72 cj5 4wd problems

I don't think mine has lockomatics. The hubs just say warn locking hubs on them.


Well I unlocked the hubs and went forward and backward a few times and crawled under it and I can now turn the front driveshaft both ways. It binds every turn or every few turns and it feels like it's in the yoke or pinion. I can shake it back and forth sometimes more then others. If I have time this weekend I'm going to open up the differential to inspect for damage.

 

sounds like the ujoint in the driveshaft is bad, I would replace it. it should be around $15

 

I hope that's all it is, but it feels like it's coming from the yoke.

 

If it sat for a while with moisture in the front differential then it might have rust buildup on the ring gear or pinion.

 

The Jeep will "bind up" in 4wd if you have a tire that is low on air or if you have a mis-matched tire size. If you pull one end of the front driveshaft you can check the t-case yoke and the diff yoke to determine which one is binding. Could also just be a bad u-joint as stated above.

 

It may have, I don't know any of it's history. I have a feeling it sat for a longtime. After I read your 1st reply I went and turned the shaft some more and I think it very well could be the ujoint. I just got done draining the water from the radiator and putting antifreeze in it cause it's supposed to get below freezing tonight. I had forgot that the po said it had straight water in it from where he had been flushing the radiator. I'm hoping to get ujoints this weekend and see if that takes care of it. Thanks.

 

All the tires are the same size. When I have the front driveshaft off replacing the ujoints this weekend I'll try that. Thanks that'll really help narrowing it down,

 

Originally I thought all I needed to do before I hit the trails was to replace the broken bolt in the shift support tube so I could shift the transfer case, fix the steering slop and clicking sound when turning, change the gear oil in the diffs, tranny, tcase, and do another oil change. I kinda expected for there to be more going on with the 4wd when the seller said "it works it just broke a bolt in the shift linkage". When I test drove it I felt a lot of slop in the steering so I knew I'd have to fix that. So far what needs to be replaced in the steering is the lower column bearing and the clicking sound is coming from the steering coupler right before the steering box. I'm not even sure how much if any those 2 things effect play in the steering. I'd like to replace all of the seals and bearings in the front end and rear end. The rubber on the ujoints on the front axles is deteriorated, the engine smokes white and I was told generally that means a head gasket but i drove it home from almost 2 hours away and it never overheated. An acquaintance of mine is a mechanic and he said if it was a head gasket it would've overheated on that long drive home. The po said he replaced the points and cap?. I think it's running rich and not timed right.

Anyway I'm starting to feel really overwhelmed because I don't have much experience working on cars and I am only going to use this jeep for trail riding and after the 1st of year it'll ride on a car hauler to and from the trails. To save money I'm trying to do everything on my own.

 

Relax...you can only fix one thing at a time...prioritize things needing attention & address them one at a time. By doing the work yourself, you're going to not only save money, but you will accumulate tools & knowledge you'll be able to use for the rest of your life...

 

:iagree: We all started from zero at some point.

 

Thanks that's what I'll do. Thank God for this site and YouTube they've both been very helpful. I bought a used car for my girlfriend recently and the axle went out after she had it for 2 weeks, I thought I was going to have to pay around $400 to have it fixed. I found a YouTube video showing how to replace it and bought a new axle for $70 and did it myself in a few hours. It felt really good to save the money and do it myself.

 

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Well I bought 2 ujoints to replace on the front driveshaft. When I took the driveshaft off I turned the front yoke and sure enough that's where it's binding at. At least I have it further narrowed down now. The yoke on the tcase turns like a champ so that's awesome. It almost sounds like what someone said in a earlier post about rust possibly being in the diff. I hope not. I'm going to take the jeep over to my parent's house in the morning so I can use their garage. Can someone tell me what kind of stuff to look for when I open up the diff? Rust, broke worn teeth? How do I tell if a bearing is bad where the yoke goes in? I don't really want to pull the carrier until I know more about them and my dad wouldn't be very happy if I had my jeep stuck in his garage because I took something apart I couldn't put back together. The carrier is the only thing I'm really scared to mess with.

 

If it's rust in there causing the binding what should I do? If it's a bearing where the yoke goes in how big of a deal is that to replace?

 

Pinion bearings and carrier bearings don't usually cause binding, they normally just make noise, if you don't have any experience working on differentials, attempting to replace bearings or gears may be a bit much to take on because it will require some special tools (pullers and access to a press) and to get the pinion out you have to remove both front hubs,spindles and axle shafts and the carrier. However if you open it up and find rust on the ring gear teeth you can sand it off with a die grinder and sanding disc (as long as it's not too bad) but you won't be able to get to the pinion gear teeth without disassembling the differential. Let us know what you find.

 

Yeah that sounds a bit over my head. I'll let you know tomorrow what I find.

 

Well I took the diff cover off and found brown fluid that was so thick it didn't even pour out. There was some rust on the ring gear. I found a couple of chunks of gear teeth but couldn't find where they came from because I couldn't get the ring gear to turn a full turn. There is some type of collar behind the pinion and about an inch or so of it is shredded. I only had 1 can of brake cleaner and since I couldn't turn the ring gear very much I cleaned it the best I could, put it back together, and put new gear oil back in it for now. While I had it up on jack stands I noticed the ujoints are bad on the front axles and if you grab the front wheels say on the top and bottom you can rock them back and forth. Not sure if I explained the last part right.

 

That sounds like wheel bearings and not ujoints. There should be 6 bolts that hold your spindle and brakes backing plate on the axle, thay are behind the brake shoes but can be reached. They are known to come loose, they may have loosened up on you.

 

Hi - Sorry for your troubles. Seems that your axle is in tough shape.

Forgive me for stating a couple of possibly obvious "truths." First, people sell cars for a reason. You have to expect something to be seriously wrong with used cars, except in the rare case where the previous owner (PO) has more money than sense.

Second, Jeeps have more mechanical stuff to maintain, more moving parts to break, and generally see a much rougher life than your typical passenger car. Plus they are often sold in rather poor condition, because the PO didn't want to keep up with the higher maintenance and repair needed with one of these vehicles. So these cars may be rugged in their way, but they also require more committment from their owners.

My suggestion to you is to buy a paper copy of the 1972 Jeep factory service manual. Then read it from cover to cover. This will get you up to speed faster than weeks of random browsing on this site. Hey, you don't even know which transmission you have. That's pretty basic.

Faxon sells a paper manual http://www.ebay.com/itm/1972-Jeep-R...o-Wagoneer-J10-J20-Truck-CJ-5-6-/161049471142 on eBay for pretty cheap. An original copy, if you can find one, will have clearer illustrations. Don't get one of the Haynes or Chilton's parts-store manuals. They have much less detail than the factory manual, and are rife with errors.

There is also a '74 manual online at www.oljeep.com - most of what applies to the '74 CJ also applies to the '72. The axles and brakes are the same -
http://oljeep.com/edge_74_tsm.html
http://oljeep.com/gw/74_tsm/10-Axles-PropellerShafts.pdf
http://oljeep.com/gw/74_tsm/9-BrakesWheels.pdf

The manual (FSM aka TSM, technical SM) will educate you about the various systems on your Jeep, and also give you the vocabulary to ask pointed questions here on the site.

HTH!

 

Thanks man. The wheel bearings are bad and when I turn the wheel I can see all of the slop in the ujoint to and it makes a loud clunking sound. It's looking like a total frontend rebuild.