Not your Average Vibration Problem

[gamefreakgc]

I've got a vibration at 35ish, 55ish, and 65ish MPH that I cannot seem to fix.

The sound is like a "whooooomp, whoooomp, whoooomp" noise that gets faster with speed but only is audible at those speeds. I can feel the vibration with my feet while driving.

What it is NOT:

• Tires replaced with brand new ones - No change
• Wheels replaced and balanced - No change
• Rear driveshaft removed and drove in 4WD - No change
• Full suspension refresh - No change
• New LBJ's, new UBJ's, Tie rods and Steering rack - No change

What's left? Do any front end parts rotate in drive besides bearings?

 

[gamefreakgc]

I jacked up the front end, greased the rear driveshaft and checked the transfer case oil. All good.

However, the passenger's side makes a grinding noise when rotating. The driver's side does not. It was not grabbing like bad brakes, just grinding. Bad bearings? Bad CV axle?

 

[spartacus]

I jacked up the front end, greased the rear driveshaft and checked the transfer case oil. All good.

However, the passenger's side makes a grinding noise when rotating. The driver's side does not. It was not grabbing like bad brakes, just grinding. Bad bearings? Bad CV axle?

jack up the front and put your hands at 3 and 9 and pull with one hand while pushing with the other hand shifting side to side you should be able to feel a slight play. make sure the force is constant and deliberate like bench pressing, and not sudden movement you are trying to feel the play.

for cv axle jack up the front end and get close to the axle while spining the tire and hear for abnormal grinding sound you should be able to tell between the good side and bad.

 

[Toyotayoda]

I jacked up the front end, greased the rear driveshaft and checked the transfer case oil. All good.

However, the passenger's side makes a grinding noise when rotating. The driver's side does not. It was not grabbing like bad brakes, just grinding. Bad bearings? Bad CV axle?

sounds like a bad bearing to me. put your hand on the upper arm while you spin the wheel, you should feel nothing, if you feel a vibration it means you have a bad bearing.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

The brake pads have a scraper that will grind on the rotor to let you know the pads are worn.

My vibes like yours on the 04 Grand Cherokee was a bad u-joint on the front drive shaft.


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[thezentree]

I've got a vibration at 35ish, 55ish, and 65ish MPH that I cannot seem to fix.

The sound is like a "whooooomp, whoooomp, whoooomp" noise that gets faster with speed but only is audible at those speeds. I can feel the vibration with my feet while driving.

What it is NOT:

• Tires replaced with brand new ones - No change
• Wheels replaced and balanced - No change
• Rear driveshaft removed and drove in 4WD - No change
• Full suspension refresh - No change
• New LBJ's, new UBJ's, Tie rods and Steering rack - No change

What's left? Do any front end parts rotate in drive besides bearings?

What do you mean suspension refresh? Did it start immediately after that?

 

[gamefreakgc]

Thanks for the suggestions and things to look at!

jack up the front and put your hands at 3 and 9 and pull with one hand while pushing with the other hand shifting side to side you should be able to feel a slight play. make sure the force is constant and deliberate like bench pressing, and not sudden movement you are trying to feel the play.

for cv axle jack up the front end and get close to the axle while spining the tire and hear for abnormal grinding sound you should be able to tell between the good side and bad.

No play that I can tell. Done 3 and 9, 6 and 12, 1 and 7, 2 1/2 and 8 1/2, etc. It's a vibration felt only through the floor.

The brake pads have a scraper that will grind on the rotor to let you know the pads are worn.

My vibes like yours on the 04 Grand Cherokee was a bad u-joint on the front drive shaft.


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Brand new rotors, calipers and pads. No change.

What do you mean suspension refresh? Did it start immediately after that?

No, it was doing it before but it had a terrible ride and awful body roll. New suspension all around helped restore the ride quality but did diddly-squat for the noise.

sounds like a bad bearing to me. put your hand on the upper arm while you spin the wheel, you should feel nothing, if you feel a vibration it means you have a bad bearing.

I think this really might be it. Especially since one side rolls perfectly smooth, and the other makes an awful scraping noise.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Dealer says it's my supercharger... Need to test this myself. If it really is, I should be able to run it at the same RPM's on my driveway and reproduce the sound. Highly doubt it and I think the tech just was looking for a culprit and pinned it on my aftermarket parts.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

The dust shield can also rust and push itself into the hub. It happened to me this spring. Forgot that.


