Drive Train is now Slipping

[LifesGrand]

K, drive train is now getting worse where I'm getting some "bumpy" slippage... I haven't had a chance to really determine what's going on as it just started happening on my way home last night, I'll be looking at it closer today as I'll be leaving in the next bit for an appointment. It doesn't seem to be rpm related, just load related meaning my rpms dont jump or anything. It's not a smooth slip like driving in neut, it feels like the t-case could be slipping? VC? The front DS is removed still. Is it time to swap this t-case? Could it be the torque converter or TPS?
Thanks!

[JackstandJohnny]

http://www.nagca.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23975

heres some reading material for ya buddy. note: i didn't read it full through so it could be BS haha

long and short of it; VC doesn't know the front DS is removed; so it'll send torque to the output, and because there is no resistance it should 'feel' like it needs to give more because its 'slipping'  this is inherently bad for the VC for that reason i believe.  i bet Clay will chime in when he see this though, he's pretty knowledgable with these things

[cLAY]

BAD!!!

What he said, put the front shaft back in.

 Its an AWD ssytem that works on slip, there is supposed to be some speed deferential between the fron and rear wheels, the bigger the differnce the tighter the VC gets(and hotter) to try and eaqualize the speed difference. Having the front shaft out means it has a 100% speed/load difference and the VC is working its A$$ off trying to compensate. The slip you feel is the time it takes for the VC to tranfer the torque from the free spinning front output flange thats connected to nothing to the rear wheels.

Put the shaft back in or park it.

[LifesGrand]

Thanks guys... lol I know it's wrong to drive the awd system without having the front DS connected but wasn't sure what the ill results would be in the end, how to determine if that's what it's doing. I have been dealing with a driveline issue for some time now & even when I had the front DS on I was still experiencing problems, so I kept it off when the last DS crapped out on me hoping that something more obvious would occur to indicate the original problem, leave the second guessing alone.. I've just gotten to the point where I'm tired of crawling underneith for the same stupid thing over & over like replacing the DS 3 times in one year. knowing that the t-case will be toast at some point so I decided I'll just drive around with it out untill the thing failed on me, get my full usage out of it before I rack the miles on the donar, cause I'm cheap like that...  & I'm also not looking forward to the swap.. I know, enuff already & just do it..

I guess I'm just not 100% that it's stricktly related, but the more I think about it & the more I reveiw whats being said, it makes sense.. I hope, I sure hope..

Does anyone know what PNP charges for a DS by chance? I've never purchased one from there, either rebult mine or found one from another member.

oh yeah.. thanks for the link, a lot of mixed opinions on what the 249 is doing & what years are affected differently.. Some report no ill results with the DS removed.. but, they don't know what they don't know I guess.. only time will tell..

[JackstandJohnny]

look at this way Jay, soon you WONT have a functioning Tcase in the ZJ, so might as well start on the swap, cause in a few weeks it won't be running anyways  

[cLAY]

Basically you will just wear the VC out. Which means it will want to stay locked up all the time. People who drive around with no front shaft and have no complaints about it probably have a VC that is worn out and locked up all the time, hence no slipping.

With a worn out VC it feels like the Jeep is in 4wd lock all the time, tires screech and hop when pulling into a tight parking space. Annoying and hard on tires and u-joints but the case won't explode or anything.

[LifesGrand]

Hmmm... Two more weeks till this thing goes on me hey.. I'll try to stretch it out for one more week...lol
I know what I'm doing this long weekend.
Thanks for the feedback, I'll finally swap this thing out & hopefully this will resolve my drive train issues I'm having.
Cheers guys..