it had been doctered some bright spark had removed the crown wheel(why would you do that, its loads of work), therfore there was nothing for the pinion to drive, fitted another axle , and hey presto it worked fine, no noises from transfer box . all working well, guy comes up to me on beach and says i like that jeep and would i like to sell it. he makes me a offer and gives me twice what i paid for it, as i knew of another couple of 4wd vehicles for sale, i sell it. was going to get another isuzu trooper, but no , ive been bitten by the jeep bug, and bought another xj to play with