50mph+ vibration

jmark · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2011 12:11 am

I'm trying to track down a vibration on my KJ, it starts at 50mph and gets worse with speed, levelling off around 75 or so depending on the road surface, I'm on my original CVs and intermediate at 124k, ujoints were replaced (which needed to be done, but didn't solve that problem).

im thinking either tire balance or the intermediate shaft, any thoughts?

kjon · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2011 10:48 am

I'd start with a rotation/balance, but if it's causing bad vibes, it might be too late, or you might have to wait a couple thousand miles for your tires to wear evenly again. It could be anything really, but I'd start with the cheap and free fixes. I had a similar bad vibe at 135,000 and it ended up being the passenger side cv/intermediate shaft, but i didn't find that out until I replaced u-joints, front driveshaft, clutch :evil:

, did a rotate/balance.... all stuff that needed to be done anyway, but it was VERY apparent what my real problem was when I popped off the cv and found nearly no splines left :shock:

good luck!

jmark · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2011 10:56 am

The tires are less than 3000 miles old (about 1800 miles old actually) , so that'll hopefully be it.

jimjeep0 · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2011 10:15 pm

Jmark,
I had similar issue that kept getting worse and worse, I changed wheel bearings tires and double checked balance and anything else I thought it could be. It got REALLY bad and I thought the whole front end was going to rattle apart. It ended up being intermediate shaft as others have posted. It was rusted so bad there were no splines left at all. If you grab the big round end of the CV shaft and push up and down there was a ton of play on mine before new installed. After there was very little. I am not a mechanic at all but am located in Howell NJ if you ever need any help.
Jim

Kasmir Jones · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2011 10:50 pm

Let me know if I need to bring my BFH!

jmark · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2011 11:17 pm

Lets see how rough this job goes, thankfully all the front suspension bolts have a nice coating of anti-seize on them from when i did my lift. It'll still be a PITA to get to the darn thing and once i do i hope i can get it out. :banghead:

Sport · **Posted:** Tue Dec 20, 2011 10:47 am

Interesting I may have to check this out myself, some days no noise and other days vibe noise. I bet this is it. If I remove the CV and do a test run without them, will oil fall out of the diff? lol

jmark · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 8:37 pm

Swapped front CV and intermediate today.. Not a bad job at all, used care not to nick the new boots getting it in.

The Intermediate going into the axle itself was fine, the intermediate going to the CV had a ton of play compared to the new one (and i couldnt seperate it)

and the vibration seems to be gone! :BANANA:

Thanks to Kasmir Jones for all his help too!

LI_KJ · **Posted:** Sat Dec 24, 2011 12:34 pm

jmark wrote:

Swapped front CV and intermediate today.. Not a bad job at all, used care not to nick the new boots getting it in.

The Intermediate going into the axle itself was fine, the intermediate going to the CV had a ton of play compared to the new one (and i couldnt seperate it)

and the vibration seems to be gone! :BANANA:

Thanks to Kasmir Jones for all his help too!

Jmark put the intermediate shaft in a vice and whack the cv housing with a bfh and the shaft will pop off the cv axle housing. Then you can see what a mess those splines are. Mine were pretty gnarly on the shaft side not so much on the axle housing input. If you have vibes in the front end this is most likely the cause!

805gregg · **Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2012 10:52 pm

Ok I've got the same vibration, I looked at the CD manual, and didn't really see CV shaft or Intermediate shaft, where in the front are these, please excuse my ignorance. I'm a good mechanic but sometimes the terms throw me off. Thanks

infernicus · **Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2012 11:46 pm

805gregg wrote:

Ok I've got the same vibration, I looked at the CD manual, and didn't really see CV shaft or Intermediate shaft, where in the front are these, please excuse my ignorance. I'm a good mechanic but sometimes the terms throw me off. Thanks

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=56509

ArmyKJ · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 11:08 am

I had this issue...a trip to the dealer and 2 new u-joints on the rear drive shaft later I was up and running again!!!

805gregg · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 8:47 pm

infernicus wrote:

805gregg wrote:

Ok I've got the same vibration, I looked at the CD manual, and didn't really see CV shaft or Intermediate shaft, where in the front are these, please excuse my ignorance. I'm a good mechanic but sometimes the terms throw me off. Thanks

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=56509

Thanks, now i know what i'm looking at.

M&P40 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:50 pm

does changing out the intermediate shaft involve opening the diff and replacing the fluids?

infernicus · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2012 6:03 pm

M&P40 wrote:

does changing out the intermediate shaft involve opening the diff and replacing the fluids?

Nope!
Just pull it out and stick it back in, lol.

50mph+ vibration

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