Severe Vibrations at Idle with Savvy Under Armor

[Jamison C]

Well, finally posting about this. I did the full UA back in September and had them then, but haven’t driven it that much until the last month or so. I have checked every possible contact point that could be transmitting vibes and I am not coming up with anything that is causing it. I even saw a thread where Mr. Blaine mentioned checking the passenger MM. I have a block MML with the Mopar mounts and there is plenty of clearance there.

If I bump the RPMs up even by 100, it smooths out entirely. I have checked with the engine skid off, all skids off, and the exhaust off and the vibes don’t change. Am I missing something with the crossmember? Is it the bushings? Or is this just the nature of the beast?

 

[jjvw]

Transfer case touching the tub.

Which 1.25" body lift do you have?

 

[Jamison C]

Transfer case touching the tub.

Which 1.25" body lift do you have?

Man I swear I checked for clearance in every nook and cranny, especially there. I’ll check again just to be sure.

It’s the RC 1.25 lift. I probably should upgrade as that was a temporary and cheap option until I needed something better, which is probably now.

 

[PNW_LJ]

Well, finally posting about this. I did the full UA back in September and had them then, but haven’t driven it that much until the last month or so. I have checked every possible contact point that could be transmitting vibes and I am not coming up with anything that is causing it. I even saw a thread where Mr. Blaine mentioned checking the passenger MM. I have a block MML with the Mopar mounts and there is plenty of clearance there.

If I bump the RPMs up even by 100, it smooths out entirely. I have checked with the engine skid off, all skids off, and the exhaust off and the vibes don’t change. Am I missing something with the crossmember? Is it the bushings? Or is this just the nature of the beast?

Same issue here w/ a Savvy BL. Already checked for tcase and passenger motor mount contact.

I wouldn’t call mine “severe”, but annoying nonetheless.

 

[jjvw]

Man I swear I checked for clearance in every nook and cranny, especially there. I’ll check again.

It’s the RC 1.25 lift. I probably should upgrade as that was a temporary and cheap option until I needed something better.

As long as the RC body lift isn't squishy like JKS, it isn't making anything worse.

When I installed my Savvy skid years ago, it took a few rounds of tub clearancing above the 241 to get all the buzzing to go away. And I did it with a JKS body lift, which means I did a lot more work than if I had almost any other body lift in there.

 

[CV04TJR]

I have the same issue since installing mine in 2021. I have the Savvy BL and MML. Give the throttle 100rpm and it smooths up. I also have the harmonic vibrations at about 70 mph. I hope you can find a solution.

 

[Tob]

Well, finally posting about this. I did the full UA back in September and had them then, but haven’t driven it that much until the last month or so. I have checked every possible contact point that could be transmitting vibes and I am not coming up with anything that is causing it. I even saw a thread where Mr. Blaine mentioned checking the passenger MM. I have a block MML with the Mopar mounts and there is plenty of clearance there.

If I bump the RPMs up even by 100, it smooths out entirely. I have checked with the engine skid off, all skids off, and the exhaust off and the vibes don’t change. Am I missing something with the crossmember? Is it the bushings? Or is this just the nature of the beast?

Same exact situation here. Kinda just got used to the vibes but they are indeed bad at idle. I just chalked it up to the M.O.R.E motor mounts I installed but never got around to going back to stock with spacer blocks.

 

[Mike_H]

Same exact situation here. Kinda just got used to the vibes but they are indeed bad at idle. I just chalked it up to the M.O.R.E motor mounts I installed but never got around to going back to stock with spacer blocks.

Having run both the more mounts and now brand new Mopar with lift blocks, I wish I would have just run the more mounts. I don’t notice any difference between the two

 

[Jamison C]

As long as the RC body lift isn't squishy like JKS, it isn't making anything worse.

When I installed my Savvy skid years ago, it took a few rounds of tub clearancing above the 241 to get all the buzzing to go away. And I did it with a JKS body lift, which means I did a lot more work than if I had almost any other body lift in there.

Good to know. A few people have piped up so far with the same issue, but it sounds like you solved it on your end.

So maybe it's not just the nature of the beast, but there are things to go more in depth on. Maybe I can get in there with a borescope.

The fun continues!

 

[Pert Near]

I recently bought a moderately built LJ Rubicon with Savvy under armor and I am also experiencing vibrations at idle. My LJ has other more pressing issues at the moment but will be following this thread.

 

[JpZombie]

I have an 04 LJ with the SUA and I also have vibrations at idle/when stopped. I seem to remember doing some googling shortly after the install and found a few threads about people saying the same thing. But no one seemed to have any kind of reasoning/fix for the issue.

 

[Tob]

Having run both the more mounts and now brand new Mopar with lift blocks, I wish I would have just run the more mounts. I don’t notice any difference between the two

But what about the original motor mounts? I suspect they are softer than new “mopar”. Maybe I’m a cynic, but I don’t have too much faith in present day “OEM” stuff because much of it looks like it came out of the same factory as all the cheap junk.

 

[Mike_H]

But what about the original motor mounts? I suspect they are softer than new “mopar”. Maybe I’m a cynic, but I don’t have too much faith in present day “OEM” stuff because much of it looks like it came out of the same factory as all the cheap junk.

Who knows. My motormount had a bunch of miles on them and the original, originals were thrown away before I knew better. The new ones I got were pretty nice though and appear identical to what came off (if the 2 year old memory is OK). The M.O.R.E. motor mounts have a LOT of rubber around the bushing too. I think they are probably better than the brown dog mounts everyone raved about a few years ago.

 

[mrblaine]

Same exact situation here. Kinda just got used to the vibes but they are indeed bad at idle. I just chalked it up to the M.O.R.E motor mounts I installed but never got around to going back to stock with spacer blocks.

You should since that will certainly help.

 

[mrblaine]

Good to know. A few people have piped up so far with the same issue, but it sounds like you solved it on your end.

So maybe it's not just the nature of the beast, but there are things to go more in depth on. Maybe I can get in there with a borescope.

The fun continues!

The vibes at idle with an auto should be just every so slightly more than stock. Enough to tell, not enough to be annoying. That said, I specifically chose the brand of the bushings to be Clevite. If they have switched to something different, then I have no idea what to do other than swap to Clevite, or more specifically Clevite TJ upper control arm bushings.

 

[psrivats]

<snip> Kinda just got used to the vibes <snip>

I envy you ..

 

[LJtobey]

I have the MORE MM and the SUA. The vibration was very noticeable at idle, but after about 4 or 5k miles it is barely noticeable.

 

[Jamison C]

The vibes at idle with an auto should be just every so slightly more than stock. Enough to tell, not enough to be annoying. That said, I specifically chose the brand of the bushings to be Clevite. If they have switched to something different, then I have no idea what to do other than swap to Clevite, or more specifically Clevite TJ upper control arm bushings.

Thank you for the explanation. The vibes definitely fall into the annoying category. I still need to pull the skid off and make 100% sure there’s no metal on metal contact. Once I’ve verified, I’ll update.

Is there a way to tell if the bushings are Clevite?

 

[mrblaine]

Thank you for the explanation. The vibes definitely fall into the annoying category. I still need to pull the skid off and make 100% sure there’s no metal on metal contact. Once I’ve verified, I’ll update.

Is there a way to tell if the bushings are Clevite?

Clevite should be molded into the rubber isolation element on at least one end.

 

[williambmac]

I've got MORE mounts in mine and there is a noticeable vibration at idle. It's not overly annoying and goes away off idle.
At one point I did have a very annoying vibration being caused by the transmission mount.