jeepgirl22

So I am just curious if anyone has experienced anything like this. Last summer my Jeep Wrangler got hit while parked on a busy road.. the kid who hit it ended up breaking my whole back axel. They replaced the axel and housing and replaced ONE tire (the one that got hit) Now all winter I had a heck of a time with my 4x4.. it was difficult at times to shift into 4x4 and especially difficult to shift out. I took my Wrangler down to the Dodge dealership here and they told me that sometimes when your shifting on the fly and your tires are slipping it would be difficult to shift. So I left it that. Now about a month ago I took my Jeep in for 4x4 servicing to a different garage and told them the same thing.. what it was doing still to this day (difficult to shift) they went up into the transfer case with a camera and said there was nothing wrong. They did mention that my transfer case oil was really black (hence why I was there to get it serviced)

They then tell me that the reason why my 4x4 is shifting hard or not at all at times, is because of I have a 1nch tread difference between 1 tire and the other 3. When that kid hit my jeep n they replaced that tire.. there was 55,000k on those tires so basically over 1/2 worn on the tread. So I phoned up insurance and explained this to them as the garage told me that because its a 4x4 all 4 tires should have been changed on the jeep as it does alot of wear n tear on the driveshaft hence why my transfercase oil was so black.

Insurance is basically coming to me and saying no.. we only replace 1. How is this possible when you get into an accident are they not suppose to fix your vehicle back to standard? Having a 1inch tread difference in tires is not standard correct? Can someone share some light on this and maybe give me something to work with from a mechanical stand point.. I am taking this to someone higher with MPI cuz this is BS

nicker22

wow that kid must have hit you hard! This is somthing I always worry about too. I mean you get hit that hard you can see the visuals but what bout the stuff you can't see? Is everything still perfectly aligned or is somthing off a little?

I can't fully understand that tire wear would make a differnt like that. I mean tires do wear unevenly heance the reason you rotate. seems odd but Im curious if this is true of if its bull **** too.

jlau76

1 inch difference? That's a lot! Are the other three tires like slicks now?

Islander

having a 1" tread difference could only mean you have a different sized tire on. even if your old tires were at 50% and they replaced that 1 tire with the same size, the different would be minimal and shouldn't make a difference in your t-case. And oil should NOT be black in your t-case as it is a closed system. oil turns black because of the introduction of carbon from combustion

jeepgirl22

No they are about 65% worn. But I mean visually you can see the difference between the tread with the one they replaced compared to the other ones. I am going today to have MPI look at the tires.. we will see what happens. :S