Noise, tire scuffing when making slow LH&RH turns. 2001.

[12Ounce]

2001 GrandCherokee. V8, 4WD, Loaded, leather seats, etc. Friend's car, not sure about model, but not the Limited, she says. Hot or cold, makes driveline (?) noise in slow parking lot turns to left or right ... accompanied with vibration, perhaps tire scuffing. Certainly feels like some limited-slip device somewhere.

I did a bit of searching on this forum and first convinced myself it was the "viscous coupling" in the transfer case. Then I read further and discovered that the 2001 doesn't likely have the "viscous coupling". ???

I gave the underneath a look ... saw no leaks or anything else obvious. Can anyone give some info on what is the likely problem?

Thanks much!

[arks]

I've had the same problem. This is typical with AWD vehicles. The tires are mis-matched or worn enough that the fronts are a slightly different diameter than the rears. The only solution is to put 4 identical tires on the Jeep, and then keep them properly rotated so they'll wear the same.

[12Ounce]

Thanks for the response.

This is a fairly low mileage vehicle, I'll guess 50k miles or so ... and gets all the scheduled services at the Jeep dealer. Due to some road debris, a couple of the original tires were cut pretty badly on the sidewalls; and even tho no tire was ever flat, she bought a new full set of tires from dealer. It's been on its second full set of new tires for a few months now and there has been no driving issues up until now ... this noise-making & vibration is a sudden, new occurence; coming about with no warning a few days ago. The new tires aren't old enough to have had their first rotation.

I've driven the car to check out the symptoms for her. There are no noise/vibration issues until some point is reached in the tightness of turning ... and then, suddenly, the thing starts the noise and vibration (wheel hopping?).

??

[rockwood84]

my guess this is normal with all wheel drives as the front tires can only turn so much and then slip on the pavement or ground. this is the same if you were to run a 4x4 in 4-wheel drive on pavement in a tight turn.hard pavement is hard on anything moving four tires at once and turning two of them.

[smkjoe71]

Had this problem on 1999 jgc, turned out the trailing arm from axel to frame was installed wrong, (from factory?), unbolted it and turned it around and no more scuffing. Was passenger side on my jeep.

[justin0190]

Had this problem a couple of months ago, feels like the front end is going to fall out from underneath you sometimes. I wound up replacing the front drive shafts.