Ok, I guess I was asking for it, 4x4 question

[slingworks]

Ok so I might have been a little too naughty this Christmas Season as far as my Liberty goes...

I have an 05 Liberty I use as a mail vehicle on a rural route. It's mostly gravel and fairly remote in parts. We had some decent snow and while some roads were mostly plowed, some weren't. The following day it was pretty warm and a good bit melted on the roadways, but not all. Where they plowed there were still piles of snow on the sides of the roadways fairly deep. The problem was that it was a mix of bad road and dry roadway that varied by the moment.

Now, having some fairly worn tires on my Liberty, I had to run it in 4x4 Hi a fair bit. A fair bit like as in about 80 miles of it. About 60 miles into my day I noticed a loud "Pop" from somewhere on making a turn. At first I thought it was maybe a tire binding up and maybe jumping a bit. Later on I noticed it a couple more times when I made more pronounced turns to the right or left. Sounded like a slightly metallic "POP" Not the endless popping of a CV, but more of a one time event each time it happened.

Now, I know I'm not really supposed to run it in 4x4 HI for such distances, or on dry/hard roadways, but didn't really have a choice this time around.

So what could that occasional popping be? I couldn't track it down. I thought at first maybe something like a cv joint end or splined shaft had enough load on it to cause it to momentarily jump a spline, but considering how most of that is fairly well hardened, I think maybe not....?

Any thoughts on what it could be? I have a complete spare Liberty for parts, so I guess I have a "luxury" there if something was damaged.

 

[Gyro]

It's the transfer case binding and popping.
The solution is to pop it out of part time 4x4 once in awhile and if feels tight to shift out you can reverse a little to relieve tension
on the shift lever.

Gyro

 

[slingworks]

It's the transfer case binding and popping.
The solution is to pop it out of part time 4x4 once in awhile and if feels tight to shift out you can reverse a little to relieve tension
on the shift lever.

Gyro

I kinda thought I heard at least one pop from that area. Think I did any damage? I have a spare transfer case but hate to have a reason to change it!

 

[iceaxe1967]

I kinda thought I heard at least one pop from that area. Think I did any damage? I have a spare transfer case but hate to have a reason to change it!

You should swap the transfer case for Full time transfer case, NP242. Available in the limited and CRD models. So you run all wheel drive (full time) and no worry for the paved sections unless we talking sry pavement.

 

[JMichael2006]

You should swap the transfer case for Full time transfer case, NP242. Available in the limited and CRD models. So you run all wheel drive (full time) and no worry for the paved sections unless we talking sry pavement.

Correct, the full-time 4x4 mode unlocks the diff in the t-case to allow driving on mixed pavement. The part-time mode locks the center diff for the most effective off-road traction.

 

[slingworks]

I had never given that any thought. It sounds like it would be an advantage all the way around. So it's full time, part time and low on the selector? I wonder how common those transfer cases are? Would it be compatible with the existing selector lever/cable assembly?

 

[JMichael2006]

I had never given that any thought. It sounds like it would be an advantage all the way around. So it's full time, part time and low on the selector? I wonder how common those transfer cases are? Would it be compatible with the existing selector lever/cable assembly?

The CRD, Renegade and most Limiteds had the 242. The shifters are different. The 242 has an additional detent for the part-time position. 2WD, Part-time, Full-time, neutral, and 4WD Low. The 231 has 2WD, 4WD Hi, and 4WD Low.

 

[u2slow]

You need the matching tcase shifter. BTDT.

Edit: the renegade I bought for parts had the part-time 231. NOT the 242.