Transfer case...???

[WifesKJ]

First time I'm ever had to come here. I guess that's a good thing, new to the forum means no mysterious breakdowns... till now. My wife has a 2002. Last week she told me it was making funny noises. Occasionally it would make a loud pop when she went from rev to fwd in 4hi. On top of this that day she was heading to work and it started shaking like the death wobble her old Cherokee had once. I crawled under and checked for play in everything I could think of and it all seemed tight except the front passenger shock is about gone. So I got the bright idea to swap with her and drive it to school the next day... over the mountain... and 60 miles down the valley... Once going up the mountain it started shaking, I slowed down and it went away. That night I was snowed in the valley so I headed to a friends, The KJ shook the whole way at low speeds. The next morning I headed to class kinda worried. It shook once but not bad. That evening I headed home. I got almost to the mountain when it went off again (45 miles of driving @ 55-65.) I slowed down, still shook. Stopped, shifted in and out of 4, rev/fwd shift, nothing would stop the shake. I had nowhere safe to really get out of the road so I creaped a few miles. The whole way I heard a rubbing sound every rotation of the tires (I guess it was 1 to 1 with the tires, hard to tell.) With the course load I'm taking I had to pay to get it hauled to a mechanic (good guy that's highly recommended.) He went over it and says my transfer case is extremely noisy. He knows how broke I am, so he suggested we try to find a used one to pop in.

So here's the questions:

Can a shot transfer cause these symptoms?

If so will any of the NP/NV-231's swap in no matter what they are out of?

Is there anything I'm missing that could save a desperately poor college student a few bucks? (I'm really starting to get ill when I see a ramen package.)

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[05kj6spd]

Pretty sure your 231 is a 23 spline input. There was several different inputs a 21 spline, and 23 spline of different lengths. From what I can find you need the 23 spline short input. There is a difference in the cut of the gears as well but if you find a 94 to newer you should be able to swap the input gear if needed to match up.