Steering Wheel Vib

As everyone knows I just installed a lift and have a small issue. The steering wheel vibrates at speeds over 50mph. It isn’t a major vibration more of a minor thing....

It has been to the alignment shop 3 times now and had the tires balanced twice. The second balancing made less noticeable...

Is it the tread on the A/T's that I'm feeling or is something wrong????

Have you tried moving the front tires to the rear?

jeh200284 said:

As everyone knows I just installed a lift and have a small issue. The steering wheel vibrates at speeds over 50mph. It isn’t a major vibration more of a minor thing....

It has been to the alignment shop 3 times now and had the tires balanced twice. The second balancing made less noticeable...

Is it the tread on the A/T's that I'm feeling or is something wrong????

Click to expand...

No one can say with out driving the Jeep
I really doubt that the tread on such a mild AT would be what you are feeling
I would roll the tires front to back OR pull 1 front and install the spare
if problem persist then remove the other tire leaving the spare and installing
the first removed tire

You could very well have a bad tire ,I had 1 of my MTR's go bad
but I just put it on as the spare

I'll agree with Mr Thompson here. Could be belt seperation. But you'd think that it would be visible during the balancing.

Get under your Jeep and grab the CV axle "cups" where they go into the front axle and wiggle them up and down, if there is a lot of play this might be your wobble. I just replaced my front passenger CV axle and inner shaft and that took care of my wobble AFTER trying everything else.

Spidey said:

Get under your Jeep and grab the CV axle "cups" where they go into the front axle and wiggle them up and down, if there is a lot of play this might be your wobble. I just replaced my front passenger CV axle and inner shaft and that took care of my wobble AFTER trying everything else.

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Did you get a bad brake pedal vibration when on the brakes?

jeh200284 said:

As everyone knows I just installed a lift and have a small issue. The steering wheel vibrates at speeds over 50mph. It isn’t a major vibration more of a minor thing....

It has been to the alignment shop 3 times now and had the tires balanced twice. The second balancing made less noticeable...

Is it the tread on the A/T's that I'm feeling or is something wrong????

Click to expand...

Alignments DO NOT CAUSE VIBRATIONS (we need a sticky that says that)
A: bent wheel
KJ's stock steelies are weak and when they bend, the whooooooole thing is BENT. More of a wobble-side-to-side feeling.
B: out-of-round tire
Common on Firestones and other budget tires. Even new, yes.
C: You had a less-than-stellar shop align your Jeep, and they did NOT check your tie rod ends before aligning.
Stupid of them, because that's more potential money in their pocket.
D: CV axle issue.
***** bro.

ptsb5a said:

I'll agree with Mr Thompson here. Could be belt seperation. But you'd think that it would be visible during the balancing.

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Not always. ThunderbirdJunkie had a belt separation in an MT/R that was not visible on the balancer, but was felt in the steering wheel and seat above 50. When that tire went to the tailgate, it magically disappeared

Well I guess I'll be taking it back to firestone in the morning..

TBJ how do you check tie rod ends??????

The jeep has 57,000 miles on it. Do CV still need to be checked???

Jack up the front end and wiggle the tire back and forth horizontally as if it were steering. If you feel play, then you have either inners or outers loose. This will later be determined.

ThunderbirdJunkie thinks, however, you have a 99.99999999% chance of having a crap tire on there.

jeh200284 said:

Well I guess I'll be taking it back to firestone in the morning..

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why would you do this?
They have had a few tries and found nothing
I would start with tires ,removing 1 at a time is very easy
if you had no vibes before tires but do now then this is your issue

kj924 said:

Did you get a bad brake pedal vibration when on the brakes?

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Not really, I mean the wobble could be felt all-around and not just at the steering wheel but I didn't notice anything specific to the brake pedal.

My KJ had this problem and we found that both the rotors and my tires were bad (yay warped rotors). We did a 5 tire rotation, alignment, and balance but nothing helped. I got 4 brand new tires and all new rotors and it eliminated the issue. I think maybe the steel belt might have gotten screwed up because it sat for the summer on the lot, but who knows. I don't know much about mechanics about a car but maybe you might be having a similar bad tire issue if the tires are defective.

During this whole crap fest, I heard almost a sort of wobbling/muffled washer machine-like noise that sounded like it was coming from the front left tire no matter which of the 4 tires were on there.

Just as a note, I'm all stock so it could be a completely different circumstance (and probably is ) but that's my $.02

When balancing a KJ tire and rim should it be balanced using the hub centric adapter or the lug centric adapter? What about a Road Force Balance?? I'm trying to educate myself when I go to war with Firestone on monday.. smashfreakB.gif

Road Force balancing doesn't matter, because nobody seems to know how to use the machines properly anyway.

If you have the chrome-clad wheels, they can be a ***** to center up...but not THAT hard. The KJ's wheels are hub-centric anyway, which is the way almost any shop will balance all tires (whether it's right or not)

An update....

I'm still fighting this issue and finally had time to get it looked at. The shop found "run out" in the front axles.. When they had it on the lift you could grab the wheel bearing and move it around with little effort on both sides.

The shop is recommending that both axles be replaced (CV joints correct?) Does the intermediate shaft need to be replaced as well or just the CV's? Is it normal to be able to move the axles like that...

Extended warranty people will be at the shop in the morning to approve this repair... If they deny it because of the lift do I have any recourse???

jeh200284 said:

A.

Extended warranty people will be at the shop in the morning to approve this repair... If they deny it because of the lift do I have any recourse???

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Yeah pay the bill.

tjkj2002 said:

Yeah pay the bill.

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rollinglaugh.gif

tjkj2002 said:

Yeah pay the bill.

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Ok I guess I wasn't clear when asking... Would the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act apply here if they deny the claim?

Here is the reason im asking... I modified the suspension the CV's are part of drivetrain.. Drivetrain and suspension are to seprate componets correct?

jeh200284 said:

Ok I guess I wasn't clear when asking... Would the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act apply here if they deny the claim?

Here is the reason im asking... I modified the suspension the CV's are part of drivetrain.. Drivetrain and suspension are to seprate componets correct?

Click to expand...

No the MM act will not help you,lift it and they can rightfully deny anything in the suspension and drivetrain due to being over stressed and not in normal operating ranges.Clearly stated in any warranty paperwork.

The lift wears out bushings,tie rods,ball joints,CV axles,u-joints,and bearings faster then normal,that is fact and they know it.

The bigger tires(heavier) you put on after the lift puts more strain and shortens the engine,trans,t-case,diffs,brakes,and bearings life,again that is fact and they know it.


They can not deny stuff like a failed wiper motor if your lifted,that is the purpose of the MM act.

MM act also does not cover aftermarket warranty coverage; only manufacturer-backed warranty coverage, like Chrysler's 7/70, Lifetime warranty, or their current 100k mile warranty.