Vibration while accelerating in two wheel high

Rdoug4

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Sep 30, 2023
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Pennsylvania
All right the issue I’m having is when I accelerate. I am receiving vibration into my seat and steering wheel. If I take my foot off the gas pedal, the vibration goes away. Getting up to speed put the vehicle in neutral no vibration. I have checked the U joints and driveshafts not seeing any play. If I put it into four wheel high, very minor, almost no vibration is felt while accelerating. Your thoughts on what the problem could be would be very appreciated.
 
Either a bad ujoint or pinion angle, if new symptom, look at rear control arm bushings also, they can change the drivehaft angle. Ujoints are cheap, change them with spicer if you need to.
 
I thought u-joints at first also but absolutely no play in them. Front driveshaft is 6 months new with new joints. When four-wheel-drive almost no vibration I would say normal amount. Vibration is in 2 Wheel Dr. and underload when accelerating put it in neutral or take your foot off the gas no vibration.
 
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My next step is to drop the front driveshaft just to ensure that is not the problem. If it is the u-joints in the driveshaft, I should still have the vibration when I’m in four-wheel-drive high.
 
You checked the U joints and there is no play...
Look at the cup seal where the U joint cup and trunion meet; is there rusty dust indicating the needle bearings are grinding inside the cup and on the trunion.
Look at the U joint cup where it seats in the yoke: are there shiny marks on the cup indicating the trunion is not moving independent to the cup ?
 
You checked the U joints and there is no play...
Look at the cup seal where the U joint cup and trunion meet; is there rusty dust indicating the needle bearings are grinding inside the cup and on the trunion.
Look at the U joint cup where it seats in the yoke: are there shiny marks on the cup indicating the trunion is not moving independent to the cup ?

Or just pull the driveshaft and replace them in about 2 hours worth of work.
 
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Or just pull the driveshaft and replace them in about 2 hours worth of work.

Yeah, I thought one of the ways to diagnose, was to pull first the front, then the rear driveshaft, and see which one is causing the issue. And you get the fun of driving a FWD only TJ.

I think a FWD TJ would be better in snow than 4wd. 4WD TJ in the snow scares me. Scares me a lot. 4wd XJ is a beast in the snow. Wheelbase matters.
 
Removing the driveshafts one at a time is my next step. I was just hoping to not have to do that.
 
Check your rear control arm mounts for play. There is a thing called axle wrap that was very common with YJs that causes exactly what you are talking about. However, any play in a TJ rear axle control arm joint is immediately suspect, especially any that would cause any degree of axle wrap.
 
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