Kahoona360

Bought a fully stock 2001 Cherokee to tow behind our camper. Plan to use it to explore. I am working on making it as reliable as possible and the noises from up front are bothersome. If you tell me "Welcome to Cherokee" I will be happy but it makes a sound that a associate with worn out wheel bearings back in the old days.
I have:
Jacked the front up and spun the wheels. They are silky smooth without any crunchiness and they do not seem to have any play.
The rotors are a bit rough but there is plenty of material on the pads. I don't hear anything from them when I spin the tire.
The Differentials and transfer case are full of nice clean oil.
Maybe I an just not used to having what is basically a 20 yr old tractor rear end running up front. yep. hope that's it!

4.3L XJ

On a stock rig you shouldn't hear much noise. You might have worn or dry axle U joints, or drive shaft CV joints needing rebuilt are common

Roler

Bit difficult to diagnose like this imo
1)so not reproducible when spinning the tyres?
2) Does it make noise when you idle, or only when rolling/ driving?

boxburn

If it is due to a bad U joint on the front axle, if your wheels are facing straight, you will not hear anything from them as they aren't moving. If the wheels are turned to one side, that's where the UJ will actually move. When I had a bad UJ, spinning the wheel had free spinning for half a rotation then stiff for the other. There should also be absolutely no play in them at all when pushed against with a pry bar or similar.

Kahoona360

OK. I went out to experiment with it today. Here is more info.
Noise starts at 25mph and continues up without much change.
Noise does not change when turning in either direction.
Does not change when braking.
Does not change under acceleration.
putting it into 4wd makes it louder and it almost grinds although it does work fine below 20mph. Acceleration makes it much worse in 4wd.

RocketMouse

do you hear any "clunking" type sound when you go from a full stop to forward motion (driving) ?
If it's worse in 4wd, maybe something on the forward u-joints pinion or transfer case? I'm not an expert, but wouldn't hurt to check there too while you're at it.

awg

take out the front drive shaft and see if the noise goes away

dave1123

First, that's either a 2.5L I4 or a 4.0L I6.

Secondly, I'm betting it's the front diff ring and pinion, probably pinion bearings.

Kahoona360

I will check that, thanks.

No clunking at all.

I will try that,thanks.
4.0L6. I suspect you are correct. Is that something that can be rebuilt or does the inside core, whatever it is called, need to be replaced? Can I simply run it without the front shaft till I can get it fixed?

You have no idea how much I appreciate all of the information you all have given me. As a vagabonds on social security we have to avoid mechanics when we can and know what is up when we can't. We also want to do everything we can to make this 20yr old beast as reliable as possible and you are making it possible. The time will come when I can be the old guy with advice too. I will start to support as soon as I can.

boxburn

If the front axle is damaged internally, it would be much more cost effective to fit another axle than try to repair one. There's a lot of knowing what to do and special tools to rebuild a differential. Do it wrong and it can be dead within 1k miles. Don't worry about this until other options are ruled out though.

The front shaft can be removed and ran with no issues at all. I believe with yours being an 01 you could also run without the rear. If I tried that my transfer case would drain itself.

Kahoona360

OK. I will drop the shaft so as not to cause more damage. If I understand it right I can drain the oil and look for shavings to get an idea how bad it is. I got it for the 4wd so I need to fix it eventually. If it is just the bearing am I ok to have that replaced? Can the axle be removed without removing the wheels by taking off the u joints? Sorry for the questions but I will be better off knowing as much as I can.
PS
By axle do you mean the inner shaft or the housing with the differential?

RocketMouse

I know we don't have our eyeballs, hands and ears on it.....but that is what I was leaning towards too as a likely cause

boxburn

Yes you could. If it's clean that doesn't mean the PO didn't flush shortly before sale.

If it's just the bearing it's still a full strip down to replace it along with all the work of setting it up correctly.

By axle I mean the full housing + diff. I'm no rebuilder of differentials but I can't see it being done still on the Jeep.

My other thought on the noise could be a slack transfer case chain but it's not something I've ever heard of dealt with to know for sure. I'm not sure how you can check it but may be worth something to look up.

Kahoona360

I am thinking that removing the front shaft will fix that. Down in Key West we have a specialist that rents jeeps to tourists, maintains their own fleet and does repairs for the public. I assume they aren't cheap but I may take it to them to diagnose and repair. Could cost more than the car but that is life.

Kahoona360

I am thinking that removing the front shaft will fix that. Down in Key West we have a specialist that rents jeeps to tourists, maintains their own fleet and does repairs for the public. I assume they aren't cheap but I may take it to them to diagnose and repair. Could cost more than the car but that is life.