Shudder on take off - clutch vs drive line vibe from lift

rebelles

rebelles

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I know there is lots of info on shudders/shakes in the TJs. Thought I would see if anyone has gone through same evaluation as I am.

I picked up an 01 TJ, 6 cyl, 5-speed, 118k miles to tinker with. It has an old spacer lift of approx 2-3” and no transfer case drop (and axles do not appear to be shimmed). Based on discussion with prior owner and receipt I found; it also had a transmission rebuild including new clutch, etc not to many miles back in it’s history. I have put 2-3” lifts on two previous TJs I had and eventually did lower transfer case on both to take out the slight shudder when taking off (both were automatics). The 01 that I picked up has a shudder when taking off but from initial impressions, it sort of feels like clutch chatter but I guess it could be drive line chatter caused by the lift angles. Anyone run into a similar situation they had to sort out (any easy way to tell if the shutter is clutch/pressure plate versus driveline from lift). I know one option is to go ahead and lower the transfer case to see what happens (and I may end up doing that). It’s not terrible and not worth having another clutch job if that is the case but would like to figure it out.
 
does it get worse with speed or does it smooth out?

full disclosure, I've never had clutch chatter/shudder so I have no idea what that feels like. But I have a fair amount of experience with driveline vibrations as I spent a lot of time trying to avoid a slip yoke eliminator by figuring out exactly (to a washer thickness) how little transfer case drop I could get away with.

With a correct pinion angle but excessive operating angles, vibrations usually don't start until you've reached some speed. If it's happening right at takeoff then the pinion angle could be way off. Best thing to start with is to throw an angle finder on your transfer case and your axle and see if they match, and do some light reading.

https://4xshaft.com/blogs/general-tech-info-articles/slopes-vs-angles
https://4xshaft.com/blogs/general-tech-info-articles/driveshaft-angles
 
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I put a 2 inch lift on my TJR and had no problems. Then, I put a Barnes skid plate on that raised the TC about an inch and I had what felt like clutch chatter. I thought it was the clutch because it had been replaced at almost the same time. I put the OEM skid plate back on and the “chatter” went away. So I installed a DC drive shaft, reinstalled the Barnes skid plate and adjusted the pinion angle. No more chatter.
 
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Add a few washers to drop the skid and see if it goes away. If it does, you could do a MML if you don't want the slight drop.

p.s. I had the exact same shudder on takeoff soon after I bought my Jeep. The PO replaced the clutch, but not the master/slave cylinder. Eventually it would stall when stopped with the clutch pedal depressed. I replaced the master/slave (is that racist?) cylinder for $85 and fixed my problem.
 
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