. ive only got 8k on it so warranty will fix it all. hehe

 

[grogiefrog]

Everything was good yesterday in full-time. What I heard was not pop, but the bang like you said. I'll ask the dealer about it on the next oil change.

 

[Emoto]

Everything was good yesterday in full-time. What I heard was not pop, but the bang like you said. I'll ask the dealer about it on the next oil change.

Drive right over there and take the service writer out and demonstrate the noise for him. This way there will be no doubt that something is going on, AND since you brought it to their attention "right away" they won't say you ignored a serious problem and refuse to cover it.

 

[yoda13]

Everything was good yesterday in full-time. What I heard was not pop, but the bang like you said. I'll ask the dealer about it on the next oil change.

Let me know what he says, brought this to the attention of my dealer, demonstrated it, and he told me that this was normal, back when I first got it. My old Wrangler did it, and dad's cherokee does it too, so I would like to hear what a different dealer has to say :-k

 

[grogiefrog]

Everything was good yesterday in full-time. What I heard was not pop, but the bang like you said. I'll ask the dealer about it on the next oil change.

Let me know what he says, brought this to the attention of my dealer, demonstrated it, and he told me that this was normal, back when I first got it. My old Wrangler did it, and dad's cherokee does it too, so I would like to hear what a different dealer has to say :-k

So Yoda, you said that you have had that LOUD BANG? It was a serious BANG from what I was told. I don't want to have that happen again...!

 

[yoda13]

Everything was good yesterday in full-time. What I heard was not pop, but the bang like you said. I'll ask the dealer about it on the next oil change.

Let me know what he says, brought this to the attention of my dealer, demonstrated it, and he told me that this was normal, back when I first got it. My old Wrangler did it, and dad's cherokee does it too, so I would like to hear what a different dealer has to say :-k

So Yoda, you said that you have had that LOUD BANG? It was a serious BANG from what I was told. I don't want to have that happen again...!

Yeah, I have had in a handful of times on my Libby, sounds like one is taking a baseball bat and trying to hit a homer with the frame. It happens a lot with my pop's cherokee as well, esp. after he has been towing in behind his motorhome. We bought our rides from two different dealers in two different towns, but we both were able to demonstrate the problems for them when we took them in, and they both said that this behavior was completely normal. Now, it doesn't sound normal to me, but whatever, my old '97 Wrangler did it too, as did my Dad's previous cherokee. We put many many miles (don't remember how many exactly, sorry) on these vehicles, many in 4wd, esp on the Cherokee, and they both made this bang once in a while, and we never had any problems. Now I have never had another brand 4wd vehicle, but all my Jeeps have done this, I just finally decided they all did it. I don't know what else to do about it. It still unnerves me, but I have never gotten a dealer to do anything about it, and have never had an equipment failure, so I have just learned to live with it.... :-k

 

[grogiefrog]

Thanks Yoda for the information. =D>

 

[Eddo]

I had a similar problem a couple times. It has to do with drive train binding and the spring loaded shift fork on the nv242 t-case. I posted what I think is a good explanation if you visit the LOST board and look for the post "hard time coming out of 4wd" in the General Discussion page.

I'll post a link later.