Could be tires if a belt has slipped, I had something like this before and that was the problem. What it sounds like more than anything though is a bad shock, especially if it is up and down.

 

Tires are less than a year old and lift kit is less than a year old, I'm certain it's not a shock because my old shocks could be compressed by hand it is wasn't like this.

 

I had similar "bouncing" from the road on some speeds, when i rotate my front wheels (perfectly balanced) i can see that the tire isn’t perfect. In other words, I’m driving on egg shaped tires as the tires wear out it’s getting better so i decided to ignore.

 

Tire age, before you purchased could have them HARDEN; Belts do shift; balancing consider "force variation" also you have not mentioned did you rotate and what happened? Check this for tire age:

 

Tire age, before you purchased could have them HARDEN; Belts do shift; balancing consider "force variation" also you have not mentioned did you rotate and what happened?

All tires were made the 46th week of 2017. I will admit I have not rotated them but believe the mechanic may have when balancing however, I am unsure. I will rotate tomorrow and report back the results.

 

Sounds like a defective and/or out of balance tire. Try swapping the front and rear tires.

 

Agree. The simplest/cheapest test at this point is to rotate fronts to back (not a normal rotation) and see if the issue changes.


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After rotating the tires the issues persists. What else could it be?

 

Did you do a rotation or move the tires front to back and back to front? You want the latter. If it was an out of balance or defective tire, you’d still feel it. The question is whether you can detect the source of the vibration changing, ie now In the back rather than the front.

 

If you can't find anything wrong the next step I would take is mounting a go pro in different positions under the Jeep starting with the front tires to see if you can visually see anything when it is bouncing. If you can isolate the tire maybe you can track it down.

 

Sounds like a out of round tire/bad sidewall to me

 

Another possibility is Radial force variation refers to a difference in the stiffness of a tyre sidewall as it rotates and contacts the road. Tyre/wheel assemblies have some of this due to splices in the different piles of the tyre, but they do not cause a problem unless the force variation is excessive. These ‘stiff spots’ in the sidewall can deflect the tyre/wheel assembly upward as they contact the road. If there are two ‘stiff spots’, they can cause a second-order vibration. First- and second-order tyre/wheel vibrations are the most common to occur as a result of radial force variation. IT would be IMO very odd that this is probable after you did your rotation.

 

We have the same issue...it's not a radial issue. It triggers 55 and above when suspension is joltted..like the grooves on a bridge. But goes away at 45mph. We replaced the pitman assembly and lower control arm with no changes. It going back to the service center monday morning..we have video on it happing.

 

Welcome to the Forum!

 

This is something that our trusted auto mechanic said... It is a form of Death Wobble he has 4 that he did this week with the same issues. He also said the pitman arm usually solve it.

 

Have you confirmed what the problem actually is? I have the same issue.

 

The pitman arm usually solve it? Ummm...
I'll start with the basics in your steering. Understand the basics to understand what and how to check

This dude explains the basics and show you how to check in plain english.

Part#1 is long but it will explain how your Jeep steering works and how everything is connected.

Part#2 shows what to check and how.

Watch and learn. Even if you're not doing the job of replacing failed components it'll give you the idea what to check and you'll be better informed and will know how to ask and what to ask your mechanic to be honest on the stuff he looks and changes.

After that ask yourself why your mechanic thinks changing the pitman arm will solve your issue? Unless you have a non factory pitman arm installed because of a shitty lift like RC and any other lift where the vendor wanted to cut corners with a dropped pitman. If that's the case your mechanic is a keeper. Otherwise dump his azz and find somebody more competent.

 

Has anyone figured out the problem yet? I'm current having the exact same issue. I thought it may be a egg tire and bought a new one and soon as I pulled off its doing the same thing. Tires are rotated with every oil change and get new tires every year. It's getting worse and have black dust and heating up rotar. Any help is appreciated!

 

Sounds like your brake pad is dragging. Jack up the offending wheel and see if it turns freely. Rear, parking brake will need to be off and in neutral. Most likely internally collapsed brake hose.

