Unidentifiable vibration felt in floor and steering wheel

[87warrior]

I know diagnosing a vibration online is difficult but I am in need of any help as I am loosing my mind. My stock (with exception of a Bud Built transmission skid) 2016 with 175k miles has a vibration and groan (woo-woo-woo sound) that starts around 55 mph and stays pretty consistent up to 80 mph. It has slowly been getting worse over the past couple of months. It's felt in the floor board and steering wheel and kind of feels and sounds like a front wheel bearing going out. I did remove the skid plate to eliminate that as a possible source.

The vibration and groan seems to go away (or lessen) when taking a long sweeping left hand corner. There is no change when braking. There is no change with the center diff locked. This weekend I replaced both front wheel bearings with prebuilt assemblies from Cruiser Outfitters with absolutely no change to the vibration/groan. I've done a 5 tire rotation and pried on the ujoints to look for play and greased the driveshafts. I have lifted each corner and pushed, pulled and pried on the tire/wheel to look for play and have found nothing.

Since this vibration/groan changes with cornering, I wonder if a CV could be going bad. They aren't throwing grease, the boots are 100% intact and I don't hear any clicking when making tight turns at low speed. I pushed and pulled on the CV shaft and didn't notice any play. Of course I did not pull the axles out to check them when I did the wheel bearings as I didn't suspect them at the time.

Has anyone else experienced this? What am I overlooking?

 

[CanadianRockyCruiser]

Universal joints?

 

[bloc]

Similar symptoms for me around 150k, turned out to be a rear axle bearing. I spent months checking all kinds of things, eventually putting the vehicle on jack stands and letting the wheels all spin in S1 in the air while using a mechanic's stethoscope to try and find the source. No dice.

Chassis ears ended up being instrumental in tracking this down.

In my case the reason the jack stand trick didn't work is the damage was on the top of one of the outer bearing races so with the wheels hanging there was no load on the bad area.

A quick but not definitive way to check the rear axle bearings (if you don't have much corrosion) is to pull each of the rear ABS sensors and look for evidence of scuffing on the end of it. If everything is working right there shouldn't be any marks. As the rear axle bearings wear it allows axial slop in the assembly and you'll see scuffing.

My scuffed ABS sensor

Post in thread 'New driveline noise after lift'

Feb 10, 2021

Ah, the joys of no rust. Took me about 30 minutes to get the axle shaft out today.. yes, that bearing is bad.

First.. this evidence would have been good to notice early. Note the small notch on the ABS sensor that seems to be from the axle moving around slightly.

Here it is wet with the brown gear oil in the void between the axle seal and bearing seals.

The void as I got the axle out. Note the color. The brown goo is perfectly liquid.. not gritty at all, just gear oil and grease turned brown.

The concerning thing to me is the state of...

• bloc

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overall adventure of finding the issue

Thread 'New driveline noise after lift'

Oct 9, 2020

Has anyone had a new drivetrain related noise after lifting the front ~2” and the rear 1? At what point of lift on the back do we need adjustable links?

I put my kings on about a week before this trip and got a few hundred miles on them before leaving. Eventually I noticed a subtle sound at freeway speeds that was new. Roughly like having MTs. Not related to engine speed, seems related to wheel speed. It is higher pitched than what I’d expect from a driveshaft angle issue. I have a bubble level and may buy a protractor to try and eliminate that though.

Now in Colorado it is a bit more...

• bloc
• Replies: 97
• Forum: 200-Series Cruisers

process of changing the bearing

Thread 'Rear axle bearing change'

Mar 19, 2021

Back again with something I hope will help some people eventually.



I'll try not to make this too wordy, but there is a little background. I spent months tracking down a driveline noise and with the help of some board members and especially @CharlieS narrowed it down to a passenger side rear axle/wheel bearing.

Troubleshooting thread here: New driveline noise after lift - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/new-driveline-noise-after-lift.1228472/

Bearing postmortem thread and pics here: Rear axle bearing postmortem -...

• bloc
• Replies: 19
• Forum: 200-Series Cruisers

• 

postmortem of old bearing

Thread 'Rear axle bearing postmortem'

Mar 15, 2021

Some of you may have been watching my process to track down a rumble/whine/bearing noise over the past few months. That thread is here: New driveline noise after lift - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/new-driveline-noise-after-lift.1228472/

Turns out it was a rear axle bearing, which is something I suspect will become more common in the future. According to @cruiseroutfit these aren't exactly rare these days, and as we accrue more and more mileage the odds are this will be popping up more often. I'm even considering doing the other side even though chassis ears seem to...

• bloc
• Replies: 11
• Forum: 200-Series Cruisers

• 

 

[LTSR]

Universal joints?

This is my hunch too.

@87warrior does the oscillation change with throttle input? if so, the u-joints might be your culprit.

 

[87warrior]

@LTSR and @CanadianRockyCruiser - I have more experience than I'd like to admit with failed ujoints in my Jeeps and this doesn't seem the same. The oscillation sound/vibration the 200 is making remains 100% consistent regardless of throttle or brake input. The only time it changes is when cornering to the left, whether on or off the throttle.

@bloc - The description of the sound your bad rear wheel bearing made is pretty close to what I am hearing. The difference is I can also feel it in the steering wheel/floorboard and it changes when I take a long sweeping left turn. I am going to pull the ABS sensors to look for any scuffing. Thanks for pointing me in that direction.

 

[CanadianRockyCruiser]

Definitely worth investigating the bearings. Miles are high enough to consider it a possibility. Chassis ears for the win.

 

[87warrior]

I pulled the rear ABS sensors and did not see any scoring or marks on them.

I have started investigating with wireless chassis ears, but have not been able to pinpoint any issue. I've hooked the microphones to the left and right rear wheel bearing mounting bolts, near the rear pinion on the diff, near the rear transfer case output, near the front transfer case output, the middle of the front diff, both sides of the front diff and both front ABS sensor mounting bolts. Nothing-nada-zilch. I listened at high speeds, at low speeds and while making sweeping left and right hand turns. I'm sure the neighbors up my county road are wondering what the heck I am doing.

My next step will be to pull the driveshafts and see if there is any change.

Dear wife has been driving my 100 instead of the 200. She says it isn't terrifying to drive like the 200 is right now.

 

[bloc]

I pulled the rear ABS sensors and did not see any scoring or marks on them.

I have started investigating with wireless chassis ears, but have not been able to pinpoint any issue. I've hooked the microphones to the left and right rear wheel bearing mounting bolts, near the rear pinion on the diff, near the rear transfer case output, near the front transfer case output, the middle of the front diff, both sides of the front diff and both front ABS sensor mounting bolts. Nothing-nada-zilch. I listened at high speeds, at low speeds and while making sweeping left and right hand turns. I'm sure the neighbors up my county road are wondering what the heck I am doing.

My next step will be to pull the driveshafts and see if there is any change.

Dear wife has been driving my 100 instead of the 200. She says it isn't terrifying to drive like the 200 is right now.

Sounds like you're doing exactly what I would. In my case when I found the bad rear bearing it was painfully obvious.

If you drive it in the rain with only the rear driveshaft in, be warned.. between the power, short wheelbase, and suspension travel.. things can get quite squirrely. I had to do that for a week while I was replacing my u-joints.