Need help with shaking/shudder

[Suresperance]

Hey guys I'm back.

A little back story .... I put the ZE in my MX-3 4 yrs ago now. It has sat for 3 out of 4 of those yrs with "suspension gremlins"
Those gremlins consist of the whole car shaking and shuddering when driving. deffinatly coming from the front I do not think its the wheel bearing because when I grab the wheel there is NO play whatsoever its solid. The ball joints were messed up. and the boots on the TREs are torn but the TRE have NO play. Tires were flat for a while so that could be they could have bad flat spots.

well for the past two yrs I have been too busy with my jeep and building rifles to bother trying to fix the MX-3. Today I finally got out and got under the Mazda. I installed k-sports and new lower ball joints. Also put good wheels and tires off of my buddies car on it to test. Putting the K-sports and ball joints on made no difference but putting the wheels on totally solved the problem for all of 5 mins and then it returned. I'm so lost I don't know what else it could be my last and only two thoughts are as follows and this is where i need to know if its even possible.

The inner CV boots on my axles have no metal bands on them they slip on and off as they see fit. So they probably have been exposed to the elements for the better part of two years now. There is still grease in there and every thing looks shiny and new still but I have no idea if they are still good or if they are dead. So if my axles are bad would that cause a bad shimmy or shake that gets worse with speed?

Second. My buddy installed the axles yrs ago when I was up top buttoning up the top end of the motor during the swap. He cant remember if he put the right on the right and the left on the left. Is it possible that the axles are on the wrong side and that could be causing the problem?

I'd love to get this sorted out so I can re-register and re-inspect it and get it back on the road now that I have time to play .... I'm just totally out of ideas. Any tips or theory are more than welcome.

[Ryan]

Drivers side and passenger side are indeed different lengths, but only about half an inch. That won't cause binding issues with relaxed suspension. I'm not even sure you can mix them up, I thought they looked totally different... its been awhile since I played with axles (thank heaven)

zip ties can replace the bands in a pinch, but I prefer to use hose clamps to the bands. More user friendly.

I'd start by jacking it up and checking out those wheel bearings again. See if the rotors are warped.

Put it solid on stands and let it idle in 1st gear and take a look at it all, that will more than likely let you see the problem. At first with the wheels on, and then without them.

bent rim, bad wheel bearing, bad axle, loose wheel nuts, perhaps a broken control arm, totally incorrect toe, bent rotor, caliper pins slid out and are contacting wheel...

[Suresperance]

I had zip ties on there they just would not go tight enough to stay on there I'm 98% sure its not a wheel bearing there is absolutely no play at all.

Would warped rotors cause the shaking while accelerating? control arms are good , the alignment could be off ... but could it be THAT off to cause such a bad vibration? I have had a know good set of wheels and tires on it so its not a bent rim. I'll get it up on stands and running to see if I cant see some thing askew.

Thanks Ryan,

Any one else have any other ideas or things I should check?

[Mr.mx-3]

Out put bearring in the trans will surely cause this had a guy I worked with that had the same problem. Also just because there is no play in the wheel bearrings dosn't mean they're not bad these are roller bearings so a few flat or pitied spots on those rollers can give you a roar and a few other problems as well and will not give anyslack when you try to shake them. But as far as how the axels go in I'm pretty sure they're Idiot proof maning you can't get them backwards or mixed up.