Okay so heres the deal

I installed my new front drive shaft the other day and the 4x4 worked i went and did a lil off roading with it and it worked fine.

so when i was done I took it out of 4 wheel drive, and when i tried to put it back in and it does not work anymore...??

my front wheels wont enguage/turn, but the drive shaft to the front diff is turning when I select 4 wheel drive with the transfer case ...:confused:

does any one know what the problem can be

thanks

mark

 

if you look on your front axle, there is going to be a little box on the passenger side, if you pull the cover off, you will see a shift fork and a collar. Your front axle is actually cut into three peices. one peice runs from the differential to the driver side wheel, one from the differential to the box i described and the last peice from the box to the passenger side wheel. The shift fork is vacuum activated and it is pretty common on older YJs that it goes caput! and stops shifting the collar to connect the two axle shaft. Without that collar connecting the axle shafts, the spider gears in your differential run like crazy, Basically, its just like having no traction on your passenger side tire, allowing it to spin like crazy while the driver side tire does nothing, only without the collar connecting the axle shaft to the other side that connects it to the tire, the power never gets to that tire and just the stubby shaft between the differential and the box i described spins like crazy. Now, if you're lucky, you just got the vacuum hose caught on something and it got unhooked. So check to make sure your vacuum hose leading to the box on the axle housing is connected and has no hole anywhere, If that looks ok, you have a couple options, A) bring it to a mechanic --- BOOOO!!! B) do a mechanic locker fix like the one at this link http://homepage.mac.com/jlg/posi-lok/ or C) buy a passenger side axle for a Jeep TJ (97-06) with the Dana 30 front axle and remove the shift fork mechanism completely and run a two piece set up like all the jeep models since your YJ have been set up. The reason for the shift fork on your YJ in the first place is to help save wear and tear on the u-joints from just driving around in two wheel drive, but U-Joints aren't that hard to change, and i'd rather put a little extra wear and tear on them and know i have 4 wheel drive then have the three piece setup and spare the u-Joints. I've owned a 92 YJ and fortunately never had issues with my shift fork, a 2000 TJ and never had issues wearing out my front u-joints, and now a 2007 JK and haven't had enough time to really do any damage to it at all. Sorry i dont have any pics for you, but there are plenty of good ones at the link i gave you, and if that still doesnt help, do a google search for YJ Shift fork problems or YJ front axle vacuum motor and that should bring up loads of info. Good luck.

 

thanks guys I just orderd a posi loc and new shift fork from quadratec hope thins fixes the prob

 

No problem man, i'm glad i could help, the other thing i guess option D) was at the bottom of that link http://homepage.mac.com/jlg/posi-lok/ where he stacked up washers to keep it engaged all the time. i never thought of it before, but its a good idea. i would still prefer having the solid axle shaft from a TJ, but if you wanna cheap fix, the washer trick should take care of it for only a few bux.