Rear axle broke? '96 Laredo

[Blitzburrgh]

The wife was backing the Jeep down the driveway en-route to the store. She runs back in saying its stuck in the middle of the street (blocking the street infront of our house and the house across the street) and wont go forward or backward.

So I try to move it and shes right, nothing. It feels like there is a huge cement block behind the tire. It goes in gear, all gears but just rolls for a second then locks up.

I got it to move slowly, idling back and it was going smooth, then after about 15 feet, it locked up again. (like something big behind the tire).

I was leery of giving it any gas to try to avoid breaking anything any more than it already is, but now Im blocking the driveway of the house across the street. So I left it in reverse and had to give it a considerable amount of gas to move it about 5 foot, and it squealed in the rear end (no grinding and not the tires squealing) until I stoped.

My best guess was possibly a frozen rear caliper, but it seems to move for a certain amount of time before it stops dead and the rotor was not hot at all. So now I think its the axel or differential. The diff is full of fluid.

Its dark now and so it will sit till tomorrow. Any idea on what to check without tearing it all apart? I plan to remove both rear tires, to see what the deal is, but thats about as much as I want to do. I dont want to butcher up anything more that it is.

What I dont get, when I got it to idle in reverse, the tires made atleast 4 or 5 revolutions before it clunked and locked up. If I tried to go forward (before moviing it backwards) it wouldn't go at all. Now, it wont go either direction.

96 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo
4.0 Liter
4WD
~130K miles

Any advice to what to check before I get it towed away is greatly appreciated. Also, what would a ballpark figure be if the axel(s) had to be replaced and or the ring/pinion gear?

[AlohaBra]

Are you going to fix it yourself?
It shouldn't be hard, it's all mechanical, but you've got to have tools.
* First, jack it up in rear and put on jack stands. Then turn the rear tires by hand
* Caliper is easy to check, take the wheels off, use a "LARGE" channel lock plier to squeeze it back in. Maybe a huge screwdriver.
* Drive shaft, look to see if it turns
* After that, the diff or transfer case. Disconnect the Driveshaft at the rear pinion and turn rear axle.
* Might not be the ring and pinion, they also have other parts in the rear diff, like the spider gears, the rear axle splines, bearings. The c-clips are known to break also, if yours use those. If you get this far, you can take the rear cover off and look.
* If all this fail, you can put the rear cover back on and have it towed to a shop, preferably one that does Jeep drive trains.

Expect to pay for several hours (if not more) of work.

[dksob81]

Originally Posted by Blitzburrgh

The wife was backing the Jeep down the driveway en-route to the store. She runs back in saying its stuck in the middle of the street (blocking the street infront of our house and the house across the street) and wont go forward or backward.

So I try to move it and shes right, nothing. It feels like there is a huge cement block behind the tire. It goes in gear, all gears but just rolls for a second then locks up.

I got it to move slowly, idling back and it was going smooth, then after about 15 feet, it locked up again. (like something big behind the tire).

I was leery of giving it any gas to try to avoid breaking anything any more than it already is, but now Im blocking the driveway of the house across the street. So I left it in reverse and had to give it a considerable amount of gas to move it about 5 foot, and it squealed in the rear end (no grinding and not the tires squealing) until I stoped.

My best guess was possibly a frozen rear caliper, but it seems to move for a certain amount of time before it stops dead and the rotor was not hot at all. So now I think its the axel or differential. The diff is full of fluid.

Its dark now and so it will sit till tomorrow. Any idea on what to check without tearing it all apart? I plan to remove both rear tires, to see what the deal is, but thats about as much as I want to do. I dont want to butcher up anything more that it is.

What I dont get, when I got it to idle in reverse, the tires made atleast 4 or 5 revolutions before it clunked and locked up. If I tried to go forward (before moviing it backwards) it wouldn't go at all. Now, it wont go either direction.

96 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo
4.0 Liter
4WD
~130K miles

Any advice to what to check before I get it towed away is greatly appreciated. Also, what would a ballpark figure be if the axel(s) had to be replaced and or the ring/pinion gear?

There are many possibilities.
Could be calipers (as mentioned)
e-brake - engaged or shoes locked up on the inside of the rotors.
differential and/or pinion bearing locked up - doubt it tho, if there was fluid in the diff and no prior noise from axle.
something in the transfer case broke and holding you up.

[Blitzburrgh]

This morning, to my suprise, it rolled forward and backward.. So I got it to my side of the street.

No howling/squealing, nothing. (I let it idle)

So I'm hoping its like the spider gear or c-clips. I'll be pissed off as all hell if its the transfer case.

Spider gears could have got out of alignment? Could have happened when the misses backed down the driveway and down the curb before getting onto the street? It's some what of a minor speedbump.

Also acted like a trans/transfer case prob when I tried to move it when she broke it ...when I got it to roll and it hit that "point," it felt like someone threw it into park.. and came to a hault. Almost like parking on a incline or decline and throwing it into park and releasing the brake pedal, how it would roll a tad then stop.

Either way, I guess I'll find out Monday, I had it towed to my mechanic. I can do most mechanical work, but rear-ends is a no go for me.

Side note: They used a flatbed to haul it away, I had to back up several yards so they could get the hauler in position, then they used a winch to pull it foward. Durring all that, no lockup, no squeal, no nothing. Probably could have driven it up the flatbeds ramp or even to the mechanics shop

[AlohaBra]

Let us know what happens. We are curious.

[Blitzburrgh]

Eh, mechanic couldn't find anything wrong. He drove it, did everything to it that might have caused it and found nothing.

He said he "thinks" the valve body in the trans is going bad. Possible stuck between two gears? (would have to be rev and park?) So I dunno.

Makes sense in a way, then again.. I dunno. Either way, I drove it home and no probs... yet.