love my sick 93 wagoneer...help please?

My 1993 Grand Wagoneer is my beautiful best friend.I am having a problem with a growling noise in the front end.A service dealer tells me it may be the viscous clutches and wants $2600 to replace them.I know it is not the hub bearings or axels.Turning after a long drive is difficult.Should I put her to pasture? She's in perfect shape otherwise.Thanks for any info you may have.I want to be buried in her when I die.

If you get binding/hopping when turning, after long drives the then VC is deffinately the problem.

The VC is locking up prematurely due to heat in the Transfer Case and wil need to be replaced.

It may be cheaper and easier just to get a rebuilt transfer case instead of fixing, because most of your cost seems to be labor of taking the transfer case apart and rebuilding it. Go to the jasper rebuilds webpage and look for one.