Nevada Backroaders

I have an 04 wrangler with a 2 inch lift, installed a couple months ago. However, starting a few days ago, I get a mild vibration just after shifting. It lasts a few seconds then stops. It began a couple hours after I engaged the 4 wheel drive for the first time. I am not really a Mechanic, so don't know where to start looking. Any ideas/suggestions would be great.

Thanks,
Pete

Is this the first time you engaged 4WD after lift installation or a recent development?

Making changes, such as a lift, does often produce a side effect or two. A friend of mine years ago when the first of your generation Wrangler came out in '97 put on a 3" lift when the series was still pretty new and the bugs hadn't been worked out yet by the lift manufacturer. His biggest issue was the lack of ability to put the transfer case into low range until he and the lift manufacturer managed to work a fix. After years of production of that generation of Wrangler, all lift manufacturers should have all the bugs worked out by now. But that then brings up the potential for the shop who installed the lift to have made mistakes, leading to the vibration. However, I'd think that your 2" lift isn't that great a change on the vehicle and shouldn't cause issues that occur in such cases as extreme lifting.

The way you describe the vibration seems to me to indicate some sort of harmonic vibration occuring until your engine/drive train gets up to a certain RPM, at which point it stops. I suppose it could be caused by slight changes in drive train alignment of its various parts.

On my Toyota Tacoma (stock) it's manual shift lever feels different and vibrates differently in low range versus 2WD or 4WD-HI as I shift through all five gears on the trail (it is my practice to use and stay in 4WD-Lo for all off road driving except for maintained dirt roads and use all gears).

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D.A. Wright
~When You Live in Nevada, "just down the road" is anywhere in the line of sight within the curvature of the earth.