Trail Raider Photo Diary/Build Thread

DWiggles · Mar 22, 2018

Mike_JK_Houston_711 said:
Yea absolutely. May 4th - 6th is the next Trees open weekend. We should plan on that.

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tdougherty81 said:
Lets do it. My birthday month, I'll tell HQ that's what I want for my birthday.

Texas Nick said:
I may be able to swing that one!

Damn it, We'll be in Mexico for a wedding :doh:

tdougherty81 · Mar 22, 2018

DWiggles said:
Damn it, We'll be in Mexico for a wedding :doh:

Damn that sucks you're going to miss that wedding.

DWiggles · Mar 22, 2018

tdougherty81 said:
Damn that sucks you're going to miss that wedding.

:cheesy:

Looks like I'll just have to settle for a "good buy, Mike" wheel @ Wolf Caves in April... Until the Exodus anyway :drinks:

Flat Top · Mar 25, 2018

DWiggles said:
Finally made it out to trees ranch, Awesome place! Thanks to Flat top for the pics! :thumb:

View attachment 296988

Lets do this
View attachment 296990

Benito getting a little close to the body after sliding a bit too far passenger.
View attachment 296989

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Just steal my shit!

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DWiggles · Apr 1, 2018

Flat Top said:
Just steal my shit!

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Will do

:cheesy:

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DZZ Build thread

Chris1015 · Apr 2, 2018

That looks like a bad ass run. Good stuff!

DWiggles · Apr 9, 2018

Burr... it was 38 deg this weekend, but that didn't stop us:

With Flat Top and Tdoughtery81

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DZZ Build thread

DWiggles · Apr 9, 2018

It's so cold the app froze I guess and wouldn't let me upload any more pics..

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DZZ Build thread

DWiggles · Apr 9, 2018

It was a great weekend and all, but now I have this "minor" vibration that I can't seem to pin point. It's never happened before and I noticed it almost immediately after returning to pavement.

I mostly feel it through the seats (and clearly see it in the blurry, vibrating rearview mirror) at just about any speed above 40mph.

it becomes audible when coasting or driving down hill (foot off the throttle), and with the clutch-in (between shifts)...

it almost sounds/feels like the vibration is coming from the floor directly under both driver and passenger front seats. Or possibly the front passenger side wheel? But that may just be in my head after just having talked to Benito about HIS wheel bearing issues 2 weeks ago...

It seems to get quieter while audible if turning left (at highway speed)

Turning right (at highway speed) seems to not have any effect on the noise at all.

The vibration is still present but not audible under acceleration/constant load of any kind.

I was still able to make the 4 and a half hour trek home at upwards of 70-75mph.

After taking a look under the jeep, I have very little idea where the vibration is coming from. here is what it looks like:

Everything looks fine and dandy, a side from some paint on the rear driveshaft.

Could this be the source of the vibration? I have not pulled the shaft yet, but if others a bit more experienced suspect it be a balance issue, and the description of the vibration above fits the M.O. then that should be easy enough to fix. But I'm just not sure having never experienced this before.

The vibration is just enough to bother me... my wife hardly even noticed it until I started talking about it while on the road. But once brought to her attention she definitely recognized it was indeed happening and something we've never felt/heard before.

Anyone see anything else concerning that I might be missing??

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DZZ Build thread

A.J. · Apr 9, 2018

DWiggles said:
It was a great weekend and all, but now I have this "minor" vibration that I can't seem to pin point. It's never happened before and I noticed it almost immediately after returning to pavement.

I mostly feel it through the seats (and clearly see it in the blurry, vibrating rearview mirror) at just about any speed above 40mph.

it becomes audible when coasting or driving down hill (foot off the throttle), and with the clutch-in (between shifts)...

it almost sounds/feels like the vibration is coming from the floor directly under both driver and passenger front seats. Or possibly the front passenger side wheel? But that may just be in my head after just having talked to Benito about HIS wheel bearing issues 2 weeks ago...

It seems to get quieter while audible if turning left (at highway speed)

Turning right seems to not have any effect on the noise at all.

The vibration is still present but not audible under acceleration/constant load of any kind.

I was still able to make the 4 and a half hour trek home at upwards of 70-75mph.

After taking a look under the jeep, I have very little idea where the vibration is coming from. here is what it looks like:

View attachment 298771

View attachment 298772

Everything looks fine and dandy, a side from some paint on the rear driveshaft.

View attachment 298773

Could this be the source of the vibration? I have not pulled the shaft yet, but if others a bit more experienced suspect it be a balance issue, and the description of the vibration above fits the M.O. then that should be easy enough to fix. But I'm just not sure having never experienced this before.

The vibration is just enough to bother me... my wife hardly even noticed it until I started talking about it while on the road. But once brought to her attention she definitely recognized it was indeed happening and something we've never felt/heard before.

Anyone see anything else concerning that I might be missing??

sent from SPACE!
DZZ Build thread

Could be the rear drive line. I see some rash down at the end where the tube is welded also. Sometimes they put the weights there, looks like a washer tacked on or sometimes they are square. I don't see where it had one, but can't see other side. Might have gotten knocked off if it had one. Your description that it is better or worse when turning could point to a bent axle flange also. Might jack it up and see if you have any run out. Put the back on jackstands and in neutral then spin by hand. Watch the rim more than the tire. You can rig up a hammer handle or whatever propped up on a bucket or something so it is close to the rim while you turn it. Kinda like a makeshift dial indicator to check it. If the flanges look good and not much rim run out I would look at the inside of the wheels and make sure you didn't loose or knock the weights off one wheel also. Sounds like it's pretty minor which can be harder to pinpoint. Just look everything over really good before you throw $ at a guess.

