Vibes and Squeaks
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JK Newbie
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 20
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From: Montreal
Vibes and Squeaks
So I have a 2-door JK 2008 with many mods... Bought it with a slew of problems unseen around 3 years ago, shipped from a dealer over 1000km away without having test driven it.
Initially there wasn't too many issues but then after 6 months I started having drive-line issues that just seem to keep creeping up again in various ways.
Initially, it came with a 4" lift from Skyjacker (crapper, yes I know!) and 37 BFG KM2s. The tires were somewhat worn when I took ownership of the vehicle and that was my initial issues with dealing with a bad shimmy. Having replaced the tires with new KM2s for summer play and Good Year Duratrac 35"s for winter (requirement to have mountain snow-flake here), the shimmy went away.
I've also since replaced the Skyjacker shocks with TeraFlex shocks, as one in the rear was shot and I was hoping to get a better on-road experience. Also added rear and front adjustable track bars. Changed U-joint on the rear drive shaft (Rubicon Express 1310) that went bad on a small 600km trip to Ontario a couple of years ago. This was causing massive vibration as some of the needle bearings deteriorated. Also replaced the crappy Skyjacker LCA mounts rear and front with TeraFlex adjustable LCA/UCA all around. So the drive-shaft angle at the rear is nearly at 0 degrees with the pinion with the rear axle rotated upwards, and replaced the spring base mounts with JKS, which meant grinding off the stock ones and rewelding new ones. This was needed because the rear springs were bulging after rotating the axle and rubbing against the bolt on the track bar frame side.
So the current issues I am having are:
1) An annoying vibration that is cyclic/pulsating, on and off every 3 seconds, above 80km/h or faster.
2) Constant squeaking coming from underneath that started sometime this winter. I know my rear brakes, calliper especially, need to be redone and this past fall there was a squeak that would go away as soon I touched the break. But this one, while sounds the same, is different in that it only happens when I have my foot on the gas pedal. As soon as I let go, the squeaking ceases. My buddy that works at Chrysler was thinking it might simply be that my front axle U-joints need to be changed but if that is the case, why does it stop squeaking when I take my foot of the gas? U-joint on the rear drive-shaft again maybe?
3) Taking exit off-ramps with turn circles to the right, the damn ESP keeps coming on regularly. I know that everything is pretty well centered underneath but this one has been plaguing me from the beginning. Only thing left that I can think of here is to change out the clock-spring, which might even be under a service recall for my model/year but usually when people have problems with this, they usually see the ABS sensors coming on and I don't see this at all. My steering wheel is pretty close to center, maybe off 3-4 degrees and when it was centered perfectly, before last summer's wheelings, it was still happening so I don't think it is that by itself. The tie rod is probably a little bent but not too much. It is on my list to replace as it is OEM.
Looking for suggestions.
Initially there wasn't too many issues but then after 6 months I started having drive-line issues that just seem to keep creeping up again in various ways.
Initially, it came with a 4" lift from Skyjacker (crapper, yes I know!) and 37 BFG KM2s. The tires were somewhat worn when I took ownership of the vehicle and that was my initial issues with dealing with a bad shimmy. Having replaced the tires with new KM2s for summer play and Good Year Duratrac 35"s for winter (requirement to have mountain snow-flake here), the shimmy went away.
I've also since replaced the Skyjacker shocks with TeraFlex shocks, as one in the rear was shot and I was hoping to get a better on-road experience. Also added rear and front adjustable track bars. Changed U-joint on the rear drive shaft (Rubicon Express 1310) that went bad on a small 600km trip to Ontario a couple of years ago. This was causing massive vibration as some of the needle bearings deteriorated. Also replaced the crappy Skyjacker LCA mounts rear and front with TeraFlex adjustable LCA/UCA all around. So the drive-shaft angle at the rear is nearly at 0 degrees with the pinion with the rear axle rotated upwards, and replaced the spring base mounts with JKS, which meant grinding off the stock ones and rewelding new ones. This was needed because the rear springs were bulging after rotating the axle and rubbing against the bolt on the track bar frame side.
So the current issues I am having are:
1) An annoying vibration that is cyclic/pulsating, on and off every 3 seconds, above 80km/h or faster.
2) Constant squeaking coming from underneath that started sometime this winter. I know my rear brakes, calliper especially, need to be redone and this past fall there was a squeak that would go away as soon I touched the break. But this one, while sounds the same, is different in that it only happens when I have my foot on the gas pedal. As soon as I let go, the squeaking ceases. My buddy that works at Chrysler was thinking it might simply be that my front axle U-joints need to be changed but if that is the case, why does it stop squeaking when I take my foot of the gas? U-joint on the rear drive-shaft again maybe?
3) Taking exit off-ramps with turn circles to the right, the damn ESP keeps coming on regularly. I know that everything is pretty well centered underneath but this one has been plaguing me from the beginning. Only thing left that I can think of here is to change out the clock-spring, which might even be under a service recall for my model/year but usually when people have problems with this, they usually see the ABS sensors coming on and I don't see this at all. My steering wheel is pretty close to center, maybe off 3-4 degrees and when it was centered perfectly, before last summer's wheelings, it was still happening so I don't think it is that by itself. The tie rod is probably a little bent but not too much. It is on my list to replace as it is OEM.
Looking for suggestions.