I'm having a problem with a front-end vibration and I'm wondering if anybody else has run into a similar problem. When I first purchased my 2003 Liberty Renegade I thought I noticed a slight vibration in the front-end, mainly between 55-70mph and slightly pronounced under braking. The shimmy was very light and I figured it was just a characteristic of the vehicle. I noticed the same (if slightly less) shimmy in my wife’s 2004 Liberty Limited.

After installing a 2.5” lift with front-tower and rear-coil spacers, the shimmy became significantly more pronounced. The steering wheel would vibrate noticeably at the above speeds and even stronger during braking, similar to a warped rotor scenario.

I had the tires balanced three times, including moving the tires to different rims, and varying the front/back installation. The vibration remained… I assumed the problem was one, or a combination of the following:

1. Warped rotor
2. Tire or wheel balance problem
3. Bad or bent CV shaft
4. Bad front hub bearing

I experienced bad hub bearings on two occasions on my Cherokee with similar vibration results.

I took the vehicle to the dealership and they basically said they wouldn’t do a thing until I removed the lift kit. So, I’ve removed the lift and restored the vehicle to factory specs and the problem has decreased significantly. However, there is still a slight vibration, just as before. Unfortunately, I’m not sure the dealership folks will see this minor shimmy as a problem. I would love to get rid of the vibration so I can restore my lift kit setup.

Have any of you run into front-end vibration problems with or without a lift kit?

Thanks,

Mike

I don't own a liberty, but have you had the vehicle aligned? also after you lift it youwould need to get it realinged, i would think that you have a bent or warped wheel bearing hub thingy (i can't remember what they call them right now)

Before the lift kit installation, I started by having the stock tires computer balanced by two different tire shops. They also checked the alignment and made some minor adjustments, but it made no real difference.

After I installed the lift kit and larger tires, the vibration was significantly more pronounced. Again I had the vehicle aligned (twice) and had the tires balanced by two different shops.

I really though this was an out-of-round tire problem, but the tires balanced perfectly on both machines. The second shop had a wheel balancer that applied road force to the new tires (BFG AT-KO's) just to make sure...still no problems with the tires/wheels.

I'm thinking this is a CV joint or hub bearing problem. I’ll bet that one is slightly out of alignment producing the vibration at higher speeds. The vibration is much more pronounced during braking, but there is no real brake pedal pulsation; most of the vibration occurs as steering wheel shimmy.

Now that I've taken the lift kit off, and returned to stock tires, the vibration has returned to original levels. It's still there, just not as strong. It's most noticeable when applying gentle to moderate brake pressure at speeds of 50-55 MPH. Without braking, the vibration is most evident at 65-70 MPH.

Any ideas?

well now it makes sense to belive that it is the hub bearing, with larger tires it would be more pronounced than with smaller tires, just go for a ride with the shop forman at dealer and remember suger go farther than **** so try to be nice.......

You might want to check out here:
http://www.kjjeep.com/
Its where alot of the kj guys hang out.

Jason

Had a similar problem on another vehicle. Had tires balanced, alignment and the rotors machined. Problem went away for less then two months. Came back same tire same symptom. I Replaced the caliper, was sticking and warping rotor. (Actually suggested by dealership.) Machined rotor and with new caliper vibration never came back. Was the caliper, thats why worse during braking.