82 CJ7 4 wheel drive not engaging

[kingfish]

New to this Forum, and jeeps for that matter. I bought a 82 CJ7 for a grand and I am having a problem with getting it into 4 wheel drive. It runs great, and I have never tried to use 4x4 in the past 4 months i have owned it because its been very dry in texas this year. Today it was raining, and I had the urge to get muddy. I got myself in a good hole and was doing fine, until the mud packed in my tires and I had no traction. I locked the hubs, put it in nuetral, and shifted the Transfer Case to 4L. My buddy was out watching and said my front tires were not moving what so ever. I put it in reverse and my Transmission made a whinning noise and my clutch bell crank popped out of place. I had to get under and unbolt the bracket and mount it back into place. The bushings looked fine, so I dont understand why this happend. So my problem in a nut shell is, 4x4 not engaging, and bell crank popping out... Any ideas?

 

[Saddle Tramp]

Welcome. Your problems could be anything from not much to big issues. As far as the easy maybe you didn’t have the Transfer Case or hubs properly engaged or perhaps the Transfer Case linkage needs to be cleaned of mud. As this jeep is new to you is the front axle in place? Sometimes these things are missing as who knows what the PO did. At worst the Transfer Case may need to be rebuilt or more hard to tell right now. As far as the bell crank maybe the problem comes from over flexing of the frame in the mud pit you found yourself in. I would start with the easy stuff piece by piece. If you come up with nothing then it might be necessary to start pulling parts.

 

[JR74CJ5]

I would place on jack stands at the house, and engage the hubs and 4 wheel drive. For the heck of it, try both 4L and H.

See if the driveline turns. If it does, and it's turning the front driveline, but tires are not moving, probably either the Ring and pinon or the hubs.

if the driveline is NOT turning, then it is most likely in the T Case. Could be a loose shift rail or gears busted. BUT I would assume if the T case OR the Ring and pinon is the issue, you would hear grinding / chattering.

I think it is the Lock out Hubs.

Take apart and inspect for broken, or not installed correctly pieces. We just noticed my uncles was not engaging, but the driveshaft WAS turning. Turned out the locking hubs were not re-installed properly last time we had them apart.

I don't know the T Case type, or the particulars of your drivetrain etc. This is just a broad general assumption.



~ JR

 

[BajaEdition]

first,welcome to the forum, hey why don't you go to the intro area and say hello to everyone. We are a friendly group here and love to greet people to our forum
second, thanks for filling out what you know about the jeep in your profile, that helps a lot

ok now, as said pop that thing up on 4 jackstands, 2under each axle and clean out the under side, when you are there look around to see if anything is wrong,

I think we have a T case problem here, but I could be wrong. once it is clean, with the truck not started, have someone sit in the drivers seat and work the Transmission linkage and the clutch, watch everything to see if it is working fine and not binding, this is a first step to see if we had a problem there with that. Does it want to shift in gear?
ok, put everything back into 2wd and neutral, get out from under the truck and have them start it. do not engage the front hubs yet, have them put it into 4x4 high and shift into first letting out the clutch.
so does both drive shafts turn now, or has it popped the clutch linkage?
if the clutch linkage popped again has the truck stalled? Or are both drive shafts turning?
If truck stalled, disconect the front driveshaft from the T case and repeat, if it does not work, then it is T case problems, now works then you have axle problems.
report back and we will go from there.
next have them pull on the t case and watch what happens

 

[Torxhead]

I have seen those bellcranks pop out before, because of the engine rotating due to worn out engine mounts. There is also a nylon cup in there that could probably need replacing, I made some from the tops of those propane gas cannisters for camping stoves once on a trail fix. The bellcrank should be perpendicular to the frame in its proper position. If it is not perpendicular, it can overstress and break the mount on the frame side that the bellcrank rotates on. You can test the motor mounts also just by revving the engine while it is in neutral and watching it torque over. It rotates even more when in low range.