I bought my TJII AWD Sports Magna back in June 2013, unregistered with panel damage, but drivable for $1500. Got it serviced and registered in August.

I noticed it had a nasty shudder in acceleration. It was especially bad between 2nd and 3rd gear, but present most of the time. At its worst, the whole car shook like it was shivering from cold, to the point where the seats and interior trim would rattle from it.

Initial research lead me to believe it may be the tranny. I got it serviced and power flushed, and added some Shudder Fix. The tranny specialist gave it a clean bill of health, and it had no effect on the shudder.

Next on the list were the CVs. After getting the front CVs replaced with recos (couldn't source new ones), over-all driveline refinement was *A LOT* better - smoother, quieter. But the shudder wasn't completely eliminated. When I bought the car, if the shudder could be rated a 10 out of 10, it had been brought down to a 4. Much better, obviously, but still not good enough.

Next was the suspension. About a month ago I replaced all springs and shocks with Pedders Sportsryders. The front shocks were gone and all 4 springs were sagging. I suspect this car had done some serious towing (it had a heavy duty tow bar that looked like it had seen some use). I also replaced quite a few bushes with polyurethanes. The ones that weren't replaced were re-greased, and I replaced the front bump stops too, as they were broken.

NOW: The shudder has been reduced even more, but it's still there. It's probably at about 2 out of 10. I have driven other TJII AWD Sports Magnas and there was no sign of shudder, so I know it's not an inherent fault with these cars in general. A good look through the forums also didn't indicate this was common in the AWDs.

Anyone have any suggestions on what else to look at:
* Steering rack?
* Wheel bearings?
* Chassis damage?
* Engine mounts?
* Torque converter?

My goal is to get this car running good as new. If there's a workshop in Western Sydney someone could suggest I take it, someone that has AWD Magna experience, that would be grand :happy:

Shudders are difficult but the first issue I see here is the bush replacement. Personally I would never use poly bushes in any car to the extent where I even refuse to fit them here full stop. If they were so good then car makers would use them out of the factory given that they are so much cheaper to make.

In replacing the bushes you may have fixed the faulty part but then re introduced other issues with these bushes. I have seen this so many times in cars

Interesting point.

I've probably replaced about half of the bushes, mostly in the rear.

Get someone to look at what your wheels are doing when you try to go forward or backward from a standstill with the handbrake on.

If there is any forward/aft movement of the wheels, try replacing the bushes and ball joints on the front suspension arms.

Tie rods and tie rod ends should be checked for play as well.

(I'm assuming from the price it is high Km.)

I'd also be checking the tail shaft uni joints, tail shaft centre support bearing (TL tail shaft has one so TJ is probably the same) & the rear diff mounting bushes.

Cheers

Awesome suggestions guys, I'll get them checked out and post my findings. Thanks :-)

Madmax it had 195K on the clock when I bought it, best I could tell these were genuine ks and not a replaced speedo. Not sure of course, but I had a partial log book, the timing belt had been done recently, and general wear on the engine seemed consistent with these ks.