 

Actually it's stemming from issues with my ABS and thermostat sensor. It's causing things to trigger one by one. My fan keep ramping at high speeds and then through a code to overheat without actually overheating. Then it went to my lights dimming and now locking my right tire. I replaced the thermostat sensor, radiator fan assembly, burped the system and added coolant and replaced the caliber and brake pads since it completely worped my caliber. Seems like I can only get this crap from the dealer. This is just a nightmare. Wondering if I will have a issue just trading it in. Over it. It's too common not to have a recall of these things.

 

Is it throwing ABS fault codes? I don't recall a brake lock up issue like this before unless it was the hose collapsing as I stated. Please let us know how this all turns out. Good luck.

 

Pit arm a jk unless it was loose wont wear. Sure you are not talking about the drag link that connects to the pit arm and knuckle.
Pit arm is a forged part connects to sector shaft on the steering box. has one large bolt.

 

I am gonna bump this thread as I have been chasing this same issue for the last 2 months on a 2009 JKU with an automatic trans. Vibration similar to the OP, but mine hits around 35 to 45mph like some others that have posted in this thread. Have religiously followed the above video inspection methods, listened to everything y'all have to say, swapped dang near everything and still have the issue. I have also scoured every forum I can possibly find on the old interwebs looking for fixes for this problem to no avail. So I am gonna break it down because I am a strugglin' here!

I want to preface this with I have only owned this Jeep since April of this year (2024). Bought it off an old timer who was barely driving it and once in a while would drive some dirt roads... believe he was the 2nd owner which makes me lucky number 3. Started feeling the vibration around 45mph, like hitting the rumble patch on the side of the highway. This started with the wheels and tires that it had on it when I bought it, which were 16" aluminum MSI, 4.5" backspaced, wrapped in 285/75r16 Cooper MTs that were old and cracking. I chalked it up to the tires and have since swapped to 2023 Rubicon takeoffs with Falken Wildpeak ATs (285/70r17) dated 17th week of 2022, that were stashed in some guy's garage and had about 10miles on them. Problem persisted after the wheel swap with the brand new (basically) Wildpeaks. I did have to use a spacer, yes they are hubcentric... not my favorite thing to do, but it works and the JK looks great sitting on those wheels. It is also sitting on a Teraflex 2.5" budget boost puck lift for now, it came that way and honestly I don't see myself going any bigger... probably just swapping out for full springs when I do bumpers and a rack. Then eventually flat fenders!

So, what has he done while chasing this issue you might ask? Well, I found plenty of worn steering components and the start of the dreaded DW trackbar mounting hole issue. So I have now swapped the steering to Doetsch Off-Road's 1 ton TR and Draglink, plated the Trackbar mounts and swapped to a JKS adjustable with shouldered 9/16-18 grade 8 hardware that now is a nice tight fit. I've swapped the ball joints out, even though I didn't find any play, and installed Teraflex's. Went with those for now since I may find future issues and didn't want to go full bore here with Dynas or Metalcloak, which I will probably do in a future axel build. I have retorqued everything in the front end, inspected the control arms, unit bearings, axle u joints and found no issue there. Then I had an alignment done and I still feel the vibration. My pitman arm is torqued proper and hasn't moved off the factory spec marking. I can feel the backlash in the sector shaft within the steering gearbox, but don't feel like that would be the cause here.

So I pulled the front driveshaft this morning to give that a run... STILL VIBRATING between 35 and 45mph. Nothing is needed to kick this off... no bump in the road or anything. Smooth driving and if you approach a constant velocity of 40ish-mph, she starts a shaking. The steering wheel doesn't move. You feel it coming from the front end. With the windows down you can hear the shake... I cannot see the wheels shaking. I am seriously at a loss. Did I miss something??? What should I be rechecking??? Am I a moron... well yes, just ask my wife! What have I not done or possibly done poorly? Gonna go to Discount Tire tomorrow to get a Road Force balance on all 5 tires, but remember, this issue was there with now 2 different sets of tires and I have done rotations on both sets trying to get the problem to go away. Alas, I am still gonna go get that balance done to check the box and probably gonna go back to have the alignment checked yet again.

