sigtauenus
Active Member
The jeep is an 03 Liberty, 4 cyl, 5 spd manual, 117,000 miles.
It has a noticable vibration decelerating from about 25 mph to 15 mph without brakes being applied.
We went for a ride to document everything we could about it.
Accelerating there is no vibration at any speed. If the gas pedal is pushed, no vibration.
Going around corners, there is no clunking.
We tried it with the clutch pedal in or with it out, doesn't matter, same vibration at 25-15 decelerating.
Generally feels like its more on the right side of the car, likely more front than rear.
Coming to a stop, with brakes applied, car kind of "chugs."
Rear brake pads were changed approx 2 months ago, front pad changed approx 18 months ago.
We jack up the car and poked around, u-joints on the driveshaft appear tight. Could still be dry, but was tight.
We also looked at ball joints, and pushing/pulling on the front tires at 12 and 6 o'clock there was no play.
We turned the tires and felt a very slight drag on the rotors, but it was consistent forwards and rearward and all the way around.
Is there anything else we can check before it goes to a shop and costs money?
Does this sound like a U-joint issue? I am hesitant to just start changing parts, but the u-joints are relatively cheap easy to do, and they come up often in searches regarding the source of vibrations.
It has a noticable vibration decelerating from about 25 mph to 15 mph without brakes being applied.
We went for a ride to document everything we could about it.
Accelerating there is no vibration at any speed. If the gas pedal is pushed, no vibration.
Going around corners, there is no clunking.
We tried it with the clutch pedal in or with it out, doesn't matter, same vibration at 25-15 decelerating.
Generally feels like its more on the right side of the car, likely more front than rear.
Coming to a stop, with brakes applied, car kind of "chugs."
Rear brake pads were changed approx 2 months ago, front pad changed approx 18 months ago.
We jack up the car and poked around, u-joints on the driveshaft appear tight. Could still be dry, but was tight.
We also looked at ball joints, and pushing/pulling on the front tires at 12 and 6 o'clock there was no play.
We turned the tires and felt a very slight drag on the rotors, but it was consistent forwards and rearward and all the way around.
Is there anything else we can check before it goes to a shop and costs money?
Does this sound like a U-joint issue? I am hesitant to just start changing parts, but the u-joints are relatively cheap easy to do, and they come up often in searches regarding the source of vibrations.
