What could cause a clunking in the drive line of the transfer case when making sharp turns in 94 jeep grand Cherokee?

Answer 1

Possibly bad universal joints.

AnswerIf your sure its is the t-case and its a quadra trac it could be your viscous coupler. The 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 can't 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. It is very common for this coupler to go bad. To replace it 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 you don't have quadra-trac and its making this noise in 2 wheel drive than it shouldn't be the t-case. In two wheel drive the t-case doesnt care that the front wheels are spinning at different speeds than the rear. They should be totally disconnected from each other.

Otherwise there are a few other things on the axle to check that can make turning noises. 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 wheel 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. If its a ball joint (the two big greasable joints on the top and bottom of the outer axle) bring it to a shop. In 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 or somebody inside going from drive to reverse but make sure its not somebody that will run you over!). There is a little movement from the differential in the axle but there shouldn't be any in the axle joints.