Got this 06 Rubicon for the father in law last week. Drove it around a bit before purchasing, and it drove great. Had an error code 5 on the shifting that was irritating but the wheeler was cheap, so I told him to get it.
Got it home, reinitialized the computer, and the error code hasn’t come back up. Sammich maker and I took it for a ride on the farm and I noticed the front end was noisy when I put it in 4wd.
Jacked up the front end and figured out it was in the diff, so pulled it out last night. Axles were STUCK. Had to pull the diff with axles still in it, and after hammering and prying for an hour I finally unbolted the diff halves and basically hammered it apart (at that point I knew the diff wasn’t going to be good without major work, and I had an extra, so I said F it).
When I pulled the pinion and acuator, ball bearings fell out everywhere. Inner race stayed on the pinion, outer race in the clutch housing.
Ring gear bearings feel like they’re full of sand, and have a ton of play in them.
Luckily the extra diff I had is in great shape. Cleaned up axle splines and will hopefully get the new diff in tonight.
