Harmonic vibe over 50 after new joints and bearings

As stated. 2008 JKR. I had the hubs and joints replaced today, felt great at first, but then over 50 it started to vibe through the jeep. Not in the wheel, had to explain, but it was almost harmonic. Everything was perfect prior. I called them and they said they are certain it is from reusing the old rotors on the new hubs. I checked all bolts and lugs, all good, so tomorrow I will take it all back apart and install the new pads and rotors. I didnt pay them to do it as I only needed to get to the frozen hub bolts, so let them do jiints and out new hubs on when they did.
Does this sound a reasonable cause? They arent trying to get more money out of me, they know I already have the parts.
Also, I beleive it unrelated but will mention the front pinion seal was replaced as well as the inner axle seals. I did a pinion seal torque wrong once and it was pretty brutally obvious. I did some test 4wd hard starts in forward and reverse and felt no wobble vibe, so I am certain at least this is not the cause.
Moog hubs, spicer joints, nothing but good luck with either in the past.
Oh, had to add, I will check spindle torque when I get the tires off tomorrow.
Thanks for any input.

Upside, replacement will be a breeze since it was all apart today lol, and gives me a chance to put some anti seize on the bolts too, in case they didnt. I swear, I ever buy a new Jeep, brand new, I will bring it home and remove every fastener and apply anti seize.

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My guess is something wasn't done correctly. Any of those parts could cause the issue. Warped brake rotors won't cause that symptom unless you're braking.

WJCO said:

My guess is something wasn't done correctly. Any of those parts could cause the issue. Warped brake rotors won't cause that symptom unless you're braking.

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Thanks, because that was my thinking, and i told them it was not under braking, so maybe they say that from the condition of the inside of the rotor, not making good contact? If it's still there when I replace them they said to keep them in the loop.

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I don't know much about wheel weights, is this a normal one? I've never seen one, and at first thought the weight had come out, but I see writing on it so maybe this is a type they use now?


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Nope. It was bugging mw so I popped the spare on. Same issue at the same speed.
The spindle nut seemed to be on good at least, clicked my wrench at 95 ft lb. I will back both off tomorrow though just to verify.
I know nothing about these stock jk driveshafts. I know with my tj you wanted to line the yoke back to the shaft where it was when you removed it, which I did when I did my front drive shaft. These new ones don't seem to have that requirement though? No ujoint so I assume so at least.

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Replaced pads and rotors, and as expect, did not do it.
It looks like the flange for the axle can mount in any one of four locations, or maybe more because there are a lot of holes, and the ds flange hole look symmetrical.
Is is possible to pick up a high speed vibe from a misaligned flange indexing? Like they didn't put it back in line with the holes it came out of?
I ask because I also noticed that while the vibe statrts around 50mph and continues until at least 75+, it stays even on deceleration, like iust left off the gas, until about 60 when it gets a bit more pronounced/deeper tone until uust under 55, then slight vibe again then stops completely under 50.

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BobNH said:

Replaced pads and rotors, and as expect, did not do it.
It looks like the flange for the axle can mount in any one of four locations, or maybe more because there are a lot of holes, and the ds flange hole look symmetrical.
Is is possible to pick up a high speed vibe from a misaligned flange indexing? Like they didn't put it back in line with the holes it came out of?
I ask because I also noticed that while the vibe statrts around 50mph and continues until at least 75+, it stays even on deceleration, like iust left off the gas, until about 60 when it gets a bit more pronounced/deeper tone until uust under 55, then slight vibe again then stops completely under 50.

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Could be the case. Sometimes you’ll see paint marks on the shaft and yoke to line them up properly. It could affect the balance if it was not installed in the same orientation. You could always bust it loose and spin it 90 or 180 and reinstall. Take it for a dive and see if it has any effect. Did you also check the pinion for play?


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Speedy_RCW said:

Could be the case. Sometimes you’ll see paint marks on the shaft and yoke to line them up properly. It could affect the balance if it was not installed in the same orientation. You could always bust it loose and spin it 90 or 180 and reinstall. Take it for a dive and see if it has any effect. Did you also check the pinion for play?


