Persistent speed sensitive vibration 40-55 mph

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huffdev

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Nov 27, 2023
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Hello all!

I've had my TJ for about a year now, it is a 2004 wrangler X and its been quite the adventure. For the entire year i've had speed sensitive vibrations that I have tried to get rid of.

The past year I have removed the front driveshaft due to damage on the body and replaced the rear driveshaft with a Tom Woods shaft. I had a old set of 31" MT's that I had balanced 3 times with multiple shops, this only caused the vibration to change in speed and intensity. I felt defeated and purchased brand new K02's, the vibration was much less but still persisted in the 45-55 mph range. When I let off the gas pedal the front end vibrates a little more violently and the steering wheel will shake a little bit but the steering wheel shake stops below 50mph. After I had put in the Tom Woods driveshaft the steering wheel shake mostly stopped but now I feel a "choppy" vibration in the gas pedal, seat, front dash when going between 40-55mph. Below or faster the jeep is mostly smooth.. not completely but not shaking. I will add at the tire shop that put on my new tires said my wheel were really hard to balance, they have massive amounts of weights on them (almost like a whole sheet on each tire)

I have no lift on my jeep just 31" tires on 15" wheels, everything else is stock, and I still have no front driveshaft due to cost.

I am kind of thinking this could be a slightly bent wheel or axel issue. What do you all think?
 
Stock steel wheels? Could be a bent one. If you have jackstands, you can run the Jeep on them, and look at the wheels for wobbles… (need to mention to be extremely careful with stability and stand placement…)
 
huffdev said:
Hello all!

I've had my TJ for about a year now, it is a 2004 wrangler X and its been quite the adventure. For the entire year i've had speed sensitive vibrations that I have tried to get rid of.

The past year I have removed the front driveshaft due to damage on the body and replaced the rear driveshaft with a Tom Woods shaft. I had a old set of 31" MT's that I had balanced 3 times with multiple shops, this only caused the vibration to change in speed and intensity. I felt defeated and purchased brand new K02's, the vibration was much less but still persisted in the 45-55 mph range. When I let off the gas pedal the front end vibrates a little more violently and the steering wheel will shake a little bit but the steering wheel shake stops below 50mph. After I had put in the Tom Woods driveshaft the steering wheel shake mostly stopped but now I feel a "choppy" vibration in the gas pedal, seat, front dash when going between 40-55mph. Below or faster the jeep is mostly smooth.. not completely but not shaking. I will add at the tire shop that put on my new tires said my wheel were really hard to balance, they have massive amounts of weights on them (almost like a whole sheet on each tire)

I have no lift on my jeep just 31" tires on 15" wheels, everything else is stock, and I still have no front driveshaft due to cost.

I am kind of thinking this could be a slightly bent wheel or axel issue. What do you all think?
Click to expand...

Have you check for loose front suspension ball joints and trackbar?
 
Artsifrtsi said:
Stock steel wheels? Could be a bent one. If you have jackstands, you can run the Jeep on them, and look at the wheels for wobbles… (need to mention to be extremely careful with stability and stand placement…)
Click to expand...

Not stock 3rd party. I would of thought one of the shops would of caught a bent wheel after so many times on the balancers.
 
xXDavidCXx said:
Have you check for loose front suspension ball joints and trackbar?
Click to expand...

Not yet, I had my upper ball joints replaced and thought they said my lowers were good. Haven't checked the rest of the steering components in the front yet.
 
Do you have aftermarket steel rims

edit, looks like you answered right before I posted. Possibly bent wheels but more likely not getting centered correctly on the wheel balancer and then not getting centered correctly on the axle hubs.
 
Id be checking for a bent wheel, upper control arm bushing, track bar bushing, or ball joints. You have some slop in the front end that the bent wheels are triggering.
 
afusco1222 said:
Id be checking for a bent wheel, upper control arm bushing, track bar bushing, or ball joints. You have some slop in the front end that the bent wheels are triggering.
Click to expand...

yea thats probably what ill check next. driving a 2500 mile trip in a couple months so gotta get it figured out.
 
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