Hi everyone, I'm new to jeeps and the forum so forgive me if this is in the wrong place. But the problem is that I just bought a 2012 liberty (my first jeep product) and I'm having some front dive line issues. It snowed here this morning and when the rear end slips it sounds like the 4x4 is trying to engage. The problem is that it makes a horrible grinding noise since something isn't meshing apparently. Now up to this point I haven't had any indication of a problem. The roads have been dry and the rear tires don't slip of course. I havent had to use the 4x4 either since I've only had it less than a month.
My question is, is there some programming in these jeeps where if the rear end slips it tries to catch itself by engaging 4x4? It will shift into both high and low 4x4 just fine without noise and it will drive in high range completely normal.
A little background, an old lady owned this liberty, it has 34,000 miles and it sat in a garage always and wasn't driven since roughly January of 2018 until I got it. Now it did sit for that year in 4x4, the last time it was driven was in the winter and it was pulled into the garage and parked while still in 4x4 high, I wouldn't think that should make a difference, but just in case something stuck after being stationary for that long.

Thanks for the help.

Hello and welcome! The noise you describe is normal and it’s a feature, not a bug. You’re hearing the antilock brakes engage to stop a spinning wheel and transfer torque to the other side where there is traction. This will happen if you spin the wheels in 2WD or 4WD. It’s called brake lock differential (BLD) and is a way of making an open differential into a limited slip using the antilock brakes. It works well (even with a tire completely off the ground) but can be annoyingly loud! Lol.

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2008 Liberty Sport 4x4 Automatic

Jeepin By Al 4" Lift Kit
BFG KO2’s 245/75R16
Full MOPAR skid plates
Rock Lizard Skink Super Sliders
AtTheHelm Front Recovery System & Roof Rack
M116A3 Trailer build thread: viewtopic.php?f=72&t=77997

Well if that's what it is it surprised me. My truck doesn't have anything like that of course, so it's my first experience with a system like that. So the BLD stays on even with the traction control off is my understanding, correct?