Over the weekend, here in WV, we got about 2 inches of snow (NOT A LOT REALLY), but it came on rather quickly and stuck to the roads (Backroads between Morgantown and Fairmont). Since the roads were mostly covered...(and where they were not covered I disengaged 4hi)... I drove home about 15 miles in 4hi, never over 55-60 mph.

What I noticed...and the reason for my question....is:

When driving in 4hi, and the speed getting up to or around 45-55mph, I noticed that a vibration was causing my dashboard/glove box to vibrate to the point I could hear it over the radio. However, I did not feel any vibration in the steering wheel or elsewhere for that matter.

Why/What would make this happen?

Just asking, so I know what to possibly tell the dealership to look for when fixing the problem. I'm starting to take my 2007 in for everything, as I've only had it for about 3 months and its been in the shop 9 times or more for many different/and sometimes the same things.

So any info would be greatly appreciated. I want to get all the problems fixed so I can drive my Jeep in peace....

Thanks

Clark (SupermanWV)

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"It's not the SIZE of the dog in the fight, its the SIZE of the fight in the dog."

Being you drove in part time at speeds up to 60mph(which you can,but why?) it sounds pretty normal to me.Just remember the front diff is spinning slightly faster then the rear diff,at those speeds in part time your going to have some vibrations.

2" of snow with no ice underneath(with decent tires) is hardly "slippery" enough for part time,in my opinion.If you could do 60mph it wasn't the right time for part time.

I may have gotten to those speeds, I'm just guesstimating. The only time I may have gotten to those speeds was in the straight-a-ways. But most of the time, I was at 35-40 or less, especially in the turns.

P.S....can you also explain this to me:

Before I had my Liberty, I had a Toyota Tacoma 4x4, and when it was raining hard and water was standing in the roads, or when snowing but not completely covering the roads, I would put my Tacoma in 4hi, and drive....with no worries, but mostly on interstate, and sometimes even where I had to make somewhat sharper turns....and never did I have any problems with the 4x4 acting up or breaking. Why is it that Jeep says not to run the Liberty in 4hi in those situations. I would think the 4x4's would be somewhat the same. As my Tacoma was not a FULL TIME 4x4. Just wondering. Because I liked the ability to do that, as it seemed a little safer, and kept me from Hydroplaining in heavy rain or getting rear end sliding while in snow.

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"It's not the SIZE of the dog in the fight, its the SIZE of the fight in the dog."

The older Tacomas had a gear driven t-case,unlike the chain drive in the KJ t-case.The gear driven case is much,much stronger and won't have the the problems of the chain style cases(vibration from the chain).In the chain driven t-cases when in part time at those speeds the chain will vibrate if on a surface not "slippery" enough for the diffs to "slip" enough to not cause driveling bind,in the gear driven t-case you won't have this,less play in the t-case and it just makes the wheels slip,slippery or not.

As the conditions from the front tires to the rear are only about 8' apart, true hydroplanning is probably not alleviated by 4wd. Vehicle weight & tire design are the primary factors there.

Ok, I know I shouldn't BUT: over the weekend we got about 15" of snow. As I like to do stupid stuff, I had the KJ up to about 60 for miles at a time on the well-covered interstate. There was no vibration. There should be no vibration. Unless it was coming from the x-fer, all of the other parts are the same as the 242 "full time" rigs. They run at speed in full-time with no vibration. I can't see where a probelm that was not related to the x-fer would be the cause ( doesn't the drive shaft turn in when in 2hi?) of the vibration.

Honestly, a lot of these problems are caused by the tire contacting built-up snow/ice in the wheel well. As the KJ does not have much extra room in there, that might be the problem. Also, crap built up in your rims could also be throwing the balance off and it was showing up at higher speeds.

The chains drives are more forgiving, the way it was explained to me. Dealing mainly with gear-drive D20's, the idea is that they may force the wheels to slip, but what doesn't give will break, and you can break a gear-driven x-fer by usig it when you shouldn't easier than a chain-drive because of it. It made sense to me, anyway.

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A dirty Jeep is a happy Jeep

Thanks for the info...but like I said...I didn't feel any vibration...I could just hear it when my dashboard started to vibrate. So I wouldn't imagine it was coming from the transfer case, or I would have been able to feel it in the steering wheel or the body of the Jeep shaking. So what else could it possibly be?

Clark

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"It's not the SIZE of the dog in the fight, its the SIZE of the fight in the dog."