my sweet jeepy XJ scared me

[Nice Little Jeepy]

2001 cherokee with 223k on the meter almost gave me a heart attack. When disengaging from 4wd on the fly, after about 20 seconds, a loud pop or thump almost like running over something. Last winter i remember it happenend toward the end of our wimpy winter. This year we might get some snow here in Western NY Any ideas, hints or tips as to wtf could cause this ?:???:

 

[desertrunner]

It sounds like the 4wd just took a while to be disengaged. If you disengage it while driving sometimes there will be too much pressure for it to realease. When it does it will pop out of gear kinda hard. Nothing to worry about but you should always try to be in neutral when shifting out of 4wd

 

[eric m]

Try changing the t-case fluid. On my higher milage grand cherokee i had the same issue, i changed the fluid and had no more trouble with it disengaging. Also backing up after shifting back to 2wd will help till you change fluid.

 

[thedevil1236]

did it shift it back into neutral or were you still in gear. if you were still in gear, it is probably your transmission. check and see if you are in overdrive and its trying to come out of it without you pressing down on the accelerator, essentially forcing it to a lower gear. if this is the case, then you are in the same boat as me. while i dont have an answer, set aside some money for a new transmission!! ive been wheeling with a guy who had the same thing happen for a while and his transmission blew on the highway one day. nothing major...just went into neutral permanently!!