What causes a front wheel to chatter in a slow tight turn on a 95 grand Cherokee with a quadratrac transfer case?

Answer 1

There is a part in the quadra trac transfer case called a viscous(spelling may be off) coupler that when working properly allows the front and rear wheels to spin at different speeds such as in hard turns. When this goes bad the wheels cant disengage so a tire has to kind of jerk and "hop" to keep up or slow down for the wheel moving at a different speed. To replace this coupler the transfer case has to be taken almost all the way apart (best done out of the vehicle) and a new coupler installed. The other option is to find a whole new transfer case. Either way, even doing it yourself isn't real cheap and i think a shop would charge quite a bit. There are other transfer cases that don't have this but unless you really really know what your doing i would not recommend a different model case.

If it is actually "chattering" like you say it may not be the transfer case. I'd check wheel bearings, ball joints, and the CV or U joints (whichever yours has) on the axle shafts (not the drive shaft). To check the bearings and ball joints jack up the on the axle and try and move the tire back and forth in the opposite directions that the wheel turns...so push in on the top and pull out on the bottom and back and forth. There should be absolutely no play here...even a little "chunk - chunk" back and form means something is worn out and needs to be replaced. In CV and U joints you should be able to see the play in them if you try and rotate the tire back and forth (again with the wheel off the ground). There is a little movement from the differential in the axle but there shouldn't be any in the axle joints. Hope this helps.