Any opinions? Truck rumbles slightly at idle and gets worse with speed. U-joints are all new. It could be engine/transmission related, but I am trying to rule other stuff out first. It's not a vibration like bad u-joints, it's more of an annoying slight shake, non-stop when driving.

If these look bad, what parts would I need? I know the upper comes with the bar, so would I just need 2 of those bars and 2 lowers (to do both wheels)?

Thanks for your help in advance!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIQD74MkW3Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5oce2cPV8w

 

The ball joint looks pretty good to me. Can't really see the lowers in your pics.

I just replaced uppers and lowers at 110K. All the boots were torn and looking pretty rough. Rumbling at idle has NOTHING to do with ball joints.

 

"The ball joint looks pretty good to me. Can't really see the lowers in your pics. I just replaced uppers and lowers at 110K. All the boots were torn and looking pretty rough. Rumbling at idle has NOTHING to do with ball joints."

I know that the rumbling at idle doesn't deal with balljoints, because the tires aren't moving, so I thought maybe the rumbling while idle and rumbling while driving are 2 different things. My mom says she thinks an alignment will cure it, but that wouldn't matter for idling as well either, right? The reason I posted the pics was because I thought the ball joints would need replacing anyways, but if you say they look good I'll take your word on it. There is no tire wobble on either side...

Would transmission have anything to do with it if it rumbles even while in neutral or in park? It still does it in both of those states, so that points to engine, right? Spark plugs are new, so I think I need to get my fuel injectors cleaned, is there a way to do that myself or do I need to take it to a place where they use detergent in the lines? Would it be cost effective to just replace them? How many are there anyways?

Also, the fuel filter is sealed for life correct? If it's not the fuel injectors, what else could it be? I was going to replace the PCV and clean the EGR, in hopes it would go away, but I can't find the EGR on my model even after searching online. Where is it on the 3.7?

Sorry for so many questions!

 

When did all this start, and what exactly do you mean by rumbles? Is the engine hesitating, feels weak, slow idle, about to stall out, just running rough? Is the steering wheel shaking around when you try to drive it? The ball joints look ok from what I can see when you pull on the tire. As for the egr, mopar parts sites list one for the 05 and it isn't engine specific so you could have one. I'd call a dealer parts department to find out for sure or go look at your head, according to this site http://shop.headsonly.com/JEEP-37-SI...JEEP-37-V6.htm the left head would have the egr bolted to it. A quick google should give you an idea of what the egr looks like. I think a better description of your problem will make it easier for us to help you as well. Maybe take a vid if you can do so safely while driving.

 

I could try to film it, but I don't know how well it would catch on camera. It's slight, but I have had the truck 5 years (bought new) and it's definitely a recent symptom. It happened shortly after I replaced a broken u-joint, that I drove a few hundred miles on that was vibrating badly (could that have damaged something?)

Anyways, it's a slight shake, but NOT a vibration. A vibration would be like speaker bass, and it would make my rear-view mirror look blurry, this doesn't do that. This shake would be similar to somebody shaking the car ever so slighly but more quickly than a person would be able to. I do not have problems starting, I had ONE rough idle a few weeks ago, while sitting at a red light, and it was so bad I thought it was going to stall out, BUT it didn't. I have been adding some of those concentrated fuel injection cleaners from wal-mart to my tank every other fillup or so, but the shaking hasn't subsided at all.

I can feel it in the whole truck, and I can see it shaking the cup holder quite a bit. Maybe I will try to video that tomorrow, and maybe you can see what I mean. I will try to video the engine too to see if an unusual shaking is present.

The best I can describe it, it feels like a constant slightly rough idle, but gets a little worse with speed increase... Also my acceleration sucks compared to what it used to be, so maybe it's just something that needs to be cleaned or replaced?

I will try a few things like cleaning the throttle body and the egr, and replace the pcv valve, but I'm open to other suggestions if those do not work.

As for the steering wheel, it only shudders a bit when I brake. I am thinking warped rotors, even though they were replaced last time I had the pads changed, but I was under the assumption that warping is a common thing with these trucks on OEM rotors...