I'm the new owner of a 2000 wrangler tj sport edition. She's got a 5-speed manual transmission, and she's got about 63,000 on her. I found her totally stock besides the sound system because I wanted to build her up myself. I live in Cleveland, OH and it snows a lot here, so I use the four wheel drive quite often, either for snow fun or for driving down roads that haven't been plowed yet. But lately in 4WD High when I make a tight turn, it's been kinda jerky. The steering wheel will actually jerk me back towards the center, then bounce back, then do it again. I've heard this happening when a locker is installed? I want someone who has one in their Wrangler to let me know if that's what it is, so I don't have to take apart my differential to find out. Or, if it's not that, what else might be causing this? I'm looking for some new build-ups for it, but I wanna take care of all the smaller problems first. If someone could help me out, that'd be great.

it's a 'part time' system, so make sure you're on a loose surface when in 4wd for extended periods.  hardpacked road, wet pavement or dry pavement will result in this sensation (especially low speed tight turns).  even with open differentials ... the jeep needs to have slippage.  otherwise you're putting unneccessary load on your drivetrain.

you would know by now if a locker was installed in the front.  very ufriendly to everyday driving.  i don't have one, but i've heard that it is very limiting to your ability to steer.

         Why and how many tight turns are you making in 4high? You're binding the drive line, more so on sharp 4high turns, you broke something. Could be a U joint in the axle, or drive shaft. You may have taken a tooth off one of the spider gears in the diff !!!!, or messed up your T-case chain. I would lean to the broken gear from the way you make it sound. When you strip those teeth, the diff will jam or lock when the missing teeth, or the loose chunk of tooth floating around in there comes around in the rotation in a turn. When it jams in a turn, it jerks the wheel out of your hands because it locks the diff. I would pull the cover and check the gears. Then look to  see how many U joints you have about to fail from the binding. Sorry I don't have better news. If it is the diff, you better get to it ASAP!! Seen this over and over again. 4WD is not AWD.  

um, mine does this and there is nothing broken.  i think it premature to say that.  it's just feedback from the drivetrain working against itself, i think.

pete

One thing Iv'e noticed is you also might have a u joint in the front axle starting to rust solid The ones on the shaft tho the stub shaft at the wheel . hope this might be helpful.  

My Cherokee does something very similar.  On mine however its cause by the holdy pin that passes through the spider gears only be half there.  Took me forever to figure out what it was because I didn't even think about it since I got it from a dealer (that'll teach me) basiclly with only half the pin there when the carrier spins the pin wobbles and sends feed back.  (Also egg shapes the hole) So I would atleast pop the cover off and take a poke around.  

Drain the diff oil (if there's any in there). If there's anything broken there's a good chance you'll see metal powder which probably preceeded the break. Or a tooth. Giving the amount of 4 wheeling you sound like you're doing on hard surfaces, probably needs it regardless. You might also find the banana skins in there the last owner stuffed it with to hide the noise of the buggered diff. Also look at the u-joint on the side that it happens on; if it can't send the power to the wheel, it'll send it right back at you. Unless it happens on both, when don't bother looking at either. You probably haven't had the jeep long enought to pick up the early stage of binding, just when it's really saying stop. If it is binding, reverse back a bit. As was said earlier, unless your front wheels can slip through turns, don't use 4WD for more than the shortest period.  

Since my Jeep just hit around 60 grand, I figured I might as well take it all apart to do all the front and rear differential preventative maintanance that I had to. Nothing is broken, and I did learn my lesson on hard surface offroading. I guess some of those parking lots covered in two feet of snow was just too tempting for me! But thank all you guys for all your concern. Especially surprising to me was that my U-joints are still in amazing condition. Whoever had this Wrangler before me either replaced them before they sold it to the dealer or they just never took it offroading at all. And given it's completely stock condition, I'd say it's the latter. Anyhow, thanks for all your time and help.

I do have another question, while I'm at it. I do have a skip plate below my manual transmission which prevented me, at least for the time being, to be able to check the fluid and make sure everything's working fine, simply because I didn't have the time to rip into it. Has anyone had any problems with their 5-speed manual connected to an I-6?

Thank you guys so much for all your reponse and input. I'll definitely come to these forums next time I've got a concern or need help.

at about 150,000 kms (100,000 miles?) my 5th gear syncro's welded themselves together.  most expensive repair i've had so far.  my wife won't let me take it to a shop anymore.  if i can't fix it, i can't keep it.

be careful if you're messing with that skid plate.  it is the support for the transmission and transfercase.

other than the 1 failure, and being very stiff in the cold weather ... mine has been fine.  clutch has also been up for the long haul.  

Pete ('97 TJ)

If I'm not mistaken your tranny is a borg warner, suposed to be real strong for that engine, normaly used behind V8s.
my aisin, also supose to be bullet proof got replaced once after I broke off some teeth in reverse because of too much stress that day.