Locks Up In 4wd

First things first, I love this forum. It's my first time posting but i have been lurking for the past few months and have learned countless things from you folks... and I never grow tired of the photo thread.

I'm new to the world of Willys but I love wrenching and have always wanted an old Jeep so I picked up a 1960 CJ5 ("Billy" when it's on the road, "William" when it's in the garage). Origional driveline; F134, T90, D18. Had some bad noises comming from the trans so I pulled it and the transfer case and rebuilt both. After the rebuild, I bolted the halves togeather on the work bench and shifted through all the gears and evrything worked great. Get the trans/t-case back in the vehicle and it locks up in 4wd. 2wd H/L (I removed the pill) work great, slide it in to 4wd and it feels like two gears are engaged.

Any thoughts? Hoping that I overlooked somthing simple but cant figure it out; all help appreaciated.

 

Are you on a hard surface with the hubs locked in? If so this is a major no-no. You get something called "driveline bind" or "driveline windup" which because of no slippage and the difference in speed between the front and rear wheels you get binding in the drivetrain. No way with an 18 transfer case you can get the front in low and the rear in high or vice/verse as one lever controls only engaging the front and the other controls low/neutral/high.

 

Identical ratios front and back, right?

 

MY first thought is axle ratio matching
after that give us more info on the bind, Is it immediate? when you try to turn? does it do it on dirt?

 

Check your axles...mine had 4-11 gears in front and 5-38 in rear. The front tires spun and the rear dragged.

 

Was it locking up like this prior to you pulling and rebuilding your tcase? Or did the problem just start after putting it back in?

 

History history history. Tis very necessary.

 

As stated above check the axle ratios. I started out with a simple brake upgrade and ended up replacing the axles. Had a AMC 20 rear with 3:54 and D27 front with 3:73 that was shelled out big time. Now I have a centered D44 rear and a newer D27 front with matching 3:73 ratios. This was a major delay of game while I rounded up replacement parts that where within my budget. Now I've started getting back to the brake issue that I started on.

Previous owner commented about binding up in the transfer case. Now I know why.

 

I did not have this problem prior to the rebuild and when I have tried 4wd following the rebuild the hubs have been unlocked. Thinking of pulling the front cap off tonight; perhaps there is a problem with the shift fork.... kind of grasping at straws.

 

The original owner of my Jeep told me it was mis-built at the factory with 4.88's in one axle and 3.73's in the other. He said the 1st time he took it off road he went about 50 feet & it bound up tight & stopped. He had it towed back to the dealer where they replaced 1 axle.

Sorry for the hijack-now back to your regularly scheduled thread...