omning

Alright, fellow jeep folk. I've read through ~15 or so threads on the subject on more forums than I care to admit, but nothing matches my particular set of circumstances. I'd like to share the below novel with you and see if I can outsource some ideas for tracking this down. I have a chirping that is driving me batty, and I've been slowly driving the jeep past the Ford and Toyota dealerships to try to remind her that she retains her value and could go at any time, but I do love her and she's paid off and my kiddo is also fond of her.



Symptoms:

• Classic angry sparrows/chirping
• Unable to identify where it's coming from, if there's a car on my left it sounds like the left if there's a guardrail on my right it sounds like the right.
• It only happens if I'm actively giving it gas. If I take off the gas at all, the sound goes away. The slightest bit of gas, and it comes back.
• It does not happen in neutral/out of gear. I can't rev it to make it happen.
• If I'm driving and push in the clutch (even leaving the gas down), it goes away.
• It is constant, I can not tell for sure but I don't think it rises/lowers with wheel speed.

Last ~300 miles, most of this is not related to the sound but to fix other things/general maintenance:

• I changed ball joints, they were absolutely trashed. You vs the guy she tells you not to worry about. Stock 100k+, 35-37" tires the entire time. <-- I'm an idiot.
• I used Teraflex as I'm not completely sold on the deletes yet.
• Brakes all around, Duralast Gold pads. Greased all the sliders and hardware with brake lubricant. No brake squeak or squeals.
• New axle seals
• New pinion seal (front)
• New ten factory rear shafts w/ new wheel bearings (I knew these were shot anyway)
• New unit bearings upfront (these were also toasted)
• The front driveshaft is an Oliver's Driveline and Gear 1310 and was installed at the same time as the ball joints. It is possible that the yoke going to the TC is not as tight as it should be, but getting those Allens-head bolts off is a PITA and I haven't had a chance to do it.
• New diff covers were installed at the same time, so fresh fluids.
• I used silicone lube spray on every surface I could imagine squeaking, no improvement.
• Jumping up and down on it made a squeak once ever so slightly but it didn't sound right and I was unable to locate it anyway
• Aside from being a really bad idea I put the back on jack stands and tried driving up to 20mph or so in my inclined driveway, and.. didn't hear a thing.
• While under the back, I did find one of the top shock bolts had come loose, so I tightened all four of those (only the one was noticeably loose)
• The u-bolts holding the trackbar relo bracket were a little loose, so those got a good tighten as well. No other bolts that I could find were loose, I need to do the same exercise in the front.

Things of Note:

• There's enough gear old on my rear pumpkin to make me think it's time for a pinion seal change there as well.
• 109k, JKU Sport, AEV 2-2.5 lift for the last 90k+. Always ran either 35 or 37. Florida trails, nothing hard.
• Lifting front/rear and spinning the tires does not result in any noise.
• If I shake/move/bang on the exhaust I do not get any sort of chirp or metal on metal.
• It does not go away above a certain speed. It happens through all gears. I start to hear it around 15mph, maybe less sometimes.

If I were to just through parts at it:

• The rear driveshaft, though honestly, the angle looks great and I don't see any oil/grease being slung onto the tub so I think it's fine and intact.
• Every bushing I can replace?
• Shocks? these do have 140k on them (used when I got them)
• Could it possibly be from the engine bay and I'm deaf? In which case, idler pulley or water pump? I would think that would happen when revving the engine in neutral if that were the case.
• Front axle shaft ujoints?

resharp001

Ok, I might be off base here but as a fresh set of eyes I eliminate a lot and focus on this part in particular -

This has me thinking tranny or throwout bearing related cuz it's only happening in gear and under load. Push clutch in and goes away. It's not necessarily gas peddle related as it is gear/tranny it seems to me.

JKJB

i have a very similar problem. could not find this chirp for the life of me. sounded like it was coming from outside the jeep. ended up being the sun visor chirping over bumps. try removing the sun visor from its secured position and then wiggle it up and down to see if that the source.

Ghost JK

From what you said about being on the gas and in gear and under load, I'm with Resharp that it's probably throwout bearing or transmission input shaft bearing.

omning

Oof. That's a good call. Any suggestions for further troubleshooting down this path?

omning

So I had a another thread on another forum, and someone mentioned the serpentine belt. I didn't believe it could be the issue since it didn't happen when parked, but I sprayed both idler pulleys with some silicone lube and the sound went away. replacing both asap.