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DWiggles · Apr 9, 2018

A.J. said:
Could be the rear drive line. I see some rash down at the end where the tube is welded also. Sometimes they put the weights there, looks like a washer tacked on or sometimes they are square. I don't see where it had one, but can't see other side. Might have gotten knocked off if it had one. Your description that it is better or worse when turning could point to a bent axle flange also. Might jack it up and see if you have any run out. Put the back on jackstands and in neutral then spin by hand. Watch the rim more than the tire. You can rig up a hammer handle or whatever propped up on a bucket or something so it is close to the rim while you turn it. Kinda like a makeshift dial indicator to check it. If the flanges look good and not much rim run out I would look at the inside of the wheels and make sure you didn't loose or knock the weights off one wheel also. Sounds like it's pretty minor which can be harder to pinpoint. Just look everything over really good before you throw $ at a guess.

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Thanks man, its definitely not a rear flange. I've been down that road before.

Here is a closer look at the rear drive shaft though...

I can see a noticeable dent here:

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DZZ Build thread

A.J. · Apr 9, 2018

Second picture in that series. Kind of looks like a round dent. That may be where the weight used to be. Either way pretty good chance that's where your vibration is coming from. If you have a good drive line shop in the area they should be able to check it out and hopefully just re balance it.

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A.J. · Apr 9, 2018

Looks like this.

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WJCO · Apr 9, 2018

A dent in the driveshaft could cause a vibration. Not a bad idea to have it checked out.

DWiggles · Apr 9, 2018

A.J. said:
Second picture in that series. Kind of looks like a round dent. That may be where the weight used to be. Either way pretty good chance that's where your vibration is coming from. If you have a good drive line shop in the area they should be able to check it out and hopefully just re balance it.

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A.J. said:
View attachment 298799

Looks like this.

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Appreciate the feedback, I'll pull the rear shaft sometime this week and see if (1) the vibration is still present and (2) if I can get it balanced. :thumb:

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DZZ Build thread

Flat Top · Apr 9, 2018

DWiggles said:
It was a great weekend and all, but now I have this "minor" vibration that I can't seem to pin point. It's never happened before and I noticed it almost immediately after returning to pavement.

I mostly feel it through the seats (and clearly see it in the blurry, vibrating rearview mirror) at just about any speed above 40mph.

it becomes audible when coasting or driving down hill (foot off the throttle), and with the clutch-in (between shifts)...

it almost sounds/feels like the vibration is coming from the floor directly under both driver and passenger front seats. Or possibly the front passenger side wheel? But that may just be in my head after just having talked to Benito about HIS wheel bearing issues 2 weeks ago...

It seems to get quieter while audible if turning left (at highway speed)

Turning right (at highway speed) seems to not have any effect on the noise at all.

The vibration is still present but not audible under acceleration/constant load of any kind.

I was still able to make the 4 and a half hour trek home at upwards of 70-75mph.

After taking a look under the jeep, I have very little idea where the vibration is coming from. here is what it looks like:

Everything looks fine and dandy, a side from some paint on the rear driveshaft.

Could this be the source of the vibration? I have not pulled the shaft yet, but if others a bit more experienced suspect it be a balance issue, and the description of the vibration above fits the M.O. then that should be easy enough to fix. But I'm just not sure having never experienced this before.

The vibration is just enough to bother me... my wife hardly even noticed it until I started talking about it while on the road. But once brought to her attention she definitely recognized it was indeed happening and something we've never felt/heard before.

Anyone see anything else concerning that I might be missing??

sent from SPACE!
DZZ Build thread

I'll bet you a 6 pack it's your front unit bearings. This sounds like exactly my problem coming home from Wolf Caves in February. Vibration on the floorboard at the drivers feet. It slowly progressed and got worse even as I changed out the rear DS and balanced the front. I changed both bearings but I think it was the passenger side as it had some grittyness after I swapped it out. I did not have any movement in the bearing when I tested. The vibration would stop when taking long sweeping curves at speed.

How many miles on your rig?

DWiggles · Apr 9, 2018

Flat Top said:
I'll bet you a 6 pack it's your front unit bearings. This sounds like exactly my problem coming home from Wolf Caves in February. Vibration on the floorboard at the drivers feet. It slowly progressed and got worse even as I changed out the rear DS and balanced the front. I changed both bearings but I think it was the passenger side as it had some grittyness after I swapped it out. I did not have any movement in the bearing when I tested. The vibration would stop when taking long sweeping curves at speed.

How many miles on your rig?

40k miles

I'm going to pull the rear drive shaft after work, and take it for a drive. I'm hoping it's not a beating just for the simple fact of having to put up with it any longer... ha.

I'll keep you posted Tom. :thumb:

Edit: pulled the rear shaft and the vibration is completely gone. :honey:

Looks like I'll be swinging by northwest drivetrain tomorrow to get it balanced.

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DZZ Build thread

DWiggles · Apr 10, 2018

Dropped off the driveline this morning.

They are going to retube it, apparently the CV between the double U-joint has gone bad also? (In 25k miles?) But they are going to replace that also, and dynamic balance. Should have it back tomorrow afternoon.