Hey everyone. Being I do not have a lot of the technical details of what everything is, I will try to get descriptive as possible.

So, we we're mudding one day and I popped a control arm on my passenger side and the sway bar. After getting it replaced, I started hearing a lot of popping noises when I would turn left or right. I sent it back to the shop and had the steering kit replaced. They also dismantled the front drive shaft. It is currently laying in the back of the jeep (in good condition). They said the front Differential was going bad. It had a lot of play in it. They said, by taking this part off, you should be okay. You just can't use 4wd any more.

It is now a couple of weeks later and I am getting a hard grinding and popping from what seems to be the Differential. It turns while in 2wd. I use the jeep in our main time to pull a trailer.


So my questions are,
Can I continue driving like everything is okay? (I doubt anything popping that bad could be okay.)
Can I take the Differential apart and just rely on 2wd?
Can I cheaply replace the Differential in my driveway and reattach the drive shaft?



My jeep is lifted and has been built for playing in the mud and rock climbing but I don't know all the specs on it. I bought it last year as a toy but due to personal circumstances, it has become the primary vehicle. But i darn sure miss my 4wd.

I could post any pictures that were needed.


Now is the time to learn to work on my own toys.

 

Well to start out I will say that even with the driveshaft out yes the front diff. will still turn. That is because there is no lockout hubs on the axles, so when your tires turn the axles will turn and thus turn your diff.
You could pull the axles and rely on 2wd but what fun would that be?
As for rebuilding the diff? It can be done in your driveway. Just make sure you know what you are doing before starting it because you could make it worse.

 

You'd be better off swapping the whole axle assembly.

 

Thank you for the responses.
Do you think I can still drive on it? If so, about how long do you think someone can go?

I also heard that I am going to have a problem fixing the differential unless I know the gear ratio for the back? Is this true, and how do I find this out?

 

There are metal tags mounted under the cover bolts on both diffs. If they are gone, you'll have to open one up and count teeth. A general rule of thumb is they have 3.55 gearing normally and 3.73 with the tow package, HOWEVER that's not always true because the original buyer could have had it built anyway he wanted it.

The idea of turning the tires one turn and counting the driveshaft's turns is bogus unless you turn BOTH wheels together. If you don't, you get the diff's planetary gearing involved. Even doing it the right way, there is only 1/4 turn different between the two ratios. Counting teeth is the best way. You divide the ring gear count by the pinion gear count. Actually, I've seen some ring gears stamped with the ratio on the side of them.

Both axles are the same ratio and MUST be or you'll break something. Rebuilding a differential is NOT for the untrained person. There is too much involved to do it right and have it last. Things like bearing preload and tooth contact patterning.