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Medium-Bad VIBES at 50-55 MPH (not death wobble) - help??

NeXJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Los Angeles
I just did a recent fairly major road trip (los angeles to canada and back) and during the course of the trip started experiencing a progressively worse vibe condition when I hit around 50MPH - though it seems to max out around 52 (prolly 55MPH corrected for my 31" tires). Anyway... I'm PRETTY sure it's not the driveshaft U Joints.. as I checked the rear and it seemed very solid. The one thing that IS disconcerting is that after the proverbial tire kick test I noticed a bit of play in what I assume are my front knuckles... though it could be a tire balancing thing - as my XJ was sitting for about a year and a half and this is the first solid use it's got in some time (thinking maybe the tire rubber on the AT's re-settled somehow).

Here's my kit (adding anything relevant I can think of):
• 92 XJ with 98 HO
• flaming river steering shaft
• AGR modified steering gear & super pump
• OME heavy duty lift kit
• BFG AT KO's 31x10.5 (the right front was balanced with a suspiciously huge load on one side!)
• JKS HD tie rod
• cant' recall if the track bar is std or modified (jks etc)
• OME shocks
• standard sport package diffs (D30/D35) wth limited slip on D35
• AX-15 five speed transmission w/centerforce clutch

Well that's about all I can think of... the vibe is entirely dependent on my 'road speed' as opposed to RPM so I don't think it's engine/mount related... I'm thinking it must be something post-transmission though...

front.JPG
 
Do you feel the wobble in the seat or the steering wheel? If its in the steering wheel its coming from your front end,... from the seat and floor its probably coming from the rear. At that 50-55 mile an hours speed it sounds like DW.
 
Tires... there out of balance. Have that checked and I bet it will go a way. If you do have bad front end parts the it's made even worse. My 92 did the same thing. It would get a bad shake at about 50. Found it had a bad tie rod end so I changed that, it got better but still there. I swaped tires witht the 90 and ir drove smoth as can be. Put the tires on the 90 and the 90 would shake at 50 now. Had the tires balanced and now they all run smooth as can be.
 
Tires... there out of balance. Have that checked and I bet it will go a way. If you do have bad front end parts the it's made even worse. My 92 did the same thing. It would get a bad shake at about 50. Found it had a bad tie rod end so I changed that, it got better but still there. I swaped tires witht the 90 and ir drove smoth as can be. Put the tires on the 90 and the 90 would shake at 50 now. Had the tires balanced and now they all run smooth as can be.

X2 here...if you're wobbling at 50 and it goes away at higher speed it is most probably a tire balance issue. You could try swapping front to back and see if it improves. I had to get my tires balanced 5 times, but the wobble went away after the fifth.

Les Schwab couldn't balance them(twice), Big-O couldn't (twice), it came down to a local independent guy to get the wheels balanced the old fashioned way (once).

...and then it's just possible that you developed flat spots while sitting so your tires could be out oif round.
 
I'm voting for the tires diagnosis. Though I don't think sitting necessarily created flat spots... since it didn't start doing it until fairly far into the journey (that could also be a vote for bad rod ends etc)... but I JUST ran across a post made about a two pages earlier - exact same thing.

There was no steering wheel shimmy at the same time however... so I don't think the problem goes deep... no vibe in the seat either... it's just the front end of the xj... it does FEEL like tires actually...

The best balancing and quality of care I've had in general was in the automotive depts at a Sears... actually quite impressive.

DWAs mentioned - I DID check the rear DS and it seemed there was ZERO play (haha - impressed with myself... put in my own U-joint for the first time ever about 10 years ago... still holding strong!!)

But sounds like I should get the rod ends and steering components looked at...
 
gotta get some better backspaced wheels like AR 23s or something to clear my control arms better.. I ALWAYS get comments from ANYBODY in the area when I rub... it's ridiculous... so mebbe when i get the wheels swapped that will deal with the wobblies...
 
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