Vibration help!

Wrecked my 75 CJ5 a year ago just after replacing the bearings in the rear D44. I hit a median with the passenger rear corner and displaced the axle, shoving the right rear tire into the toolbox under the passenger seat. The u-bolts stayed put and right rear leaf spring bent to 90 degrees. The axle housing does not appear visibly bent. The driveshaft was fully compressed, but it doesn't appear bent.

After replacing my springs and straightening the mess out, I get a vibration when I approach 50mph from the right rear corner of the jeep. I also noticed a slight "creak, creak, creak" noise when I turn sharp corners at low speed. I lost the balance weight from my right rear wheel during the wreck and it could be bent so I thought I would start there.

Does anyone know how to check the condition of the axle bearings, axle shaft?
Any advice on what to look for is much appreciated.

 

You wheel balance could certainly cause the vibration.

The creaking noise could be a number of things...you're moving laterally so check the ubolts for proper torque, the axle might be shifting slightly. The spring bolts being too tight, and new bushings in the springs could cause some noise too.

To check the bearing and axle condition, you'll have to disassemble and pull the axle shafts out. While you're there check the clutches in the differential, it's possible that the the axle housing shifted that you jarred something in there which could cause some noise on slow sharp turns.

 

I had a similar issue and it turned out one of my axles shafts was slightly bent. It should be noted that I only noticed this problem when having the rig emissions tested and saw the wobble at high speed on the rollers.