HELP!!! Rumble and slight vibration at low speeds.

Primarily using phone for accessing site and Search tool not working on my Naxja mobile version.

2001 XJ 6.5 IRO long arm.

I've noticed over the past month that when coming to a stop or when driving slow through parking lot I start to hear a rumbling and feel some vibration. It comes and goes depending on the speed. Then I started hearing something vibrating underneath like the vibration is rattling it. I checked everything by hand and my best guess is the metal plate behind the brakes? Not sure the official name but it's the thin plate you see when looking towards the hub/brakes if you're under the Jeep. I can't find anything else that would make that noise?

I do feel a vibration but it's not like an alignment or death wobble. The steering wheel isn't shaking left and right but I can feel the vibration radiating to the inside of the dash and steering wheel. I now have dash panels and other parts vibrating inside when it starts. I only feel this at slow or stopping speeds BUT at regular highway speeds I do sometimes hear and feel a slight roar that comes and goes. It sounds like it's maybe my front axle, wheel bearing, or maybe front shaft. No idea but it seems up front for sure.

All axles and case fluids were greased and fluids changed about 5 months ago and I had them rechecked about 3 weeks ago trying to diagnose the issue.

I tried steering left and right to see if it changes but haven't heard a change. I also shifted to neutral when stopping to see if that made a change. It didn't. I've tried speeding up or slowing down harder when it starts but no immediate change.

I was hearing a noise that seemed to be coming from my front right tire a while back. I have 35 in BFG Mud Terrains which aren't very loud but that one tire sounded like it had a nail or something in it because it was much louder and it had a pronounced "wah wah wah" sound as it rolled down the highway? I thought I had a bump or something on the tire but can't find anything. Could this be the bearing and not the tire I'm hearing? Still not noticing any change when steering?

I'm hoping I've given enough info for someone to help.

I doubt it is the same issue as I had but, when my front BFG Mud Terrain tires started wearing badly I started to get vibrations and rumbling at slow speeds. How are your tires wearing? Mine were no longer smooth and had definite high ridges you could see and feel. Have you tried to rotate the tires? It helped me for a while. Did not solve it, but it helped a little. I had to swap out the tires to fix it. Now no problem with my BFG AT tires.

When I say rotate the tires I mean: I swapped the tires front to rear. It helped until the tires started wearing on the front again. I changed to BFG AT tires and have been very happy with them. No reoccurrence of the problem.

At this point, I'll try anything. I would believe the wah wah wah sound on the highway could be related to the tire itself for sure but this vibration truly seems to be something else. Ive had cars with wheel bearings go out so I'm pretty familiar with that and it almost sounds like that except it doesn't change when I steer and it hasn't done any squeeling yet. I've never had a front axle in my Jeeps or a front shaft go bad so I'm not sure what that sounds like but this sounds like it's up there somewhere. I wouldn't call it a grinding but it just it sounds like metal on metal or metal on rock or something. I didn't hear of any metal when fluids changed?

Rotate tires and check front drive shaft. Pull it all the way out and check for loose/binding joints.

I had a similar noise it was my front diff


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I found an open are last night to steer left and right and it appears (or maybe I'm just hoping really bad to find the problem and I'm imagining this) that when turning to the right, the noise doesn't happen but turning left it's there and even worse? I have to be at just the right speed to hear it, however I do feel a vibration (not death wobble and steering wheel is perfectly smooth) that comes and goes every 10-15 seconds. It's not an alignment issue and by "vibration" I mean just that. Its not a shaking of the vehicle or the steering wheel. It's reminds me of a wheel bearing and makes me think it could be in the front axle/diff/shafts but not sure. I want to say wheel bearing because it rattles something on the right side but I would have expected more rumale that just at a certain speed??? With 35in tires, I had wondered if that hadn't lead to the bearing wearing out after 15yrs of service?

Hopefully I'll be able to get it raised and check things again this week and update my post.

I recently had a bad ujoint in my front axle shaft that created a low speed shake of the steering wheel that was worse when turning to one side. I didn't notice it at higher speeds since you don't turn as sharp. It's not too hard to pull the unit bearing and shafts to check the joints.

I also have had several sets of mud tires create a low speed vibration just before coming to a stop due to wear.

Id bet you either have a bad tire or a bad wheel bearing on the right front