Steering Wheel Vibration

[techno]

Just installed a Wrangler Rubicon D44 in my 1996 XJ. Now there is a vibration felt in the steering wheel. There is no shimmy ir bump steer, just an annoying vibration from 35MPH up.

New parts so far:
All new brackets that are needed including:
Brackets for the lower control arms,
New spring pad,
OTK trac bar, Cromoly one end and Johnny Joint the other,
Bored steering gear and power assist ram, all new brakes,
Slightly used Bilstein shocks,
Antirock sway bar and links.
Lower control arms have OEM rubber on one end and Cromoly Heim on the other end.

At this time the axle shafts and drive shaft have been removed. Everything is tightened to specs and then a little more for good measure.
Driveway alignment is acceptable. (the same thing I have been doing for 20+ years)
It is fitted with JK wheels and 265-70-17 tires. Tires date codes are 3619 which is translated to September 2019. The vibes do not feel like it is tire related.

This is a real head scratcher.

 

[phydeaux33]

Just installed a Wrangler Rubicon D44 in my 1996 XJ. Now there is a vibration felt in the steering wheel. There is no shimmy ir bump steer, just an annoying vibration from 35MPH up.

New parts so far:
All new brackets that are needed including:
Brackets for the lower control arms,
New spring pad,
OTK trac bar, Cromoly one end and Johnny Joint the other,
Bored steering gear and power assist ram, all new brakes,
Slightly used Bilstein shocks,
Antirock sway bar and links.
Lower control arms have OEM rubber on one end and Cromoly Heim on the other end.

At this time the axle shafts and drive shaft have been removed. Everything is tightened to specs and then a little more for good measure.
Driveway alignment is acceptable. (the same thing I have been doing for 20+ years)
It is fitted with JK wheels and 265-70-17 tires. Tires date codes are 3619 which is translated to September 2019. The vibes do not feel like it is tire related.

This is a real head scratcher.

Take the tires to a shop and have them balanced, I chased a front end vibration 62-70mph forever and a lot of money in parts. Turned out it was a broken belt on the tire, no visible signs. You could even rotate the tires to see if the front end vibration goes away.

 

[techno]

Actually, yesterday I changed the front tires to some I had on the garage floor complete and ready to go. I did have 2 sets of JK takeoffs in my possession. The steering shimmy is gone. Now, I have to add a few degrees of caster to bring it to specs and road test it again. Yes, there is a bit of left to right wandering.

With 3.5-inch spring lift which brings the XJ Country to 4.5 inches high, the rear seems a bit stiff after sitting for almost 4 years. It was fitted with 3.5-inch coils up front and Dakota main leaf under the XJ main leaf with a StinkyFab shackle in the rear.

 

[ChillyB]

X2 on checking tires first. Also, I had a tire that vibrated badly. I knew it was one of fronts because swapping to rear moved the symptom. Tires balanced perfectly on the machine, took down the road, still bad vibes. Drove back to shop, back in machine, still balanced but I watched it the second time. The technician failed to notice that although perfectly balanced, it was no longer circular. Probably a broken belt caused a significant lump.

 

[ChillyB]

Thinking some more. Could caster be off? Too little?

 

[techno]

I have made some progress, but the steering wheel vibes are still there.

I have replaced the front tires with some newer JK take offs and the tire wobble is gone.
Added more caster which improved the return to center (but it's still weak). It now drives straight down the road with no side-to-side wander.
Adjusted the toe to about 0.125" in. No more tire scrub when maneuvering in tight spaces.
I have not taken it on the highway but in runs very well on city streets.

The steering wheel vibration is still there. The strange part about it is, it only occurs between 25 and 35 MPH observed on several occasions. It is nonexistent below 25 MPH and also above 35 MPH all the way up to 50 MPH. There is no shaking felt in the XJ like axle or tire shake just a sharp and fast oscillating in the steering wheel with almost no left to right movement felt.

There is one thing that bothers me a bit though. I have installed an OTK drag link. The link is brand new from a right-hand drive JK. The XJ pitman arm and the right-side steering knuckle was drilled and a bushing installed to accommodate the JK draglink. The JK TRE is larger than the XJ TRE thus the bushing. The knuckle now has the draglink in OTK instead of UTK thus the other bushing. I keep questioning myself whether or not those bushings are the reason for the low-speed steering wheel shake that is not felt in the rest of the XJ.

There is no installed steering damper at this time but there is a hydro assist ram attached to the diff cover and to the steering tie rod. https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/R2518.html

 

[Evan03]

Had a similar issue on my f150 pulling my hair out.

Changed ujoints. Got rid of tire balajce beads after busting tires down and adding 4oz to each tire no change.

All new shocks tight front end two shops balanced tires. No tire wear patterns.

Laying under truck banging prying crying trying to figurr out what to change next i noticed a bent wheel on the front.

Swapped it to rear and that was it. It still shakes but not near as bad now. Truck sees a fair amount of offroad use.

Doing that was like a breath of fresh air as both shops thought i was crazy getting tires balanced two times in one day. Truck was near un drivable at 70-80mph

 

[ChillyB]

Had a similar issue on my f150 pulling my hair out.

Changed ujoints. Got rid of tire balajce beads after busting tires down and adding 4oz to each tire no change.

All new shocks tight front end two shops balanced tires. No tire wear patterns.

Laying under truck banging prying crying trying to figurr out what to change next i noticed a bent wheel on the front.

Swapped it to rear and that was it. It still shakes but not near as bad now. Truck sees a fair amount of offroad use.

Doing that was like a breath of fresh air as both shops thought i was crazy getting tires balanced two times in one day. Truck was near un drivable at 70-80mph

Seems like shops should give a minute of attention to not just balance, but shape. Had similar problem with a perfectly balanced tire with broken belt (lump).

 

[Evan03]

Funny thing is is each time you spin a tire on the balancer it calls out different weight and location. Heck the first shop had no weights on one wheel. Im like are you sure. Second shop put weights on that wheel
I gota order some 17s soon