I have a '99 Grand Cherokee with Select-Trac with a Vari-lock front axle. On my shift console I have 2wd, 4wd part time, 4wd full time, N and 4wd low. The previous owner I bought it from had the front end replaced because he quote "burned it up". He really couldn't expand on it much more than that other to say it started making a lot of noise and he had a local shop replace the entire front end. Since then he noticed the click and though it was tie rod ends.
I too noticed the clicking when I bought it. Used it as a negotiating point. It only occurs on sharp right hand turns, not on left turns at all. I have noticed the steering feels like its in 4wd despite the shift selector being in 2wd. This sounds exactly like a bad cv joint, so I replaced both sides last week. Confident this was the fix, a test drive revealed the clicking still exists with the new joints.
I noticed when doing this work that when the front end is in the air, trans in park, t-case in 2wd, turning the passenger side wheel turns the front driveshaft. Turning the driver's side wheel does nothing. In 4wd part time, and park, spinning one wheel causes the other to spin the opposite direction. The driveshaft does not turn. However, after about 3/4 of a revolution of either tire, there is a small click and then the tire becomes increasingly more difficult to turn into it almost lock ups. This is what I would interpret a Vari-lock axle to do simply by virtue of its name.
Tried the same test in 2wd and park with the steering to the right trying to see if I could get it to click like what I'm hearing on turns. No luck.
Not knowing if the previous owners shop put the correct friction modified in the axle, I was going to add a tube and see what happens. Are there other things I should start looking into?
