Hey. I took my jeep to the shop yesterday to get my tires balanced because it would vibrate when i do 55mph +. sooo it turns out the stabilizer link on the front left is broken and it needs to be replaced as well as an alignment (possibly new tires b/c theyre badly cupped). so ive gotta get that fixed.
but if you have any comments about fixing this (DIY vs get it done) please let me know.

the hard to find problem:
im almost sure they took off all 4 tires. when i left from there and accelerated, the rear end would pop. its like a low sounding repeating pop.
it doesnt pop when just riding. and the more i drove it right after that the less it would pop because when i FIRST left it sounded like mud being flung off the tires or something but it lessened after that. but there is STILL some popping in the back when accelerating.
so do you guys have any clue what it might be??

my best guess is they messed up something when they put it up on the rack. i took off the rear tires myself and babied them back on just to be sure they got everything back on tightly and securely and it still did it.
i also put it in neutral and got under it and twisted the drive shaft back and forth and just judging it doesn't seem to be any problems there but i could so easily be wrong because i know nothing about all that drivetrain stuff.

any help is greatly appreciated. thanks!

i just cannot believe everytime i turn around my jeep is falling apart somewhere. if it's not one thing it's another. can it just run and be happy?! its a 1994 cherokee SE.

 

Check the fluid level in your rear diff. It should be about a 1/4 inch from the top of the fill hole. I would pull the diff cover off and change the fluid. While your at it check the gears . You might have a broken tooth. Put blocks behind the wheels , pull off the cover and put it in neutral. Then turn the driveshaft to see all the gears. Good luck.

 

yeah it could be that, or it could be anything at all in the rearend.. are you sure its comming from the rearend? i have about 5000 clunks, ticks, and shakes right now but none are serious. the only thing i have that serious right now is death wobble..... it all comes and goes. but still go threw the rear end and just make sure. and jeeps are like that, every time you fix it the next expensive thing will break lol. thats why i stoped fixxing it haha.

 

haha thats the type of logic i use lol

 

im positive its coming from the rear end. but idk how to do any of that. and im tired of spending my money on it. im just gonna fix the stabilizer link and drive it.
i just dont see how it drives fine before it goes on the rack and when it came off it has a problem.

 

Does the pop vary with speed? Can you post more details on the pop. Have someone drive it while you ride in the back and try to pinpoint the area of the popping.
Mike

 

uh no. like i say the popping is with taking off and accelerating when turning. the more weight (more people) the less it pops. like i put my grandad in it so he could listen and it wouldn't hardly pop. but by myself (im light) it pops

 

You probably checked this but are all your lugs tight? Once I forgot to tighten mine all the way and the rear was making all kinds of not so nice noises, some which sounded like popping.

 

could check the U-Joint too

 

Is your jeep lifted higher than 2"? If so you may need to drop your transfer case a bit. Mine made a noise like that because the u-joints were limiting out when taking off or stopping fast. The axle would shift just enough to cause the popping. Lowering the transfer case a bit may fix you problem

 

The easiest thing to do would be to take it back to the shop that balanced your 4 tires and tell them you now have a pop that you didn't have before they did the balancing. If your nice about it maybe you can take one of them for a ride and let them diagnose the pop.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of tires do you have? Were they used or have they been on your Cherokee there whole life? How long have you owned the tires?
What I'm getting at is...
Do you think they might be flat-spotting when parked and take a while to drive the flats off?
Maybe you hadn't noticed the sound before???
Just a possibility... Keep feeding the info and I will keep thinking on it.
Mike

 

well i decided to chance it and drive it today with the stabilizer link broken cus i needed to go somewhere. and i drove it appx. 20 miles around and i THINK i've narrowed it down to the tailpipe/muffler. the sound is coming from the right rear. when you kick at the tailpipe it does CLANK but the sound i hear when driving is like a thud. soooo...mayb it just sounds different on the inside. it does it like when you hit certain bumps. not so much anymore when you accelerate so maybe it was just coincidence when i first drove it out the shop.
i know my family is getting irritated with me because they think i should ignore it. but i'm attached to my jeep and i like it nice.
i KNOW it didn't do it before. the tires we put on brand new some years back. yes they're getting some age and need replacing but that's not it. they didn't even balance them because it was more of a diagnosis with the vibration (b/c i just had them balanced a month or so ago).

 

You could check to make sure the exhaust pipe isn't bumping up against anything. Mine has an aftermarket exhaust on it and when I bought it the pipe was touching the gas tank heat shield and the back right spring hangar. Turned out it was missing one of the exhaust hangars. If your exhaust in banging, one of the hangars or clamps may have come loose. Just rotate the exhaust back into position and tighten the bolts.

Also, if it's not the exhaust, check the gears in the diff like mentioned above. It's easy, just get some black RTV and a gasket scraper. Take off the bolts, smack on the lid with a mallet and it pops right off, change the fluid and check to make sure you're not missing a tooth on the ring gear. Wouldn't hurt to have some new fluid in there anyway, it's supposed to be changed every 30,000 miles or so.

 

my leaf spring on the passenger side pops. when its wet or sometimes when turning. i havent really worried about it

 

This is what I was about to say. Check ur U bolts, shackle bolts and the front leaf bolts. My shackle bolts at the top came loose one time and I had a noise. You say with more weight it goes away. So the more weight could be pushing down more on the springs and you do not hear it as much. Thats just my opinion.