After replacing, basically everything I could unbolt from the front end including hubs. I still have a vibration that starts about 70 mph. I replaced the front drive shaft thinking it might be the front CV joint. (wasted 400.00) wasn't the problem. Now I am down to the front axles and the ring/pinion/bearings. These are the only things that have not been replaced. Any suggestions as to the most likely cause? Also, I have never opened a universal before. Is it hard to reset the shims and where do I find a good instruction manual on how to do the rebuild if I have to go inside the housing?
You know, I have been reading through the message threads and I have only had my jeep for 2 months 96GCL. I think I have already had about 50% of the problems that are being written about.... not a good sign.
Jeep has 180K miles. Thanks for any assistance..
taggs

Tell us about the vibration.

where you feel it, what vibrates, does anything affect it once it starts, one side more than the other?????

Have you swapped tires around?? balanced them??

JD

Tell us about the vibration.

where you feel it, what vibrates, does anything affect it once it starts, one side more than the other?????

Have you swapped tires around?? balanced them??

JD
Thanks for your assistance.
The vibration was there before I started work on the jeep. It starts as a deep humming noise from the left front area.. just in front of the driver's seat it seems. (the front end was in such bad shape, you could actually feel the vibration. When I rebuilt the front end, I had new set of good year tires balanced and added. The vibration is not as bad, (I think because the new suspension and tighter front end, but the humming is still there. it starts about 65 and increases as you speed up. it is not related to the engine. I checked that out. I also geared down the trans and brought it up to the same RPM but since the truck was only moving 55mph it did not show up. It only shows up when the tires are turning at 68-90MPH. I did switch tires. Made no difference. The only things that have not been replaced are inside the front dana 30. All brakes and rotors are new.

So are you saying that it has improve some since you started replacing things or just changed in some way??

Did you have the axles out when you changed the hubs??

Have you had the front diff cover off and changed the oil, cleaned out the housing?? What did you find??

JD

So are you saying that it has improve some since you started replacing things or just changed in some way??

Did you have the axles out when you changed the hubs??

Have you had the front diff cover off and changed the oil, cleaned out the housing?? What did you find??

JD
It has changed a bit.
The vibration is not as bad, but the humming noise is still there and you can feel a slight vibration. When I say humming noise, I mean when you hit 75mph it sounds loud.

I did have the axles out because I replace both CV boots. the one on the driver's side (noise side) was cracked pretty bad. The other one was just starting to crack.

I have not taken off the diff cover. Oh yeah... I see I said universal instead of differential in my first post... hmmm bet there are alot out there that were wondering if they should waste their time with a morron.. oh well, thanks for taking the time to help out...

when you say that the boots were cracked bad - how bad and what did the grease look like??

Both sides the same?? or one worse than the other???

JD

when you say that the boots were cracked bad - how bad and what did the grease look like??

Both sides the same?? or one worse than the other???

JD


Drivers side was worse, and the grease was a little dry. The boots came with new grease so I put that grease into the cv and worked them around awhile to make sure it was lubed. It is the cv axles that have the boot cv instead of the u joint. I think chrysler did away with the boot cvs and went with the u joints on the front drive shaft. I don't know what they did about the axles. The new axles have the u-joint instead of the boot grease cv. I know they are both cvs, but I don't know the proper name to distinguish one from the other.

Generally when a boot and CV joint get to the point yours did, they are replaced due to wear in the balls and ways. It could be the CV joints making your noise but not likely. CV/s usually act up in the turn when they are worn.

I'd have a look in the diff. Pull the cover and drain it into a clean bucket to see what has happened in there. Pinion bearing noise is more noticable at lower speeds so if it is in the diff I would suspect the side bearings as being pitted to make the noise at the higher speeds.

Clean it out good and put in 80w90 gear oil and try it for a bit to see if there is any change.

JD

Have you check the Transfer Case fluid level.

Sorry if it was posted above.

Generally when a boot and CV joint get to the point yours did, they are replaced due to wear in the balls and ways. It could be the CV joints making your noise but not likely. CV/s usually act up in the turn when they are worn.

I'd have a look in the diff. Pull the cover and drain it into a clean bucket to see what has happened in there. Pinion bearing noise is more noticable at lower speeds so if it is in the diff I would suspect the side bearings as being pitted to make the noise at the higher speeds.

Clean it out good and put in 80w90 gear oil and try it for a bit to see if there is any change.

JD

I will check this this week. Thanks.

Well, it has been a busy week. I ended up taking my jeep to a midas muffler place. A friend recommended them because they have an X jeep mechanic there. He put my jeep on the rack with the wheels off the ground, had his partner run the jeep at 70 and this is what he found. First of 2 of my new tires were bouncing all over the place. After the inspection I took them back to Discount Tire and they re-checked the tires and gave me two new ones. This dampened the vibration 80%, but there was still the hum to deal with.
The mechanic at midas used a listening wand and checked the diff, outer end of the axles and the transfer case. He said the transfer case was where the humming is coming from and he also said you can feel the vibration by just holding a screwdriver up against the case while the jeep is running at 70mph. all fluid levels were fine. So, looks like I have to replace or rebuild the transfer case. Jeep dealership wants 2700.00 for a new one.... uhhhh don't think so!

As for another thing going on with the jeep. I am posting this because I have seen many posts with the same symtoms .. sSometimes when under a load in the mountains the jeep starts to miss. Sometimes it gets so bad it loses power completely. Other times the jeep is fine. Well, over the last 2 months I isolated it. I noticed that this always started happening if I let the gas tank get down below half full. didn't think much about it at first, but it was consistant. I also noticed that if I turned off the jeep and let it set a little, it would start and the missing would be much less. (this sent me after the computer) Turned out to be after 180000 miles, there was so much crud in the fuel tank that went it got towards the bottom, this stuff was getting sucked against the fuel filter at the end of the pump pick-up in the tank. When I would kill the engine, this would kill the suction and let the crud fall away from the fuel intake. So if you are having this problem, check your fuel level, if it is low, kill the engine and go back and shake the back of the vehical to rinse off the intake. If it starts back up again and runs better, this may be your problem.

my tcase hums all the time, works fine. could just be your tires transmitting the vibration. I know my Baja Claws make it hum a lot more than my bgf A/T's