well boys I really did it today. I went from 4 wheel part time to 2 wheel rear drive at about 15 mph going forward. I have an automatic transmission. Reverse is now a dead gear and I was unwilling to go over 25 in forward. I get noises that weren't there before when shifting and a quiet clacking from the front wheels while moving forward. this clacking gets louder when I turn. I took the brakes and rotor off and turned the wheel hub and everything with the CV joint seemed nominal. How screwed is my drivetrain? Does my 06 Jeep Liberty with the V6 have the 42RLE or 45RFE transmission? What will I definitely need to replace? What in gods name is that Clacking? Any answers to any of those questions are appreciated. Sometimes simple lessons get learned the hard way.

Sounds like the electric shift motor didn't get you fully engaged into 2wd/out of 4wd. i would shift back into 4wd and drive a bit on a soft surface and then at a slow roll, with the trans in neutral, shift back into 2wd.

I started her up this morning and reverse was working. I still followed your advice and all the gears seem to be working just fine. The clacking was still there at the beginning of the test drive but went away pretty quickly. If any more problems show up I'll post an update on this thread. This jeep is my daily driver and I do pizza delivery so If there are any problems still there I'll notice them pretty quick.

glad it is working for you. yeah, sounds like the shift motor may be a little weak and not getting you fully back into 2wd after being in 4wd.

If the OP's username is what he has a KJ Liberty it is the 1st gen with manual shift transfer case, so what shift motor would you be talking about, thought all the 1st gen Libertys had the manual transfer cases?