wristwister

My daughter brings her 95 XJ home once or twice a year for Daddy to take care of issues. That's cool, I like to be needed. She and I built this beast up together a few years ago: You can read all about it in my old build thread here.

Latest issue; there's constant howling coming from somewhere in the front end. Also, when reversing with steering hard over there's a loud click-click-click sound, sort of like what you might hear from a lunchbox locker (this XJ has the standard Dana 30 open diff). I'm going to bring it into the shop, jack up the front end, and tear into it to see if I can see what's going on. I've never dived into a diff and axle before, so I'm looking for advice from the forum brain trust.

I plan to open the diff first and see if there's anything obvious going on there. I see that I can get a diff rebuild kit that includes seals, shims, other goodies. I know I can also replace wheel bearings. What do you all say, any thoughts of first things to inspect/replace?

A little more about the XJ: 3" lift riding on 31's, 6 cyl, automatic, ~190K miles, it was a pavement princess when we bought it a few years ago, but my kid has done everything with this Jeep; off-road, ski bum, Alaska and back etc.

Thoughts?

EZEARL

"any thoughts of first things to inspect...…."

I'd be trying to pin point the noises before tearing into it. You could walk around it while it's being moved to try and locate the noises. You could put it up on 4 jack stands and run it. If this isn't possible put the front up on jack stands and spin the wheels by hand while listening and feeling for drag or roughness. Push/pull on them to check for lateral play. Clicking could be the u-joints in the axles. Problems wouldn't necessarily have to be within the diff assembly.