so i need to get my old cherokee some snows. so i did. i went to a local garage to have them mounted, cause my normal guy was swamped with appointments.
I had the new guy mount and balance to two new snows, and put them on the front.
Not long afterwards i notice a shudder in the front end around the 55, 65 mph brackets. but it would level out at higher speeds or not present itself at all at lower speeds.
this shudder immediately reminded me of when i had to get a new stablizer put in. its almost the exact same shudder only not as bad, and only localized to a few mph brackets.
i have a hard time thinking its the steering stablizer starting to go again, as it was replace 3k (maybe more) ago. My father seems to think i should get all my tires rebalanced together and says maybe the rears are out of balance now and causing it to shake. but i feel like this wobble is coming from the front.
i also notice the front passenger tire seems to leak a little air.
definately not sure whats up.

also as soon as we got a snow storm after the mount, i was using four wheel drive and notice a new pop sound. every once in awhile it will just pop in four wheel drive. i think it comes from the front end, but i guess it could be from the t case. My buddy was with me and he was like "did you just blow a tire?" thats how loud the new noise is. sounds almost like im running over a weird rock or something. very strange. u would think its a u joint going in my knuckles, but i just had them replaced at the beginning of the winter, and i also had my regular mechanic check my tcase out before the winter and he said it was good to go.
is it common for t cases to al of a sudden just break teeth or something? its getting snowier here and ill need the 4dub more and more, and i dont get why its doing this now, as ive only been snow stalking in it, no serious off road stuff.

the only new thing i can think of that coincided with this, is the new tires, and mt job for the new guy. any thoughts on these two new sounds.????

 

Ifyou suspect the new guys work I would take it back to your regular guy and have him rebalence the front tires and maybe the whole front end,there are alot of parts up there that could be worn that would cause a vibration but I have no clue on the popping sound.

 

While having your tires checked, have them check the front U-joints.

 

Check your lug nuts

 

I also owned an 88 larado which had the full time shift option for 4x4. The poping sound may be the transfer case trying to shift into 4x4. This is caused by having 2 new full thread tires and 2 older worn tires in combination on the XJ. The automatic locking hubs are tring to lock the axles as the system senses the front tires turning at a different rate than the rear. Thats why they always replace tires in sets of 4 on 4-wheel drives.

Have the two new snows rebalanced, sounds like the new guy may not have placed the wheel weights correctly.

Leaking tires-
You did not say what rims are on your XJ, there is probably rust on the bead area that seals the tire to the rim. If they are aluminum alloy, they may have corrosion similar to the corrosion you see on battery termainals. This corrosion is caused from the tire compound, aluminum, moisture as the tires heat up and cool down. Most shops just cover the corrosion with bead sealer (liquid rubber). That's just like putting paint on sand, looks good but does not correct the problem. The rims should be wire brushed to remove all the corrosion or rust, then have a bead sealer applied.

I have seen this on hundreds of alloy rims, I work part time in a Sears Auto shop.

 

thanks all for posting especialy last guy, the rims are old stock jeep rims. no the explorer style rimes that are obviously not jeep rims that are stamped jeep. these the the stock rims. i have read alot previously about the 4dub in jeep being finicky about 4 tires being similar. I have read that jeeps like to have 4 same tirest track right. and this would make sense. but i had **** tires on it before. so i put good ones in the front. and i have semi good ones in the back. so the front probably track awsome in four wheel but the backs might slip some. would this really cause a pop sound? if so that could easily be it

maybe i just need to pony up the bills for a full set of nice tires.

but i dont think i made it clear before. the knuckl;e u joints were just replaced. the ones that power both from wheels. and i had my normal; guy check the 4 wheel set up for winter and he said it was good. maybe he slipped and the u joint for the from shaft is bad?

 

Thanks for the comment.
I did the same thing with that old 88. I put 2 new snow tires on the front and left the older 1/2 worn tires on the rear. 'Went off road during hunting season and used 4x4 to get out later in the day. While traveling home on the highway in 2-wheel drive doing @55mph my cherokee would make a noise and try to shift into 4x4. I did not feel this before getting to the hunting land or days before that. I had my jeep mechanic, I have known for years, check out my vehicle. I told him I recently put 2 new tires on the front and it was acting up. He checked out everything and his comment to me was "you should know better than to put ONLY 2 new tires on.
I have owned various jeeps for 10 years before this episode. Later that week I replaced the rear tires and never had that problem after that.

Another thought about the pop sound.-
You state the front u-joints were replaced, check to see if your mechanic greased the joints. The noise maybe from the bearings being DRY. If the shop was busy and sombody interrupted him, its easy to think you greased the joint and miss that step.

 

Are the new tires of the same size as the rears? If front are taller/shorter than the rear you may have some issues in the transfer case trying to spin one set faster than the other.