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[Kotrin]

Hmm I could see it being the S/C if it just happened to be the EXACT RPM and those speeds. Though I think it's a stretch.

I had a similar issue I chased for almost 2 years. Couldn't figure it out. I bought brand new different tires and it went away. Found out my wheels + tires regardless of how many times I balanced/road forced or more it wouldn't fix it. It only happened at certain speeds and went away at others. It happened in OD (3rd gear) or 4th also as I have an automatic transmission. I finally gave up on chasing it and when I finally got rid of my duractracs(which by the way I dislike but that's personal opinion..) and went to BFG KM2 M/T's it went away. I was shocked and surprised it was this way.

Let us know what you find out

 

[gamefreakgc]

Hmm I could see it being the S/C if it just happened to be the EXACT RPM and those speeds. Though I think it's a stretch.

I had a similar issue I chased for almost 2 years. Couldn't figure it out. I bought brand new different tires and it went away. Found out my wheels + tires regardless of how many times I balanced/road forced or more it wouldn't fix it. It only happened at certain speeds and went away at others. It happened in OD (3rd gear) or 4th also as I have an automatic transmission. I finally gave up on chasing it and when I finally got rid of my duractracs(which by the way I dislike but that's personal opinion..) and went to BFG KM2 M/T's it went away. I was shocked and surprised it was this way.

Let us know what you find out

I have brand new tires and wheels, which helped with other vibrations I could feel in the steering wheel but this is a totally different animal. The list of potential parts that rotate is getting very small, all that's left is bearings, CV axle, and front differential bearings/gears. Has to be one of those.

 

[Kotrin]

Some of those I sometimes wonder if it's just the age of our vehicle. I know mine is 18/19 years old. I have no problem replacing item's as they need to be replaced or even preliminary to avoid being stranded out on the road. Curious what it could be and look forward to what you figure out.

 

[gamefreakgc]

The dust shield can also rust and push itself into the hub. It happened to me this spring. Forgot that.


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This is what the scraping noise ended up being. At this point, I've really exhausted what I'm willing to work on or replace since it would just be guessing. Time to just leave it alone and deal with the noise I guess.

Luckily it is very quiet at around 70 MPH for road trips.

 

[mtbtim]

The sound you described sounds like a bad wheel bearing. Have you checked your rear wheel bearings as well? Sounds and vibrations can travel. For the fronts, you could remove the CV axles from the knuckles so you can spin the hubs to feel how smooth they are.

 

[gamefreakgc]

The sound you described sounds like a bad wheel bearing. Have you checked your rear wheel bearings as well? Sounds and vibrations can travel. For the fronts, you could remove the CV axles from the knuckles so you can spin the hubs to feel how smooth they are.

Both rear bearings were already replaced due to leaky rear axles seals. Actually redoing another one right now since they leaked again due to the retainer not being in the right spot.

I took off the rotor and caliper and rotated the hub and the only noise was the rubber boot squeaking. No more scraping or vibrations spinning by hand now that I bent the dust shield back a little.

My rear differentials bearings were absolutely toast when I had it replaced earlier this year. My suspicion after reading up on the front ADD thread is a bearing in the front diff has also gone bad. But unless I plan to re-gear, that's not going to get fixed any time soon. I've been working non-stop on this 4Runner for a month and I'm tired. Time to give it a rest.

 

[mtbtim]

Both rear bearings were already replaced due to leaky rear axles seals. Actually redoing another one right now since they leaked again due to the retainer not being in the right spot.

I took off the rotor and caliper and rotated the hub and the only noise was the rubber boot squeaking. No more scraping or vibrations spinning by hand now that I bent the dust shield back a little.

My rear differentials bearings were absolutely toast when I had it replaced earlier this year. My suspicion after reading up on the front ADD thread is a bearing in the front diff has also gone bad. But unless I plan to re-gear, that's not going to get fixed any time soon. I've been working non-stop on this 4Runner for a month and I'm tired. Time to give it a rest.

I feel ya Jerod. Since buying my 98 3rd Gen at the beginning of this year, I've done a ton of shit to it. I've finally got it to a good point and now I just want to use it. I'm pretty sick of wrenching on it with all the mods I've done in such a short time. This weekend will be my second wheeling trip with it.