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High speed vibration problem

keyoctave

NAXJA Forum User
Location
North Carolina
Hello all.

I have a 1995 Country 4WD that has 180,000 miles. I bought it new and have taken very good care of it. It has been my daily driver for the past 14 years (yes, I love my Jeep!). It is all stock. I don't do any serious off roading but my job requires me to be at work no matter what the weather and it has gotten me to and from there on every occasion.

My problem started a few weeks ago. I began to notice a fine vibration that goes through the whole vehicle body starting around 55 mph and steadly gets worse as my speed increases. What makes this bad is my legs and lower torso start to tingle after about 10 min of driving at freeway speeds. This is keeping me from driving any longer trips at higher speeds. Thinking it was my tires, I had them rotated and balanced. This did not help. Had them re-balanced again. No change. Bought new tires (was going to before winter anyway). Still has the vibration. My rims are cast and are in good shape. I have not hit any jarring holes that I can recall.

After reading about vibration problems, I had both u-joints on my rear drive shaft replaced. Still vibrates. I took the vehicle up to 75mph, put it in neutral, took my foot off the gas. The vibration was still there and lessoned as my speed decreased.

My question is what to do next. I have read about front driveshaft problems but I thought it does not turn when in 2WD. Am I mistaken on this? Would replacing the 3 front driveshaft u-joints be the next step? Any helpful insights to this problem would be MOST appreaciated!
 
The front driveshaft does turn even in 2WD. The front wheels turn so the driveshaft turns. The disconnect is in the transfer case. You could pull the front driveshaft off and test drive it like that. Don't forget to mark the connecting flanges so you can get them back together the same. You also could try doing the opposite and rotate the rear driveshaft connection 180 degrees to see if you get lucky and show an improvement.

Mine sets up a small vibration that seems harmonic above 65, but not that bad even at 80/90. I just figured it's normal.
 
First the front drive shaft Does turn in 2wd. It is being rotated by the wheels. So if the ujoints are bad it can cause vibration.

Check all wheel and axel bearings.
Check shocks.
Check axel ujoints.
Check pinion bearings.
Check Trans mount.


Your on the right track, BUT. You might want to try to find the source before you continue to throw money and time at it. These XJ vibrate especially as they age, as you know. Finding the cause can be a PITA.

At 180K, If you plan to keep it another 14 years. I would Be throwing money at every problem I could find. Ask my wife, she says I break stuff on the Jeep, just so I can get new stuff for it.
If it is a Speed related vibration I always start at the wheels. Check, and repair if needed, all possible sources of the Vibration.
 
I would start with frt driveshaft. My xj would vibrate so much it would shake the coins out of the tray. Pulled my frt d/s and it rode smooth as silk. Let us know what happens.
 
i agree, start with the front d shaft, but just remove it and test drive, no need to spend money on it yet. if the problem goes away without the front shaft in then you know you're spending money in the right spot.
 
Thanks for the replies!

I do plan on keeping it. Can't believe I thought the front shaft didn't turn in 2WD. Learn something new all the time.

I guess the timing is right for this to happen because my wife and I made the decision to keep the Jeep it and put some money into it (I'll buy a new vehicle in a year or so and keep this as my bad weather vehicle). That means new bearings, u-joints, shocks, bushings, springs, etc. I plan to do this over the next few months. I would hope that one of these fixes will take care of my problem. I guess I'll continue on and replace the front driveshaft u-joints next and go from there. I will check the trans mounts just to make sure they are tight.
 
Just so you know (if you haven't noticed already) front driveshaft has a U-joint at one end and a double cardan CV joint at the transfer case end. Also, I'd definitely check the bearings somehow - issues like this always make me wish I had access to a dyno so I could get the whole drivetrain moving at highway speeds while observing it.
 
Hello all,
So I took your advice and removed the front drive shaft (very easy if i could do it) and boom, no more vibration! Thanks for the great advice however what does that exactly mean? do i have to buy a new one? or can i take it some where to get it "fixed" not even sure whats wrong with it. Any ideas? I still have a few months until the snow hits but I would like to take care of this ASAP. Thanks again.
 
It's been a long time since I took a double cardan CV joint apart and repaired it, maybe someone else can chime in on that, the single joint end is a fairly simple operation with some patience and a place and tools to do the job.
If you don't want to fool with it, there should be an outfit locally or within driving distance that can check the joints, the slip yoke and splined end and put it together and check straightness and balance.
It'd save you bucks to leave it out and not have to pay to have someone else take it out at shop rates.
Get an estimate before they do anything, ask for a 'worst case' job, where everything is shot.
As long as you've got it out, you can check a few things, and the first thing I'd look at is to see how much wear you've got between the slip yoke and splines. Most folks just push the grease gun on the zerks and let 'er rip, but there's a definite procedure to follow to make sure that grease flows up and into the splines, so wear is common in those parts. If those parts are worn, you're looking at having someone cut the welds, push a new spline in and reweld, straighten and balance, and a new slip yoke. Not inexpensive, and at that point, you've got to look at seeing if a new shaft isn't cheaper.
Next, if you see rust and junk around the back sides of the bearing cups in the u-joints themselves, they're likely shot. Like I said, the CV's that I've taken apart were on old Broncos and Blazers, and the most common wear in those was the bearings in the saddle stud which is a royal pain to get out and replace.
In the end, you may be money and time and effort ahead to just look for a new or excellent used piece and use the old one for trade or a tomato stake......
Driveline Service in Idaho Falls, Idaho is a franchise for manufacturing and rebuilding drivelines, and to have yours rebuilt, or see if they'd make you one up might cost $250-300. Just a WAG. There may be a franchise in your area. Another outfit to call is Six States Distributors, based in the west-northwest, but they'd be able to help over the phone or via the internet.
Name: Driveline Service
Street: 1717 Williams Road Suite B2
Monroe, nc 28110-8596
Phone: (704) 282-0304
 
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