I recently purchased a 1999 Cherokee with 146,000 miles on it (still has plenty of life lol). Well, for some reason my xj has developed a low rubbing sound coming from under the car. It feels like it's right under my feet but I can't exactly pinpoint it. The noise corresponds with wheel speed. The faster I go, the faster the noise goes. The slower I go, the slower it gets. I brought to a shop (Midas) and was told that all the brakes were new and even the wheel bearings. I do notice tho, when under the car, i can kind of twist the front drive shaft a little little bit, but the rear doesn't budge..

I also turned the car off and let it roll in neutral and it was still making the noise, making me think it's something wheel related. it almost sounds like it's a rubbing noise coming from a tire, but the tires are new as well and were rotated, balanced and aligned. Any help would be appreciated.

 

anyone?

 

You have a saelect trac transfercase?

I recently repaired a WJ that had the transfer end of the front driveshaft tear out of the CV rubber end. I hear this driveshaft failure is pretty common.

 

how do I know I do? The transfer case was actually replaced at a jeep dealer only 3 weeks ago, but that noise was there even before I replaced it.

 

Jack up the left front, put a stout jackstand under the axle, and spin it. If no noise, it' ain't the wheel.

Jack up the front end, both sides on jackstands, and spin the right, then spin both. No noise?

Leave it up there. Jack up the rear end - both sides - and put it on stands. Now all four wheels are off the ground standing on jackstands. When I do this, I use six stands because when I was twenty-five years old and working at Dave Heinz Jaguar & Rolls Royce in Tampa, FL, Heinz told me to crawl under a new Rolls to install zerks on the u-joints. It was up on a cheapo jackstand (Heinz was a cheapo). I refused...he got irritated...and while he stood there giving me grief the Rolls suddenly crushed the stand flat. I looked at Heinz, raised my eyebrows, and walked off. Had I trusted either Heinz or the stand, I'd be dead. Moral? Never trust a jackstand or Dave Heinz.

So, get in, start the car and put it in gear at an idle. DO NOT crawl underneath it or stand in front or behind it...and you better have seriously good stands - no Walmart crap - real jackstands.

Now...listen. Get down on hands & knees and lookie under there and listen. If this does not reveal the problem, take it to the dealer.

Don't do any of this if you do not know what you're doing. People die from ignorance and cheap tools...don't be one of them.

All this said, I'm betting your wheelwell liner fell down on the tire or something equally ridiculous.