Kablammo
I have a '98 Wrangler Sport with a five-speed and a 4-inch lift on 33s. I used the T-case drop brackets supplied with my suspension kit and everything worked fine until I had a front driveshaft lock up and blow apart my transfer case. I replaced it with a NP231 that the guy said was from a YJ. I have a new front drive shaft now and the four-wheel drive will not engage. I messed with the linkage and got it working and drove it for a week. It snowed this morning, so I went to engage the 4x4 and got nothing but a grinding noise. I know a week ago I had it all working. Do you have any idea what it could be?Michael StarnMineral City, Ohio
I bet your front driveshaft didn't lock up and take out your T-case. I bet your T-case seized because it had been running in 4-Hi without your knowing it. The clue is in your T-case crossmember drop brackets. If you look at the T-case shift linkage underneath the vehicle, you'll see a rod coming from the T-case shift cam (little shift bracket thing protruding from the T-case) that connects to the floor-mounted T-case shifter via an adjustable threaded rod.
First, disconnect the T-case linkage and manually push the cam all the way back to verify your 2-Hi position. With the cam back, you should be able to spin the front output shaft with the front tires jacked off the ground, yet the Jeep will still drive. With 2-Hi verified, adjust your shift linkage rod to reach the cam with the shifter in the 2-Hi position.
What happened was when you dropped the T-case, it pulled the T-case shift cam forward, putting the T-case either partially or fully into 4-Hi. Running on the street with the NP231 engaged will cause major binding and generate lots of heat, resulting in your fragged transfer case. When the T-case front output seized, the driveshaft let go because the front axle was still trying to spin it. Chances are your replacement isn't doing too well either.
If you can't get enough adjustment through your stock shifter, check Skyjacker at skyjacker.com. The company offers a replacement T-case shifter linkage for just this problem. Or Novak, novak-adapt.com sells a completely new replacement T-case shifter assembly.
Good Question
Just a simple question about cages; why replace the factory cage with a pre-fabricated one? For example, the $1,300 Poly Performance Sport Cage kit covered in the story "Pre-Fabricaged" in the November, '08 issue of Jp? Why not just reinforce the OEM unit with something like Rock Hard 4x4's $1,000 kit?Bill AdelmannApple Valley, California
While I've never done any conclusive testing, I've witnessed the aftermath of dozens of rollovers. Although the factory cage does an adequate job of providing safety, after a hard rollover it's usually tweaked beyond the point of usefulness. The Rock Hard 4x4 add-on cage system goes quite a long way in bolstering the factory unit's performance and is a worthwhile addition, but in a story like this I've got to consider somebody who needs to replace a damaged or missing factory cage.
A prefabricated cage like the one we used in the story has a much smaller tubing diameter with no loss (or maybe greater) strength than the large-diameter factory tubing, is able to integrate its triangulation and reinforcements more cleanly than the add-on system, and provides a bit more interior room. It does the same job (or better) in a much tighter, cleaner, and better looking package.
There's really nothing wrong with going for the Rock Hard setup. The company makes a very nice product. I've used its full Cherokee cage in Jp's '99 XJ and the fit was very, very good. And we've used its Wrangler add-on cage in the past with no complaints. However, this is just one other option to consider.