Oh dear , everytime I go away!

while in France my phone rang ....never a good thing and in general means one thing , this wasn't any different
Daughter ." Selected 4wd to go down the track , but now the lever is sloppy and there's a metal squealing sound, so I've parked it up and using the spare jimny" ( advanced planning)   "Any ideas ? " 

To be fair only by reading these pages had I an inkling...." Transfer box mounts I said with assured confidence (  blagging)"
Got home today 30 seconds to diagnose I was correct.     

Question ...is the transfer box goosed , along with prop shaft or can it be just a case of new mounts and a sleeve/ cover?

As you need new mounts that's the place to start. Throw some new on and see if you have any other issues, no point making work (and cost) for yourself. Hopefully that's all you need.

As an aside anyone know why they break? Are they susceptible to damage or just weak and fail in general use?

Only interested as I tow a lot so put a lot of strain on the transmission. 

I guess that's a good reason to fit a guard then, not just to protect those electrical cables. It looks like an old fracture in the photo to me, upper right appears to have the same colour as the outer casting, rather than a new break. Could be just a trick of the light in the photo.
 

From memory the SJ gen.2 used a pressed steel plate. Would that style of mounting fit the gen 3/4?

Roger

It seems it must have been broken for a while ..but to be honest the design is flawed , the end of the bracket where the bush is bolted to must be remarkably thin to has disappeared to this extent.

The replacement heavy duty brackets haven't arrived so at the moment a couple of 1 ton L/R  jacks are holding the transfer box in place .
 The bushes turned up next day ..cheers zookbob.

Why I think they break is that corrosion forms between the steel flange on the mounting rubber and the alloy mount and keeps growing, as aluminium oxide has a greater volume than plain aluminium. The strain this causes cracks the alloy, then the whole thing snaps when it gets off road shocks.

Rather like how water freezing in a crack shatters rocks.

On my gen 3 it was so bad that the steel flanges were bent.

I made a comment on the 9th Oct. about the steel bracket from a Gen.2.

So far no comment !!!

Roger

I can see corrosion being the issue, steel on monkey metal is never a good combination. Same thing happens to washing machine spiders (Google it), they fail in exactly the same way if you keep it long enough. That said it's a fairly cheap part even from Suzuki at £52 quid, surprised at that.

It's potentially cheaper than changing the spark plugs, so consider it a consumable part and just be amazed it's lasted that long. 
 

Scimike, I have to agree the price of the OEM replacement was / is reasonable / cheapish  and yes corrosion is to blame here ...but in honesty  the car is 16 years old and that's 16 winters 
 The replacement brackets are here now and at £70 for both sides reasonable . 

 

Today the job got finished ......a drive round the block reveals no squeals or untoward rattles , shakes , etc. Only after a few days use will it prove no leaks , but s'opeful.

I learnt a bit , doing it on the pavement outside the house in between commitments.
Take the props off first , it looks like it will just lift up back into place after fitting he brackets ....but if you drop it down while under it , you get a black eye ....muppet'

The blue jimny has been done  previously, the silver one is still original and will be checked soon , as will the red one when it comes up here next .
I will fit OEM next time as the L shape smaller bracket was in fine order and if the original lasted over 16 years , it should be adequate, easier to fit and maybe on the whole cheaper .