Tight turn groan

Someone else recently posted about noise when doing slow turns in one of those setups.

I would be guessing it has to do with the coupler between the front and rear axles. Don't know if it is a serious issue or expected, but at least you have it documented with the $tealer for future warranty claims.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

I did have the axles serviced a few K ago, and their invoice stated they included the additive. Would that cause the groaning if they forgot? What would happen if I added some more of the additive to see if the groan went away, and they DID add the additive? Can you have too much? Would it be better to just take it to the dealer, have them do the axles again, pay an insane amount of money, but have the peace of mind that it was done right?

Without hearing it, here's my guess,

The power steering pump will groan if you hold the steering wheel all the way against the lock too long. Power steering pumps have a pressure relief valve that opens under extreme pressure, and it will make a groaning sound when it opens. This is to keep you from blowing the hoses off, when you hold the wheel TOO tight against a turn.

Try reducing the "tightness" of your turn by not turning quite to the lock, and see if the sound goes away.

Just a guess.

Spdloader

Adding a second course of additive should be fine. Folks say some of them even need it if the fluid comes premixed like lots do.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

In article , wrote: #Hello all, # I have an '04 WJ with QuadraDrive, and when I do a tight turn, #after about 360 degrees of turning, I start to hear and feel a groan #coming from the front end. Is this normal? I took it to the stealer #yesterday, and he replaced the power steering, but it didn't make a #difference. Is this normal? I don't hear the noise if I just pull a #tight 180, it's just if I keep going and start the second complete #circle. It doesn't feel like anything is binding up (steering doesn't #wobble), but it does make a fairly disconcerting grrrrrrrrrrrrr. # # Anyone else have a similar sound when doing tight turns?

This is a common problem with Quadra-Drive systems.

When the wheels turn at different speeds in a tight turn, the system will react as if the wheels are slipping and pressure builds up against clutch plates in the diffs and t-case to put power on the wheel that is not "loosing traction." You will hear the system working and you may feel a bit of vibration as the clutchs shift power around. If that is the case then you can chalk it up to normal. If you are getting a shuddering/jerking, then you need to have the tcase and the diffs worked on or at least looked over to see if any TSBs apply to you.

DC put our several TSBs regarding swapping out the guts of the "gerotors" in the pumpkins with chrome plated versions and about making sure you have the limited slip additive in them and only putting the from-Mopar-only yellowish made just for the NV-247/249 goo in the t-case (do not use ATF of any kind--early WJs had ATF from the factory and those all had to be flushed out).

You might want to check out

They have all the TSBs as far as I know. If you are still under warranty, GET THEM ALL DONE *NOW*.... Read the TSBs and if you have any of the mentioned symptoms, take it in.

Do NOT be afraid to wave the TSBs at the dealer. Once they know that you know about the TSBs, they are less likely to try stonewalling you. If they do give you pushback, take it to another dealer who will not mind charging D-C for warranty work.

There have been many complaints that it does not work as advertised. If you want to read about them, do a Google search. The basic gist of it was that Chrysler took a performace claim from the OEM and blew it all out of proportion to reality.

The thing is really great at high speeds on roads with

2 inches of water on them--one wet freeway in WA had tire grooves full of water that I was just fine in but everyone else seemed to have issues.

At low speeds, there have been situations when the system totaly failed. Someone in Austrailia did a test where he jacked up three wheels and it failed to send power to the wheel still on the floor... I had one problem at Oceano dunes with a WJ fully loaded down with camping gear, but I attributed it to the car being full and me being lazy by no airing down before going into the more "Arrakis-like" areas.

/herb

Hey, thanks a bunch Herb! I only have ~8k left on the warranty, so I will be taking her in as soon as I can.

Andrew