Strange shake in steering wheel

WLFMOON

WLFMOON

New member
Hi Guys & Gals,
Haven't posted in a while.....Been super busy with my business.
Anyways, I have a strange situation with my 13' 2Dr Rubi.
Brief history: I have a MetalCloak 3.5" lift which I have been running for about 3 years. All front end parts drag link, tie rod, etc are MetalCloak. 35" tires on stock Dana 44 axles with 4:10 gears. Jeep has 42,000 miles.
Around 40,000 miles I noticed a slight shake in the steering wheel, and I knew that the stock ball joints were probably toast. Did a ball joint swap with heavy duty aftermarket ones.
Test drove. Still have the shake, so I thought perhaps the tires got worn funny. I tried my other set of 35" tires from my daily driver....shake still there. Went the route of changing out the bearing/hub assembly's.
Also checked every component for proper tightness in the front end. I can't find anything wrong.
I still have a shake in the steering wheel from about 40mph to 60mph.
Would like to hear your opinions of what you may think it is.......I'm at a loss at this point.
 
M

MDK210

New member
Does it shake if you accelerate through that 40-60mph range or only when you are cruising?

I'm having some issues right now with that mph range but you have a lot more steering upgrades than me. We're trying new tires this week but you already did that so not sure...most say that mph range is a tire issue.
 
WLFMOON

WLFMOON

New member
MDK210 said:
Does it shake if you accelerate through that 40-60mph range or only when you are cruising?

I'm having some issues right now with that mph range but you have a lot more steering upgrades than me. We're trying new tires this week but you already did that so not sure...most say that mph range is a tire issue.
Click to expand...

If I accelerate through those speeds it seems to go away....but you can still feel something isn't right.
Tire/wheels are not the issue, because they run fine on my 4dr rubi...smooth as could be.
I'm wondering about my driveshaft. It is stock. It doesn't seem to have any play in it yet.
 
M

MDK210

New member
Yeah I was gonna say front driveshaft next. Either remove the driveshaft and test the vibration or get up to the problem speeds, throw the trans in neutral and let it coast.
 
jorgelrod

jorgelrod

Hooked
MDK210 said:
Does it shake if you accelerate through that 40-60mph range or only when you are cruising?

I'm having some issues right now with that mph range but you have a lot more steering upgrades than me. We're trying new tires this week but you already did that so not sure...most say that mph range is a tire issue.
Click to expand...

This is most likely a tire/wheel out of balance. I usually have this happen to me when I rotate the tires, I might have this, I ask them to re balance my fronts and one of them have ususally thrown a weight or two and as soon as it gets rebalanced it goes away. Running 35's on stock JK rims require a lot of weights. at least that's been my case...
 
P

PEACEMAKER1

New member
WLFMOON said:
If I accelerate through those speeds it seems to go away....but you can still feel something isn't right.
Tire/wheels are not the issue, because they run fine on my 4dr rubi...smooth as could be.
I'm wondering about my driveshaft. It is stock. It doesn't seem to have any play in it yet.
Click to expand...

i would think if it was the driveshaft then you would feel it not just in the steering...but maybe :/ Does it get worse when you brake? Sometimes warped rotors can contribute to steering shake. Or maybe bad front shocks?
 
sm31

sm31

Active Member
When you were working on the hubs, did you check the axle flanges? I had a shake for awhile that was due to a bent axle flange...
 
DogHouse

DogHouse

Member
Check your front rotors. I had a wheel spacer that wasn’t machined right from the factory and about 1/3 of the spacer wasn’t contacting the rotor. As a result the rotor warped where the spacer didn’t make contact and was dragging along the brake pad. My shaking started around 35 mph and disappeared around 60 mph. I also had a slight drag to the right when I let go of the steering wheel. Took it in for an alignment check and everything was fine. Then replaced the caliper thinking it was stuck. Then I replaced the rotors. The shaking stopped for about a day and then came right back. Luckily I had the mindset to brush never seize on the back of the spacer and when I pulled the spacer off the second time there was a clear gap on the rotor where the never seize never touched. With the spacers off and new wheels and rotors on the shaking was gone and hasn’t been back.


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Last edited:
WLFMOON

WLFMOON

New member
pulled the front driveshaft, as it was stock and noticed a little grease leaking on the transfer case end. Shake is slightly better, but is still present.
Going to check everything from front to back today and see if there is anything else that may be causing it.
 
QuicksilverJK

QuicksilverJK

Caught the Bug
Sure sounds like wheel balance to me. Even though they ran smooth on your 4dr (heavier vehicle) they could be out just enough to feel in the 2dr. Or if they weren't put on in the same locations that they were on the 4dr. I would have the balance checked before throwing any more parts at it.


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