Another issue. 4 hi

[Gunfighter]

My 2006 Superduty would start to bind at times if the wheel was turned to much. Nature of the beast with hard surfaces and real 4X4 vehicles.

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[MattLaurence]

Just for reference, this video has a great explanation of how 4WD works vs AWD, and the mechanics behind why it's not a good idea to utilize 4WD on high traction surfaces like pavement. I think the manual also states that you should focus on broad, sweeping turns in 4WD and avoid sharp turns if possible.

 

[DavidArmen]

Before you say that this sort of damage could never happen. This is from someone I know that unknowingly drove their Jeep in 4wd and/or lockers engaged on dry pavement for quite sometime.

Lol so hopping during a u-turn is translated as “quite some time”?

also, i didn’t say “this sort of thing can never happen” so please don’t put words in my mouth

 

[Longhair1957]

Lol so hopping during a u-turn is translated as “quite some time”?

And even to be fair, it didn’t even hop, tires never even skidded. It just felt jumpy. ?

 

[AlgUSF]

I think we all agree that 4H/L on pavement is a bad idea, and even worse if you make turns. It is defined by the physics of the vehicle. But then the Jeep is engineered to get past the accidental "Oh S#!+" moments. Whether you grind a gear, overspeed the engine a little, leave it in 4H when coming off the trail. I have a Civic with over 250K on it and the original clutch, I can't tell you how many times I ground a gear on a fast shift, hit the rev limiter passing someone, etc. Or the time I put our minivan in park on a mountain without setting the parking brake and having it click about 10yds backwards as I was trying to get out (I live in Florida we don't use parking brakes in autos here). If you make a habit of having stuff happen, then your vehicle will probably have a short longevity.

 

[Arterius2]

Lol so hopping during a u-turn is translated as “quite some time”?

also, i didn’t say “this sort of thing can never happen” so please don’t put words in my mouth

That's not what I meant. I Apologize if I didn't communicate clearly.

It's great that he was able to catch this early and come on the forums to search for answers.

May (or may not) have been worse if someone didn't, and just kept driving until something did eventually cause issues.

 

[DavidArmen]

Before you say that this sort of damage could never happen. This is from someone I know that unknowingly drove their Jeep in 4wd and/or lockers engaged on dry pavement for quite sometime.

Side note but were the diff case gouges made by the pinion gear? How tf does that even happen? How would the pinion gear get lodged so forward like that as to touch the case since it has giant bearings preventing its movement beyond a few thousandths of designed play?

 

[DavidArmen]

That's not what I meant. I Apologize if I didn't communicate clearly.

It's great that he was able to catch this early and come on the forums to search for answers.

May (or may not) have been worse if someone didn't, and just kept driving until something did eventually cause issues.

No apology necessary. My communication wasn’t perfect either and someone could’ve took from that that it’s okay to make u-turns in 4H every day! Not at all but they can definitely take a little mistake of two based on all the evidence of their strength. Not including the fact that some split at the FAD?

 

[Arterius2]

Side note but were the diff case gouges made by the pinion gear? How tf does that even happen? How would the pinion gear get lodged so forward like that as to touch the case since it has giant bearings preventing its movement beyond a few thousandths of designed play?

No idea, but large chunks of broken metal shards were found in the fluid.

I was told that the vehicle was in 4wd when she drove it to my mechanic friend, and none the wiser.
She's part of a local Jeep meet up, and basically just follows along.

From her stories, she doesn't seem to understand what the locker switches do and possibly have had it on for the entire trip for many outings as well.

 

[AlgUSF]

Side note but were the diff case gouges made by the pinion gear? How tf does that even happen? How would the pinion gear get lodged so forward like that as to touch the case since it has giant bearings preventing its movement beyond a few thousandths of designed play?

Yeah, you'd think that something would give before the diff started coming apart. I would think the chain on the t-case would break before damaging the ring or pinion gears if they were installed correctly.

 

[Zandcwhite]

Yeah, you'd think that something would give before the diff started coming apart. I would think the chain on the t-case would break before damaging the ring or pinion gears if they were installed correctly.

The pinion nut had to be loose for that to happen. Driving in 4wd won't loosen the nut. It clearly wasn't installed correctly. The pinion and yoke spin together as an assembly so there's no way the driveshaft could loosen the nut.

 

[Joe98]

show of hands, who all sat down at the dealer and read your manual cover to cover before you drove away from the dealership?

Before I bought my Jeep, I downloaded a pdf version and read it 3 times.
.

 

[AlgUSF]

Before you say that this sort of damage could never happen. This is from someone I know that unknowingly drove their Jeep in 4wd and/or lockers engaged on dry pavement for quite sometime.

"Quite sometime" certainly doesn't qualify as an "Oh $#!+" moment. Gosh, I wonder how long you could drive on asphalt in 4H or with the lockers engaged before you're like, "Oh $#!t" I'd better shift this out.

Nothing against the person who did this, but this is worse than popping your clutch and spinning tires at every red light/stop sign. Jeep puts the transfer case indications right there on an island in the middle of the instrument cluster.

I'm not an expert on differentials, but something has to give before you blow out the diff.

 

[Arterius2]

"Quite sometime" certainly doesn't qualify as an "Oh $#!+" moment. Gosh, I wonder how long you could drive on asphalt in 4H or with the lockers engaged before you're like, "Oh $#!t" I'd better shift this out.

Nothing against the person who did this, but this is worse than popping your clutch and spinning tires at every red light/stop sign. Jeep puts the transfer case indications right there on an island in the middle of the instrument cluster.

I'm not an expert on differentials, but something has to give before you blow out the diff.

Happens more often than you'd believe. Depending on where you live.

I couldn't count how many times I walked towards their Jeeps as we pull off the highway in the preparation area, and sure enough, it's in 4Hi.

The usual response is that it's a hassle to remember to switch all the time. (Probably why Jeep started putting Selec-Tracs on their JLs, it's partly a fail safe for these new generation of Jeep owners)

It's like me asking my partner to remember to use the parking brake, she never does and always tells me she's preoccupied with other things that are apparently more interesting. So I'm always the person pulling the parking breaks when in the passenger seat.

 

[DavidArmen]

The pinion nut had to be loose for that to happen. Driving in 4wd won't loosen the nut. It clearly wasn't installed correctly. The pinion and yoke spin together as an assembly so there's no way the driveshaft could loosen the nut.

I truly can’t think of anything else that could do THIS type of damage. I’m not saying it couldn’t have been from driving in 4H on pavement for a while but from what I know about drivetrains, and I’m no mechanical engineer, but there would definitely have to be another culprit, such as the possibility of a loose pinion nut as you pointed out, because I would imagine if it was indeed binding, a number of components (such as the u-joints and the t-case chain) would have to fail way before the diff was ruined to the extent seen here. And even then I would expect ruined teeth but I wouldn’t expect to see the pinion gear shove itself towards the case by that amount. Or maybe the diff case got shoved forward in the carrier and smashed into the pinion gear somehow?? Very curious!
I would really love to inspect that jeep and check for other driveline damage and look for other points of failure just to satisfy my curiosity?

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