Three weeks ago, I put in a 3.5AEV lift and added new tires (35 Toyo MT), spacers and wheels to my 2011 Rubicon.

Before mounting, the wheels/tires were road force balanced.

I've been extremely diligent in checking and retightening everything from the lift.

I had a reputable shop do an alignment.

In the past week, I've noticed a very distinct shake in the steering wheel when I hit 40-50mph. I looked for a pattern but it happens 95% of the time - not just when turning, not just when you hit a bump, not just when accelerating or coasting - pretty much all the time.

I feel like this shake may have been present initially as I worked to get the lift settled in but it much more obvious now.

I cannot find any looseness in any of the bolts. With it being so new, I can't find any obvious places where there is play in the suspension.

Ideas?

I'm desperate to get her back to a smooth ride!

Thanks!

 

Post alignment specs.
Did you loosen all CA/TB bolts, shake jeep and tighten at the new ride height ?
Spacers and wheels .. Usually don't see both ? Rotor clips removed ?
Lastly... Just because the tires were balanced/road forced balanced. Doesn't mean anything. I've had many failures with both dynamic and road force. Road force seams to be complicated. The tech can still screw shit up and not do it right.
Sounds to be to be tire related being in a certain speed range.
Try taking your left front and Rotating it with the rear left, drive around. Shake is still there move on to the other side. Doing one side at a time allows you to pin point a bad tire/balance issue.


2007 Rubicon /2 door/6 speed

 

Are the wheel spacers hub centric?

 

I've loosened, shook and retightened but my next thought is to lift it, loosen everything, put it back on the ground, shake it and tighten again :-/

Yes, the spacers are hub-centric. Poison Spyder 1.5in

 

I've had the same problem and traced it to the tires not being perfectly balanced. It's only at a certain speed and changes To different speeds when I rotate. I've had the entire suspension apart, rebuild joints, regressed, checked and reset castor, etc. Nothing changed except for a small amount of increases ride comfort.

 

I agree with kjeeper10 on the small rotor retaining clips. They can definitely cause a shimmy. Other than that, It must be a tire balance issue.

 

I had an identical experience for the last eight weeks. Went to 37" MTRs and had slight shake at 50. Switched tire locations front to back, still had shimmy. Brought jeep back, had road force balance. Still shimmying! Brought to jeep off road shop, rebalance, still shimmying. Replaced ball joints, added RCV axles, replaced drag link and track bar hardware. Still shimmying. Brought back again for rebalance, talked me into equal balancing powder, still had shimmy. Adjusted amount of powder, still not good. Finally found a shop to do another road force balance, shimmy gone, rides great! Imagine the smile on my face when they got it right, too bad it took four shops and lots of $$$$ to just get a proper balance! I was convinced it was not the tires, but in the end it was. Hope this helps, I was so frustrated I was ready to drive the jeep over a cliff!

 

It's most likely your tires as others have mentioned. Had the same problem with a shimmy at 45-50mph and sometimes at different speeds. Thought it was suspension related and did the same as you. Took jeep to friends shop and had him road force balance them. No more shimmy.

 

What was the name of the shop that got it right? Pm me if you dont want to post. Thanks

 

I'm in CT, a guy named Adam who runs goodyear tire(actually called fairfield tire and auto center) in fairfield CT. He took the time to get things right. I would recommend him. He also put on my AFE Y pipe so I could have clearance for my clayton skid plates when I was in a jam. He seems to take an interest in modified cars. Pm me if u need any other details.