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I hadn't found any markings unfortunately. Does alignment to the shaft matter as much as alignment to the pinion, as in the flange needs to go back in the same orientation as it came off? I had considered changing the shaft orientati9n but as I had noted, it looked symmetical and could go at least 4 ways, if not more given what appears to be additional threaded holes in the flange.
Thank you for your input though, much appreciated.

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BobNH said:

I hadn't found any markings unfortunately. Does alignment to the shaft matter as much as alignment to the pinion, as in the flange needs to go back in the same orientation as it came off? I had considered changing the shaft orientati9n but as I had noted, it looked symmetical and could go at least 4 ways, if not more given what appears to be additional threaded holes in the flange.
Thank you for your input though, much appreciated.

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The flange orientation on the pinion shouldn’t matter. I’d try changing the relationship between flange and shaft by 180 degrees and see if it changes anything. Did you check for pinion play as mentioned above? It’s possible they screwed something up when they did your pinion seal.


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Speedy_RCW said:

The flange orientation on the pinion shouldn’t matter. I’d try changing the relationship between flange and shaft by 180 degrees and see if it changes anything. Did you check for pinion play as mentioned above? It’s possible they screwed something up when they did your pinion seal.


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Thanks and sorry no, I did not check it as I havent removed the shaft. How much, and in what direction (x/y or z) would be considered normal?
I also am going back down there tomorrow to have them check all that, so I wasn't sure if I should move anything or leave it in the same orientation for them.
Pisses me off, as I have done pinion seal front and rear on my tj, using the thread count for placement and reusing the same nut, and never went wrong. Well, slightly wrong, but one more full turn on the rear fixed that too. If this is the problem, lesson learned.
My only other thought is they bent a stub shaft removing the old unit bearing, but they said everything came apart no problem.

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BobNH said:

Thanks and sorry no, I did not check it as I havent removed the shaft. How much, and in what direction (x/y or z) would be considered normal?
I also am going back down there tomorrow to have them check all that, so I wasn't sure if I should move anything or leave it in the same orientation for them.
Pisses me off, as I have done pinion seal front and rear on my tj, using the thread count for placement and reusing the same nut, and never went wrong. Well, slightly wrong, but one more full turn on the rear fixed that too. If this is the problem, lesson learned.
My only other thought is they bent a stub shaft removing the old unit bearing, but they said everything came apart no problem.

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No movement except rotational. You can check that with the shaft installed. And you should always use a new pinion nut. Hope they figure out what’s up. Keep us posted on what is found.


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I had the same experience with an old WJ I had. I replaced the front hub bearings with Timken bearings. It had a rough feel to them over 50 but they had no play in them. I ended up replacing them again and it went away. Spin the hubs by hand slowly with the brakes off and see how they feel. If they feel like they have sand in them they’re bad. One may have not been greased properly or got dirt in it from the factory.


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Bearings make no noise at all, pinion and shaft have no movement except rotational, but the bolts appear to have been installed with an impact because I can't budge them.
Additionally, there is a mud or diet mark on an ear of the shaft and on the flange in the same area, but that could have happened since install. That is the only mariing I could find though.
Thanks everyone for your assistance, and I will update as soon as I have word on it tomorrow.
Also, it was koted to me the joints may be binding. I did drive it in 4wd through tight circles and found nothing abnormal, just the usual jump from turning too far on 4wd.

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If they installed the shaft in a different spot on the flange and didn’t clean the flange first it can make it out of balance. You have to clean the rust off the flange first


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Update/completion
Took it to the shop, srove around hell amd back several times shooting thebsuit with the service mgr.
We took it on test drive, he agreed driveline not joints or hub assys, went back pulled the driveshaft and to check off all boxes, balanced the tires. These were installed 3 weeks ago, brand new, plus no vibe at all prior to the work. He still wanted to check all the boxes, amd found the forst tire off, right rear, was off by 6.5 oz. Wow. So, force balance of all 4 complete, we went for another test drive with balanced tires sans front ds. No vibe. Went back to the shop, reinstall front ds, road trip-no vibe. It appears, at least the assumption is, the hubs were hiding some of this, and installing new made it more obvious.
So 2.5 hours later, and the cause is something they had no control over, and recall I supplied my own joints and hubs, and the total cost for today was 0. This is the Jeep dealership you want to work with.
Thanks again everyone for your input, it has been greatly appreciated.

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