Vibrations. When and where.

[eaglescout526]

Alright, I know vibes usually come up probably once every few months and I myself am tired of hunting them down. 

I am aiming to create a master list of where the vibrations are/can appear and when.

 

So far I have replaced EVERY rubber bushing from the steering linkage to the gutting XJ shackles for the bushings for the MJ shackles. And I did have a new drive shaft built. I can mostly feel the vibrations in the front now, not so much the rear as I suspect that's the passenger side leaf pack being a bit aged.

 

Common things to check:

 

Control arms

Steering parts

Leaf spring bushings

Shackle bushings

Coil spring isolators

Transmission mount

Motor mounts

Wheel Balance

Leaf packs

Coil springs

Drive shafts and their U-joints

 

Honestly I can not think of any other places. The only places that keep popping into mind(for my vibrations) are the front wheel bearings for possible warpage/bent, coil springs and rear leaf. I have replaced a leaf pack due to one leaf being broken in the pack and noticed a better ride and support. Coils are up next on my to do list and quite possibly replace the other leaf pack. But I would like to hear from you guys on what you repaired and noticed a difference in ride and less vibrations.

[Fernando87mj]

Had a front wheel bearing cause pretty bad vibrations. But you can easily isolate the noise for the most part while driving , if you slightly shift the weight to the side that you’re suspect of and the vibrations /noise gets worse you know it’s the bearing on that side.  
   Don’t forget that a bent wheel can also cause vibrations. I also had that issue on my 88. 
    u joints can also be another cause of vibrations. 
  One last thing is also the driveshaft on 2wd models. They have rubber inside them and when that rubber starts starts to deteriorate it can throw the driveshaft balance off and cause vibrations. Which I think my 88 is suffering of right now but haven’t gotten to it. 

[eaglescout526]

I updated what I have replaced as I remembered I had a new drive shaft built a couple years ago. I have thought about a bent wheel but the techs would've picked that up the couple times they have replaced my tires with the road force machine.

 

5 minutes ago, Fernando87mj said:

Had a front wheel bearing cause pretty bad vibrations. But you can easily isolate the noise for the most part while driving

Now when you say shift sides to hear for noise or vibes, do you mean with the windows down and everything off during a turn? 

[Fernando87mj]

1 minute ago, eaglescout526 said:

I updated what I have replaced as I remembered I had a new drive shaft built a couple years ago. I have thought about a bent wheel but the techs would've picked that up the couple times they have replaced my tires with the road force machine.

 

Now when you say shift sides to hear for noise or vibes, do you mean with the windows down and everything off during a turn? 

The way I do it in customers cars is I’ll have the windows up and usually with a bad bearing you’ll hear a roaring noise. While driving I’ll turn the wheel slightly to the side I’m suspect of , if it gets louder, you know it’s that’s side. If you turn the other direction and it’s not as loud you know it’s not that side. 

[eaglescout526]

14 minutes ago, Fernando87mj said:

The way I do it in customers cars is I’ll have the windows up and usually with a bad bearing you’ll hear a roaring noise. While driving I’ll turn the wheel slightly to the side I’m suspect of , if it gets louder, you know it’s that’s side. If you turn the other direction and it’s not as loud you know it’s not that side. 

Noted. Ill have to try this on my drives to and from work. I take it the inside of the cab is completely silent with everything off. 

[ghetdjc320]

I had a bad transfer case outpu bushing that caused driveline vibes. Sye got rid of that obviously but have also had a bad pilot bearing for the front tcase output that caused a lot of noise that was extremely my hard to pinpoint.

[MiNi Beast]

make sure everything is tight. ball joints, sector shaft, intermediate shaft, i also have had issues with pilot bearing and most recently found my tcase separating from trans and had some vibes.  pinion bearings can be hard to pinpoint as well. if have a rack put it in the air in drive and listen for vibes with screwdriver or fancy doctor thingy. or for laughs go take it into a shop for their free  inspections? see what parts they want you to throw at it. 

just jiggle the keys in the door. 

[Tex06]

Harmonic balancer. Vibrations change with rpm.