Loose hub on XJ

[closhedbb]

Soon after the lift was put in, I noticed on my XJ that the left front wheel would make a louder whacking sound whenever I was going off-road or hitting bumps in the street. The really big ones didn't do so much, it was the smaller faster ones, so driving on bumpy dirt was rather annoying and worrysome. I discounted it as my jeep just being a jeep. Then I put an auto locker in the front axle of my jeep, and after putting the axles back in, the bumping stopped, but now it was doing it on the left side. While I was out puttering around at 5 mile pass this weekend, I noticed that the wheel would jostle back and forth on bumps, which seemed to coincide with the bumping noise. I came to notice that the hub seems to be loose. I jacked it up, removed the wheel, and tried moving the hub. It moves a little bit back and forth, nothing serious, but enough to make it knock, which I am fairly certain is the cause of the noise. Any idea what I would do to tighten it and make sure it doesn't happen again?

 

[JF1]

Two things to check. 1) Make sure the three bolts (13mm 12pt) that hold the hub bearing/unit bearing on are tight; 2) make sure the axle bolt is tight (it takes a lot of torque). If the hub is still loose then the whole hub bearing needs replaced. I don't know anyone who replaces just the bearings in these.

Joe

 

[Badger]

are you sure the hub isn't toast .i have been wheeling my XJ hard for a year or so and never had one come loose on me.if you are sure it is just the hub coming loose then put some Lock-Tite on the bolts and give them a good cranking

 

[Badcop]

If you want to try and swap out the one you have I have a used one you can have to install and try to narrow down the issue.

 

[closhedbb]

I might be willing to do that. I was thinking about just getting another one and seeing if it did the same thing. I completely removed the axle today and checked every bolt and nut, tightened all of them, and it still does it. It doesn't seem to have any negative effects other than the knocking sound. But I don't like knocking sounds that shouldn't be there. It's a Dana 30, so if yours is a dana 30, i would be interested in trying a swap to see if that fixes it...

 

[Badger]

well it would have to be a Dana 30 .the only issue you could come across is the difference in depth on the unit bearing.different years have different depths

 

[closhedbb]

well it would have to be a Dana 30 .the only issue you could come across is the difference in depth on the unit bearing.different years have different depths

mine's a 2000

 

[mbryson]

I've got one that'll fit if BadCop doesn't ....

 

[closhedbb]

I've got one that'll fit if BadCop doesn't ....

I might take you up on that as you're half the distance away from me than Badcop is. Maybe early next week I could come by and switch them out to see if it works, and if it does, I'll buy it off you, if you're willing to sell it, or at least know what I need to do. I may try to get a more professional opinion from some guys at Rocky Mountain High in orem, see what they say I need. If a new axle will solve it, then I'll do that. I just put a locker in the front, so everything comes out pretty easy. I could switch the thing out in 20 mins.

 

[closhedbb]

Well, I found out what the problem was, and thought I would post the result for anyone who has a similar symptom in the future. The upper bushing on the shock was pretty much toast. I'm nto sure why I didn't look up there earlier. That completely made sense considering the noise it was making, and the loose wheel is because of some messed up threads on a control arm, making the steering loose. So I saw both symptoms and tried to connect them into one problem, when in fact it was two seperate problems. The bushing will be easy to replace and cheap, but I'll need to get a new upper control arm. Thanks for the advice from everyone and the offers for help. It's great to know there's a bunch of guys out there who are willing to help out a new guy if I need it.

 

[ewander]

Shock eh? I was going to suggest checking there........um..yeah anyway, the other thing to check for is your upper and lower control arms being tight (if they are the adjustable variants). If you have long arms and they get a little loose you can get some noise there. Your track arm, if it is the stock one, with even a little lift can also make some noise....too short and stuff.