maybe2fast
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- COMMERCE, MI
Not sure if it is even in the right forum, but with SO much talk about highway vibration and "everything is tight in the front end" talk. I thought I would bring this up.
As stated when a vibration on the expressway occurs:
1. Balance tires: This can cause vibration at as low as 55mph. If traditional balancing has failed for you, I suggest a road-force balance, most tire places will have these now. There is a way to balance tires on a roadforce balancer without using the road-force wheel so...make sure you request it! Also have them put the wheels that had the lowest weight and looked the straightest on the front. Most tire guys will do this without asking because they don't want to see you again for vibration issues that they have to redo for free (Tire guy experience? Yeah I was a tire tech)
2. Alignment: most of the time you can tell if your rig needs an alignment...let go of the wheel and see what happens. There are plenty of instances that the vehicle will track fairly straight and still need an alignment though
3. Any decent shop doing an alignment is going to check the front end first and let you know if there is a loose component
4. Driveline: drive shafts, u-joints (all), motor mounts, trans-mounts. Not a whole lot to say...make sure there are NO loose parts. Easy to do and easy to forget to check
If you still have a vibration and the ^above has been performed with no change or little result, then I am speaking from experience. With most of us running around with 200k plus, Wheels. Wheels are what makes your Jeep go round. I had been through the above and was extremely frustrated. The road force balance told me that the rims had some run-out but they would balance properly, but the bottom line is the front end of the XJ (Jeeps) are sensitive and with 4 bent wheels (not bent a lot) the front and rear will translate right to your butt and steering wheel. I finally decided to try an experiment. I wanted a set of Soft 8s and did not want to get rid of my beloved XJ, but the vibration/shimmy was driving me CRAZY! I have a 12mile one way commute to work 80% on expressway and something had to be done.
Enter the Soft 8s. Now I am not promoting the Cragars! Get what ever wheel you want!
Bottom line the vibration/shimmy has subsided 85% and the Jeep has no more vibrations on the expressway than is expected. This little write up may sound like I want a Cadillac on the expressway...NO. I merely wanted to DD XJ that could handle the 75+ speeds of MIs highways without shaking up my pop sitting in the cup holder ( it wasn't quite that bad, lol), with no answer why!
I opted for the Soft 8s 15x8 4in back spacing
I have 1.75 spacers in the front and 1.5 shackles in the rear
I Nates4x4.com slimline winch bumper with a 8500lbs (I think) Ramsey winch on the front
Some mods, 99+ intake, cone filter, muffler. irrelevant info to vibrations.
Good luck to all!
assgas:
As stated when a vibration on the expressway occurs:
1. Balance tires: This can cause vibration at as low as 55mph. If traditional balancing has failed for you, I suggest a road-force balance, most tire places will have these now. There is a way to balance tires on a roadforce balancer without using the road-force wheel so...make sure you request it! Also have them put the wheels that had the lowest weight and looked the straightest on the front. Most tire guys will do this without asking because they don't want to see you again for vibration issues that they have to redo for free (Tire guy experience? Yeah I was a tire tech)
2. Alignment: most of the time you can tell if your rig needs an alignment...let go of the wheel and see what happens. There are plenty of instances that the vehicle will track fairly straight and still need an alignment though
3. Any decent shop doing an alignment is going to check the front end first and let you know if there is a loose component
4. Driveline: drive shafts, u-joints (all), motor mounts, trans-mounts. Not a whole lot to say...make sure there are NO loose parts. Easy to do and easy to forget to check
If you still have a vibration and the ^above has been performed with no change or little result, then I am speaking from experience. With most of us running around with 200k plus, Wheels. Wheels are what makes your Jeep go round. I had been through the above and was extremely frustrated. The road force balance told me that the rims had some run-out but they would balance properly, but the bottom line is the front end of the XJ (Jeeps) are sensitive and with 4 bent wheels (not bent a lot) the front and rear will translate right to your butt and steering wheel. I finally decided to try an experiment. I wanted a set of Soft 8s and did not want to get rid of my beloved XJ, but the vibration/shimmy was driving me CRAZY! I have a 12mile one way commute to work 80% on expressway and something had to be done.
Enter the Soft 8s. Now I am not promoting the Cragars! Get what ever wheel you want!
Bottom line the vibration/shimmy has subsided 85% and the Jeep has no more vibrations on the expressway than is expected. This little write up may sound like I want a Cadillac on the expressway...NO. I merely wanted to DD XJ that could handle the 75+ speeds of MIs highways without shaking up my pop sitting in the cup holder ( it wasn't quite that bad, lol), with no answer why!
I opted for the Soft 8s 15x8 4in back spacing
I have 1.75 spacers in the front and 1.5 shackles in the rear
I Nates4x4.com slimline winch bumper with a 8500lbs (I think) Ramsey winch on the front
Some mods, 99+ intake, cone filter, muffler. irrelevant info to vibrations.
Good luck to all!
assgas:
