Shakes after lift and new tires?

[Forest_L]

I just installed a 2.5" Daystar lift, 255/70R16 General Grabber tires, 16x8 Mamba MR1 wheels and Sensa Trac Shocks and Struts. My jeep rode perfect before and now it vibrates like no tomorrow. Is that common with a lift and bigger tires? Ive had an aligment too. Nothing seems to help. Wheels balanced ect.

 

[Porkchop]

No its not common to shake something is wrong I would recheck the wheel balance if when the frontend aligment was done they check everything. I can think of a lot of things that it might be. Time to recheck everything cv shafts too

 

[waywardtravel]

I've never seen those tires. If you can hear them on the highway you should and will be able to feel them “vibrate”. Just a thought.

 

[LibertyFever]

The vibration is likely caused by a poorly balanced tire. It's wise too to get an alignment after a lift installation.

It won't help the vibration but get yourself a pair of Teraflex extended bumpstops. I have a spacer lift on my Libby and I'm about to replace the Mopar struts for a second time.

 

[Jo6pak]

My jeep rode perfect before and now it vibrates like no tomorrow. Is that common with a lift and bigger tires?

I'd double check that everything is tight and torqued correctly, have the alignment and wheel balace checked again.
Porkchop already mentioined the CVs, maybe a boot was damaged during the lift install.

Is the vibration worse at higher speeds? when turning? braking? accelerating? Is there any noise associated with the vibration?

 

[kokomo22]

I don't know what the mounting surface of the Mamba looks like,
but are the brake rotor retainer clips still on? This would cause a vibration if the new wheels
aren't flush against the rotor

 

[Forest_L]

An alignment was done about an hour after the lift and tires were installed. No mods to the brakes were needed. Mamba tires are identical to Moabs so they fit like any other jeep wheel. It seems to be getting better as time goes on. Whatever was wrong with the tire must be wearing off.

 

[honu]

I'm not sure a 2.5 inch lift would cause this, but my neighbor had a similar issue after converting his Tacoma to a solid front axle and installing a lift kit. After checking all the usual suspects, he found that the rear diffs pinion angle was the culprit. He added a small wedge and the vibration disappeared.

Just a though... Libertys have a short wheelbase, so being raised may cause a more significant change of the pinion angle, than on a longer wheelbase vehicle.

 

[Forest_L]

I'm not sure a 2.5 inch lift would cause this, but my neighbor had a similar issue after converting his Tacoma to a solid front axle and installing a lift kit. After checking all the usual suspects, he found that the rear diffs pinion angle was the culprit. He added a small wedge and the vibration disappeared.

Just a though... Libertys have a short wheelbase, so being raised may cause a more significant change of the pinion angle, than on a longer wheelbase vehicle.

Yeah I was looking at the pinion angle too. It seems to have changed quite a bit. Im sure its not a good thing.

 

[ptsb5a]

No it isn't a good thing. I've replaced my u joints twice since lifting. Mind you, I'm at 86000 miles and lifted it when it had less than 6000 on it. At $30 for two u-joints every 40K miles I think it's OK.

 

[tjkj2002]

I'm not sure a 2.5 inch lift would cause this, but my neighbor had a similar issue after converting his Tacoma to a solid front axle and installing a lift kit. After checking all the usual suspects, he found that the rear diffs pinion angle was the culprit. He added a small wedge and the vibration disappeared.

Just a though... Libertys have a short wheelbase, so being raised may cause a more significant change of the pinion angle, than on a longer wheelbase vehicle.

Yeah I was looking at the pinion angle too. It seems to have changed quite a bit. Im sure its not a good thing.

No it isn't a good thing. I've replaced my u joints twice since lifting. Mind you, I'm at 86000 miles and lifted it when it had less than 6000 on it. At $30 for two u-joints every 40K miles I think it's OK.

The KJ uses a modified triangulated link rear suspension,until you reach beyond 4" of lift you will not have to worry about the rear pinion angle as it will change to the correct angle automatically when lifted.Only after 4" is it a issue due to the slip yoke.Lifting does wear u-joints faster but at 3" or so the wear is not that much faster then being stock.

40k out of a set of u-joints is terrible and means you have a big issue or buying cheap joints made in china.If there greaseable try actually greasing them,does wonders,and install of them may have been messed up and yes it's easy to mess up the install of u-joints,even by someone who has done a few.You should be seeing 100k+ at min for sealed u-joints and 150k+ with greaseable joints(if greased on a regular basis).