Engine shaking while dirt road driving

[CookieMonster]

Howdy all, I'm new to broncos and offroading. I was out driving this rocky washboardy road today - not going too fast or too slow. After a while I came to a stop to let some bikes go by, and I noticed some excess shaking of the vehicle. Went a bit further, stopped again, and it was still going. I popped the hood and could see the engine shaking what I assume to be more than usual. I turned the truck off and on and it didn't come back for the entire rest of the way in and back out (maybe like 6 more miles) or the drive home.

Has this happened to anyone before? I feel like maybe I hit the perfect bump which made the engine shake and it couldn't recover on its own. Or maybe there's a weakness under the hood? Thoughts? 24 Wildtrak with 3000 miles.

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[NC_Oak]

never heard of a bump causing this symptom that would be sustained. Plenty of us have likely hit tons and tons of rocky bumps off road. I have the 2.3L and spent several hours this weekend on nothing but rocky trails.

From a shaking perspective, the balancer would be the obvious culprit but that wouldnt fail like that temporarily. maybe a belt tensioner got wonky?

 

[brkdncr]

Sounds like a misfiring engine, but if that were happening you’d see some lights on the dash.

 

[itwelder]

What was your fuel level? Perhaps air was picked up from fuel sloshing around, it would explain why it eventually went away.

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