Just had my leaf springs replaced yesterday as the ones on it were likely original and completely shot. I normally do all the work on it myself but after reading horror stories of broken bolts I figured I’d just let a shop deal with that nonsense.

driving away from the shop the old girl started making a noise ive never heard before. It’s making a faint whirring on acceleration and deceleration. Almost sounds like a city bus, although quiet.

Anybody else ever experience that kind of noise with their Jeep? Could new leaf springs cause an issue with rear differential after having trash springs on for so long? I think(know) that my water pump is due to be replaced. My serp belt should also be replaced. And my idler pulley some times makes the awful grinding sound. But whirring... whirring is new to me.

 

What's your driveshaft angle now? If your springs were really bad, it could have been -0- before the new springs (good for noise, bad for U-joint lubrication), now it's normal and U-joints are acting out.

Or if you've gone too far (> 3 degrees) you may need to shim the rear axle.

 

Or pinion making racket, same reason.

 

that’s kind of what I’m thinking too. My leafs were totally shot and pretty much flat. I just used the dorman replacements and it has raised the *** back up maybe 2“ or 3”. The pinion seal did have a small leak to it before the new leafs went on. I’m going to take a good look this afternoon. Any tips on what I should be looking for?

I’m kind of choked with the whole thing now. I brought it to a specialized 4x4 shop in my city thinking they’d be the best to go to for this, and as soon as I rolled away from the shop the springs started making a loud CLUNK over the slightest bumps. I brought it back to them and they did a few adjustments that helped, but in the last 2 days it’s still 3 more clunks, one being just over a grocery store speed bump. And now the whirring...

 

I should sit in on this conversation. I'm going from original flat leafs to 3.5" leafs with longer shackles to get 4.5" to match the 4.5" springs up front. So I may be running into new noises from the swap...

 

haha for sure. One of the reasons I wanted to just keep mine stock height is I’d like to avoid any additional ****ing around. I’ll post back once I take a good look underneath it.

 

Mine makes a whirring sound with original leafs. Figured it was part and parcel of owning an old cherokee.

 

im used to the regular Jeep clunks, idler pulley occasionally making noise, and other ****ed up sounds, but whirring is likely a bearing in the differential, and that’s bad news.

im really regretting getting my leafs changed at that shop now. This will be a bit of a rant because I feel really defeated over the whole thing. In the last like 2 and a half months I have been fixing up my Cherokee I’ve owned now for 9 years. Little things and big things. The flood gates opened when my rear hatch latch broke. No problem. Got a junkyard part and swapped it. The very next day a u-joint started making a racket. So I replaced it. First time I ever did that myself. Then I replaced the ps high pressure line. Replaced my 7 year old battery. Fixed the sagging splash guard by drilling little holes along the tears and zip tying them and putting new fasteners on. Replaced my rotors and brake pads. Cleaned the engine up all sparkly. Spent a couple weeka grinding rust spots, por-15ing and painting (with clear coat that I ****ed up and needed to wet sand and buff). Patched the hole in the floor pan with some sheet metal, rivets, rtv and jb weld. Put new tires on it. Used a turkey blaster to “flush” the power steering back to being nice and clean. Oil change and air filter. And I’m sure a bunch of other things I’m forgetting.

SO, when I decide that it might be best to have the leaf springs done by a professional so I don’t snap a bolt and turn it into a nightmare, and I drive out of their parking lot to immediately hear CLUNK which they take back in to tinker around with, and then come back out saying “it’s better than new” only to have it continue to clunk, and THEN have it also making a whirring sound and ALSO now the leafs are creaking..... it just.. it just makes me want to throw in the towel. I should have just done them myself. The shop says to stop by on Tuesday so I guess I’ll see how that plays out.

 

9 years with no major failures sounds pretty good. Hell you got 7 years out of a battery! 20 years out of a PS line. Probably the first time those rotors have been replaced to. Agreed though. A shop that lets the customer quality check their work and doesn’t inform you of other related issues is one you shouldn’t use again. Or anyone else for that matter.
It does sound pinion related though. From what you said it really needed those springs and what’s going on now was going to happen anyway. Maybe it’s just a ujoint.
After installing rear lift springs, shims, sye, and a driveshaft on my XJ one of the pinion bearings promptly went south. I mean immediately. It wasn’t liking the new angle and/ or was already failing. It was a D35 tho.I had plans for a different axle in the works already, but as usual the 35 had plans of its own.
Let us know what happens. Goodluck!

 

Did you measure this?

 

Lube the slip yoke.

 

appreciate the suggestion, but it’s not that kind of clunk. It’s definitely something with the spring. I have lubed the yoke in the past for the different clunking you’re referring too.

 

haha thanks. I had actually replaced the rotors years ago and they weren’t too bad this time around, but with brakes I just prefer preventative maintenance. And oh my cherokee has given me a lot of grief over the years and I have replaced most everything on it. Have you ever had to replace your ignition switch actuator pin? At night in a parking lot, in winter? Haha I have.. ugh.
But I think that’s just what gets me the most. I don’t believe they road tested it after, or they did and just didn’t care about the clunking. I ended up taking it back to them a few days ago to see if they could check everything over because it started clunking, whirring, and the leafs stared creaking as well. They straight up told me “new parts, new sounds” and that they sprayed wd40 on the leafs and then charged me $65 for their time. But hey, they did me a favour by only charging me a half hour labour! So man, this is why I just prefer fixing it up myself... at least I know it’ll be quality, or if I severely **** something up I’m not mad at anyone but myself. I’m not totally surprised by the whirring and possible pinion bearing going on it. But the whole ordeal does leave me sour

 

not yet, I took a break from working on it as it was stressing me out too much. I’ll check it out this weekend

 

So the clunking could be the shocks bottoming or topping out due to the lifting of 2"-3. Or the clunking and creaking makes me wonder if the replacement parts were torqued to spec when the full weight of the vehicle was on them. The whirring could very well be to much of an angle difference of the transfer case and rear pinion. I just received 4 degree shims in the mail today for a vibration issue (I guess you could call the sound a whirring one) I get at around ~35 to 40 mph. I'm at 2" to 3" lift in the rear. The bottom diagram is of a stock XJ.