The first thing I'd look at are the universal joints at each end of the front axle. You don't say how many miles are on it, but your Grand is old enough for them to need replacing. To remove them is fairly straight forward and not too difficult, just time consuming.
Lift and support the front end, you can put your jack stands under the axle. Remove the front tires, brake calipers and rotors. Next, you'll need to remove the large axle nut. To do this remove the cotter pin, then using a 36mm socket to remove the nut. I'm pretty sure about the socket size, but I could be wrong as it's been a couple of years since the last time I did this. If you don't have the right size socket, or the nut just won't budge, don't sweat it....you don't have to remove that nut to take it all apart. Next, you'll need a 12 point, 13mm socket to remove the three bolts holding the hub assembly in place. These bolts are on the back side of the steering nuckle. You have to have the 12 point socket as a 6 point won't work. However, if you have a 13mm closed end wrench, that will work as well, albeit slower than a ratchet. An air ratchet is really nice here. Once those three bolts are out, the hub should slide out. Don't worry if it won't, it may take a little coaxing with a mallet to free it. Some PB Blaster or other good penetrating oil will do wonders. Right now might be a good time to remove the differential cover to allow the old axle oil to drain out while the penetrating oil goes to work. Having this cover off will make reinstalling the axle shafts easier during reassembly. Whether or not you got that axle nut off will determine just how things happen next. If you got the axle nut off, then the hub assembly will slide out of the steering knuckle leaving the axle shaft in place, then you just pull the axle shaft out. If you didn't get that axle nut off, then the hub assembly and axle shaft will come out at the same time. The universal joint that you see approximately 4-6 inches from the hub assembly is what needs to be replaced. Unless you have a bench press, I'd take it to a local garage where they can replace the joint for just a few dollars plus the cost of the U-joint. Reassembly is the reverse of removal. You may have to rotate each axle shaft as you install them to make sure they engage the splines in the spider gears inside the differential. Don't worry, if you don't get them lined up, the axles won't slide all the way in. Once everything is back together, replace the differential cover and refill with gear oil.
I have a 1995 jeep grand cherokee laredo that has a 249 new process transfer case and I just talked to my local jeep dealerships mechanic about this and he said it sounds like the viscous coupler isn't working properly. Very expensive to fix (1500 for just the part) but he had another solution to try. Open your fill hole on the transfer case and see what color the fluid is, if it's red it's automatic transmission fluid and that's the wrong stuff!!! If it's clear then it's probably lost it's lubricating properties.What you need to do is find out what model your transfer case is and go to your jeep dealer and buy some transfer case fluid your that model, 3 or 4 quarts. I think the fluid level is 1.2 quarts or just fill till it spews out the top fill hole. Change the fluid (which is clear) a few times and see if that corrects your problem. Very common problem in 4wd vehicles. If it doesn't fix the problem then I suggest making wider turns if you want to keep the jeep.
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