That's not good!

[97TJNM]

So when I began building my TJ a couple of years ago, I bought a set of used axles out of a 2006 LJ rubicon that had been regeared to 4.88's. They had a ARB locker in the rear, and a stock Rubicon locker up front.

I ran a pattern on them to see what they looked like, and @tworley told me that the front was way too shallow.

Since they had already been set up and run, and were probably work-hardened, I figured I'd run them until they grenaded, and went ahead and threw the axles under the Jeep. The rear has been fine, no leaks, no noise, no weird vibrations. The front has had gear howl since I put it in.

I've put about 15k miles on it since the axle swap, knowing eventually I was going to have to address the front gears. I figured that when I did address it, it would be an opportunity to put in an ARB in the front, too.

Well, the howl has gotten worse in the past week. I pulled the plug on the front diff, and thought, man, that looks sparkly in there!

Dipped my finger in the fluid, and held it over a magnet. Guess who's doing a diff rebuild in the next few months?

Good thing I have a 2004 Grand Cherokee to daily until the weather warms up enough to tackle this job!

 

[tworley]

I don't remember this. But I guess I can say "don't say I didn't warn you!"

 

[97TJNM]

I don't remember this. But I guess I can say "don't say I didn't warn you!"

Post # 42 in my build thread. https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...uble-tough-97-sport.60838/page-3#post-1106575

for the record, you were right.

 

[tworley]

Post # 42 in my build thread. https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...uble-tough-97-sport.60838/page-3#post-1106575

for the record, you were right.

You plan on doing the rebuild yourself?

Would be a good time to wire the ARB switches to work independently of each other. Something that has been on my list of things to do. All it takes is a small jumper wire.

 

[97TJNM]

You plan on doing the rebuild yourself?

Would be a good time to wire the ARB switches to work independently of each other. Something that has been on my list of things to do. All it takes is a small jumper wire.

Yeah, I'm gonna do it myself. Never done one, but I find the "gear pattern" threads fascinating, and I know we have some good resident help here on interpreting patterns. It will probably be May or June, but I wanna stretch myself and tackle it!

I may even use this as an excuse to buy the ARB twin compressor. And yeah, I should wire them to operate independently.

 

[97TJNM]

I think in the mean time, to keep it as a "working" vehicle, I'm going to drain the fluid this weekend, clean it really good, and refill it. I'll pull the driveshaft, too, so I reduce the chance of downstream damage. If the ring or pinion are chipped, I might pull the ring gear to keep any potential problems from cropping up. We will see, but I'd rather have a 2wd jeep than have it completely out of commission. If I do pull the ring gear, I'll be sure to document everything so I don't forget any of my starting shim stacks and whatnot.