Vibration from front end, gear binding

Since I bought the jeep there has been a low frequency vibration, kind of like running over a small rumble strip, while decelerating below 10 mph or slowly moving forward. It is constant, all the time, every time below that speed. I originally thought it was just tire vibration, however...

The other day I replaced the axle shaft seals and when I put the carrier and axles back in, I spun the axle without the brakes installed and felt that it was not smooth and could feel the spider gears meshing as I spun it. Turning the drive shaft did not have the same issue. It feels the same on the road after I put everything back together as it always has.

One note, I just had the ring and pinions replaced (upgraded to 4.56). There was no change after the gears were replaced.

Am I looking at a carrier or spider gear issue? Not shimmed properly?

2013 JK Sport
35's with 4.56 gears
2.5 AEV lift

Thanks for the help!

How worn are your tires? If they are even slightly worn unevenly, it gets really bad.

If it's not tires, then that sounds like a not so good gear job perhaps...

aermotor said:

How worn are your tires? If they are even slightly worn unevenly, it gets really bad.

If it's not tires, then that sounds like a not so good gear job perhaps...

Click to expand...

Tires are fairly new and seem to be wearing normally.

Should the axle rotate smoothly with no weight on the axle or load on the drive shaft?

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Should be smooth when on Jack stands... on my previous TJ I disconnected the driveshaft and binding was still present. Turned out spider gears were toast. Good luck

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