I hope the crew here can help toss me some ideas to keep chasing this gremlin and get back to Jeepin'. I really have struggled to find the proper solution and hope that we can come together to help others like me in this sorry situation! If you live in my area... looking at you Old Dogger from Cave Creek... I would love to take you for a spin and get your opinion!

 

Does it go away, or get worse if you pass the 45 mph threshold?

 

It goes away if you slow down or speed up through it. You can accelerate right past the range it happens at and you won’t even feel it or notice it while cruising at higher speeds… which I have stopped doing until I understand what is happening here. It’s basically decommissioned until we solve the issue.

 

I'm guessing a transmission problem from your description. Shudder when shifting between gears. Feels like driving over a rumble strip. The 42rle had overheating issues. How many mileson it? The preventive fix is an external Mopar transmission cooler. But you would need at minium a torque converter and most likely a rebuild to solve your problem first. Take it to a transmission expert to help diagnose.

 

160k on it currently. The previous owner had some transmission work done to it, serviced and solenoids replaced is what he told me. I really want to think this old man didn’t sell this Jeep to me knowing it was a lemon with a transmission issue. He was such a nice old guy. Could this be a bad solenoid switching valve? Torque converter shudder?? I’m new to this particular flavor of transmission and was not thinking that my issue could be stemming from there, but here we are… and I thought a recent transmission service and solenoid replacements was an upselling point when i bought it… “well we don’t have to worry about the transmission”, I said clearly with my foot in my mouth.

 

You can also try swapping the rear driveshaft with a known good one. Or have yours checked to be straight and balanced at a shop too. One test ride with a mechanic familar with transmissions will help narrow it down. Good luck and please report back.

 

Well, I finally figured out what the shake was that I have been chasing all this time. It was indeed a form of Torque Converter shudder caused by the converter trying to stay in lockup and never being able to get there or release between 35-45mph. If you had the hammer down, you would power right into lockup and everything was sano. However, under normal driving conditions, the regular slip that would take place when these OEM POS Torque Converters come into action, was no longer taking place in a "fluid" fashion and was messing with everything as the TC tried to go into or out of lock up. Needless to say, this was a transmission rebuild situation. I researched my best options and albeit capable, I decided I just wanted to have it done while I was traveling for business. Had a local trusted transmission shop handle a heavy duty rebuild for me that cost me just a bit more than a HD upgrade from the online shops. Plus, I've got a 2 year parts warranty and I know this guy will back his build for the indefinite future. So back to Jeepin' we go! Cheers!

 

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Get the above also.

 

One more thing to help. The engine/transmission can be reliable in a 2009. Keep the rig light and be aware of your gearing. If you have 3.73's as I suspect. It's not great for highway cruising unless you are in very flat terrain. The jku is heavier too. If you dont re-gear, stay with no more than a 32" and narrow tire. I have a super chips with 93 tune. Yes I pay for premium fuel, but the little extra horsepower allows me to stay in overdrive more often. The constant shifting
in and out creates heat, the number one killer of automatic transmissions. I get better mpgs also with this setup. I do have 4:10 gears and 33" tires, effective rear ends up being 3:99. Get the cooler for longevity. There were even instances when transmission fluid got so hot it spit out the dipstick tube and caused engine fires. Good luck and check and keep your engine oil topped off also. The 3.8/42rle setup can be extremely reliable and inexpensive to maintain.You just have to add the cooler and keep oil in engine.

 

Possible cause.
I haven’t driven my Jeep in a month. In that time the temp has gone from avg 55 degrees to avg 20 degrees. I run 40” tires / 6” lift . I change my complete front end every 50,000 miles. Driving to work yesterday I got a “wobble walk” at 55mph , Front end would lean side to side at steady speed. If I did steady deceleration OR steady acceleration it would go away until I resumed a constant speed.
Being that it sat still for weeks and drastic temp change it’s almost like it is holding onto an out-of-round profile on one area.