[mr_et2]

For the past week or 2 I've noticed a slight wobble in my front end at highway speeds, around 50mph and above. Two days ago it suddenly got slightly worse, and when accelerating it increased dramatically. Like scary bad wobble. Can feel it most in the steering wheel and my feet. That's usually, but not always a failed inner CV joint. So I just pulled off both front wheels and inspected everything. Right side looks all good. Left side I found that there is a good bit of up/down play in the inner joint, but I also found that the rear lower control arm bushing was pretty much missing. Yikes. As an added happy coincidence, I got an email from Advance Auto giving 15% off online orders. Code is SEPTEM15 for anyone who might want it.

Guess I'll be busy today.

 

[Sandstone]

Wow, glad you found it now, instead of the dead of winter.

 

[mr_et2]

Just finished replacing the axle and lower control arm. Found that the ball joint was bad too. However, the shaking is still there. I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and take it to a shop. I double checked everything in the front again and can't find anything wrong. Aggravating!

 

[mr_et2]

So I took my Jeep into the shop today. They had if for 3 hours and couldn't find anything wrong with it, except for the left front tire being 1.25 ounces out of balance. They told me that all of the suspension and drive train is nice, tight, and solid. That's awesome. But what on earth could be causing the shake then? The shake is barely noticeable at 45, at 65 it's very noticeable, but not really bad... kind of like an out of balance wheel. But if you step on the gas when you're at 65, the shaking gets pretty violent. There is no noise or any other symptoms associated with the shaking. Anyone got any clues?

 

[MoeBucks]

Tires?

 

[mr_et2]

Shop says that they're good. And since the shaking gets worse under load it seems more like a mechanical issue. But at this point, who knows.

 

[Sandstone]

Shop says that they're good. And since the shaking gets worse under load it seems more like a mechanical issue.

I'd agree.

I know this is risky, but if the shop hasn't done so already, running it while up on a lift might help.

 

[radsrh]

Rotate your tires and see if it makes a difference. That will take tires/ rims out of the equation.

 

[mr_et2]

Rotate your tires and see if it makes a difference. That will take tires/ rims out of the equation.

When it was in the shop they did a tire rotation. No difference.

 

[MoeBucks]

Rotors? Warped rotors can do it too.

 

[mr_et2]

The rotors check out good. I thoroughly inspected the rear end after work yesterday and didn't find anything off back there. Going to crawl under it again after work today, if the rain stops. Gotta be missing something. If I can't find anything obvious before the weekend then I'll do the stupid thing and just start throwing random parts at it.

 

[16 latitude]

Worn motor mounts, allowing drive train movement under load?

 

[mr_et2]

Worn motor mounts, allowing drive train movement under load?

I'll check those too.

 

[DeepCherry2015]

Nice if you could mount a couple Go Pro cameras on the front end/underside and drive it at speed for a few, then review footage... After everything you've already done, along with the shop, it still sounds like driveshaft/axle shaft issue. Have the wheel bearings been checked?

 

[mr_et2]

Nice if you could mount a couple Go Pro cameras on the front end/underside and drive it at speed for a few, then review footage... After everything you've already done, along with the shop, it still sounds like driveshaft/axle shaft issue. Have the wheel bearings been checked?

If only I had some GoPros. As soon as the rain lets up I'll crawl under it again and check the driveshaft & u-joints, but the shop checked them and said that they're OK. The shop and I both checked the wheel bearings. There's no play in them at all, and they don't feel like they're binding any, but I think that one or more is making noise... kinda hard to tell when running AT tires. If I do end up starting to just throw parts at it, the wheel bearings will be first on the list.

 

[mr_et2]

So I checked the u-joints when I got home from work today. They're good. Driveshaft looks too. It seems like it's getting worse, on my drive home I noticed that the vibrations didn't stop when I was coasting. I also noticed that the majority of the noise that I had written off as tire noise seems to be coming from the front left. At this point, I'd put $$ on a bad left front wheel bearing.

 

[mr_et2]

So today I jacked my Pat up, took the left front wheel and brakes off, pulled the spindle out of the hub bearing with a slide hammer and then went to press the bearing out of the knuckle. It wouldn't budge! Used my breaker bar, used my impact wrench, hell, I even beat on it with my air hammer for a while. Nothing worked. Then it started raining. Very frustrating. Hopefully I can get it done tomorrow, It's getting to be really crappy motorcycle weather.

 

[mr_et2]

Got the front wheel bearings replaced. Some of the "tire noise" is now gone, but the shaking remains.

 

[mr_et2]

Finally had enough of the shaking. Dropped it off at another shop. Hopefully they can find the problem.

 

[mr_et2]

So, the shop checked it out and concluded that it's the tires causing the shaking. Falken Wildpeak AT/3's, almost 3 years old with around 30k miles on them. They look fine to me, but I'm no tire expert. I'd hate to buy new tires if they're not the problem... they still have tons of tread left. But this is the 2nd shop that's told me that they can't find any mechanical problem, and I couldn't find anything either. Guess I'll be tire shopping on Black Friday.

As good as these Falkens have been, they have gotten quite loud. I rarely go off road and don't want a dedicated snow tire, but do want something that is good in the sloppy/snowy/icy Buffalo winters. Anybody got any suggestions?