Where is this movement coming from?

Josh H.

Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2018
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34
Location
SE Ohio
So I’ve got a serious vibe issue at about 35 mph coming from somewhere. Today I pulled the front tires and am going to take them and have them balanced. I was checking things out making sure everything was tight and got to the passenger side hub. I’m getting a lot of movement from my rotor. I’m thinking maybe u joint but I’m unsure. I’ll post a video for reference and any help is appreciated.

 
Having the tire on (and tightened) will give you more leverage to see if there's any play. Without the set screw or lug nuts holding that rotor on, there's nothing to stop it from moving. Well rust can stop it, which is probably what's happening with the drivers side (or the set screw is there). I bet if you give the drivers side rotor a whack with a dead blow hammer it'll loosen up.
 
Thanks for the help guys. I’ll check for the set screw tomorrow and see if it’s missing.


Having the tire on (and tightened) will give you more leverage to see if there's any play. Without the set screw or lug nuts holding that rotor on, there's nothing to stop it from moving. Well rust can stop it, which is probably what's happening with the drivers side (or the set screw is there). I bet if you give the drivers side rotor a whack with a dead blow hammer it'll loosen up.

I checked both sides with the tires still on and the lug nuts were still torqued and didn’t have any play that I could tell. I’ll check the set screw tomorrow now that I know there’s supposed to be one.
 
The drivers side is rock solid. So maybe that’s where I need to look?
Like DM said, the drivers side is rusted on. Whack it with a hammer and it will come loose and wiggle too. Take the two bolts out holding the caliper to the hub and you will ee the rotor comes right off.

Watch this guy, he's really great. No fancy shop or super expensive crap. Just a regular redneck in his driveway wrenching on jeeps. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...C5885AD0133FF13BD418C5885AD0133FF13&FORM=VIRE
 
You could have lost a wheel weight...you can always put your back tires on the front and front tires on the back and see if that changes anything.

If it isn't a tire what you want to do is pull the front drive shaft and see what happens.


it can be a tire it can be a warped rotor it can be a hub unit bearing it can be an axle joint he can be a u joint it can be the joint in the double cardan, the front shaft can be out of balance... But I guarantee you it isn't all of those things so just start eliminating things and don't throw parts at it.

There can even be freaky things that Mr Blaine can educate you on but eliminate all the obvious , usual suspects first.

All we ask is that you keep us posted because when you learn.. we all learn.
 
It is missing on that side, the other side and every side of any TJ Unitbearing since they do not have set screws that hold the rotor onto the hub.

It's been so long, but thanks for confirming this. I thought I remembered set screws, but clearly I was wrong.
 
Great , now we all have to tool up and get set screws in our unit bearing , it's an administrative order now .

Tap and die sets are available at the forum online store.
 
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It's been so long, but thanks for confirming this. I thought I remembered set screws, but clearly I was wrong.
Lots of rotors have them, just not on the TJ, or any Jeep model I'm familiar with. There is however, probably some obscure model that they made 4 of that our buddy in Utah knows about which he will use as an opportunity to slap my ignorance around with. Him or BB.
 
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Great , now we all have to tool up and get set screws in our unit bearing , it's an administrative order now .

Tap and die sets are available at the forum online store.
No need, just drive around in the salt belt for a season or two and they are now one with the unit bearing.
 
It's just a flat head screw on a Honda. Seriously, setscrew?

On our Odyssey they are phillips head screws, and they are aluminum. Even with no rust, they are stuck in place, and any amount of force whatsoever with the screwdriver and they strip right out (being aluminum and all). It's always a pain in the butt, every single time.
 
Lots of rotors have them, just not on the TJ, or any Jeep model I'm familiar with. There is however, probably some obscure model that they made 4 of that our buddy in Utah knows about which he will use as an opportunity to slap my ignorance around with. Him or BB.

while not really jeep models, any “fiat” Jeep(cherokee or Renegade) use lug bolts like euro cars. These have set screws on the rotor.
 
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On our Odyssey they are phillips head screws, and they are aluminum. Even with no rust, they are stuck in place, and any amount of force whatsoever with the screwdriver and they strip right out (being aluminum and all). It's always a pain in the butt, every single time.

Using a screwdriver to take those out will have that effect
 
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