strong vibration on front right side

Ramdao · Post by **Ramdao** » November 21st, 2007, 11:05 am

I wonder what can it be!
Every time I accelerate, start a vibration in any gear.

When the left front wheel is jacked up, leaving the right on the ground, nothing happens, no vibration at all!
But, when is the other way around, the right side is up while the left is on the ground the vibration starts.

I allready check the shafts on both sides are ok.

Could it be the tranny?

Please any one that had that problem before and had solve it

need info. thanks in advance.

Post by **Mooneggs** » November 21st, 2007, 2:17 pm

are the lugs tight?

ball joints?

tie rod ends?

wheel bearing?

hgallegos915 · Post by **hgallegos915** » November 21st, 2007, 2:30 pm

can also be a warped rotor or locking caliper. my rear rotor is warped and it shakes vigorously lol

Ramdao · Post by **Ramdao** » November 22nd, 2007, 10:11 pm

By the way it has new brake rotors, bearings, an so on, the mechanic think that he might have found the problem on the right side, looks like that the cv joint shaft is not the right size, it´s longer than it should be, so he meassured it and turns out to be that, means that when is place on the wheel bearing hub it gets so tight that it compresses the whole unit.
So we´ll going to look for the right length one.

Thanks a lot.

Whisper · Post by **Whisper** » November 23rd, 2007, 2:51 pm

Sounds about right. I have the same issue, but I'm lowered, so even though my axle is correct length, it still gets compressed. Are you lowered or stock height?

wytbishop · Post by **wytbishop** » November 23rd, 2007, 3:47 pm

Whisper wrote:Sounds about right. I have the same issue, but I'm lowered, so even though my axle is correct length, it still gets compressed. Are you lowered or stock height?

I'm lowered too, not as much as I was with the DropZones, but still about an inch down in front and I also have a noticeable vibration/grindy noise from my front right. I didn't think being lowered an inch would cause a problem...

What sort of solution do you have...if any?

Ramdao · Post by **Ramdao** » November 23rd, 2007, 4:43 pm

I will find out about it, I will talk to the technitian.

sound logical.

Whisper · Post by **Whisper** » November 23rd, 2007, 8:27 pm

wytbishop wrote:
Whisper wrote:Sounds about right. I have the same issue, but I'm lowered, so even though my axle is correct length, it still gets compressed. Are you lowered or stock height?
I'm lowered too, not as much as I was with the DropZones, but still about an inch down in front and I also have a noticeable vibration/grindy noise from my front right. I didn't think being lowered an inch would cause a problem...

What sort of solution do you have...if any?

An inch shouldn't really make much difference if you have stock axles. Unless you have the wrong sized axle, you'd have to be pretty low to compress the joints. The vibration you have is probably something else. Does the vibration mainly happen when gasing it during aggressive cornering left? Or is it the same during straight line cruising? Could be a bent axle, too.

As far as axle length goes, there are places that can build you a shorter one, if that's your problem. Sometimes a quarter of an inch can make a lot of difference.

Ramdao · Post by **Ramdao** » November 24th, 2007, 6:48 pm

I will try to find out the lenght of it, I let you know about it.

wytbishop · Post by **wytbishop** » November 24th, 2007, 7:33 pm

Whisper wrote: An inch shouldn't really make much difference if you have stock axles. Unless you have the wrong sized axle, you'd have to be pretty low to compress the joints. The vibration you have is probably something else. Does the vibration mainly happen when gasing it during aggressive cornering left? Or is it the same during straight line cruising? Could be a bent axle, too.

As far as axle length goes, there are places that can build you a shorter one, if that's your problem. Sometimes a quarter of an inch can make a lot of difference.

The problem is only really notceable when I decellerate on trailing throttle or turning right with any speed. The brakes are smooth, it's the compression of the suspension that seems to be causing it. If I am running straight at neutral throttle and hit a depression in the road the compression of the suspension causes it. If I turn right it's really bad, not very bad at all when I turn left.

I am most worried that the years that the car was run with the very low DropZone coilovers has damaged something in the diff. The guys at the alignment shop couldn't find anything visibly wrong, which is why I think it may be in the diff.

Whisper · Post by **Whisper** » November 24th, 2007, 11:02 pm

wytbishop wrote: The problem is only really notceable when I decellerate on trailing throttle or turning right with any speed.

Usually the vibration happens opposite of the direction you're turning, because that's where the compression happens, but you said your vibration is coming from the front right when you're turning right?

wytbishop · Post by **wytbishop** » November 25th, 2007, 2:50 am

Whisper wrote: Usually the vibration happens opposite of the direction you're turning, because that's where the compression happens, but you said your vibration is coming from the front right when you're turning right?

It feels like its coming from the right, but it's hard to know as the entire floor shakes. It actually feels like something is grinding in time with the rotation of one of the axels. The thing that bugs me is that the CV boots look great. Like they were replaced in the last couple of years.

I have decided in my mind, that it must be either a CV joint grinding (i think an inner joint) or the inner splined shaft rubbing on the diff housing.

It's definitely in time with road speed not engine speed, but it's faster than wheel speed, so I think it's got to be related to some part of one drive shaft or the other. I think the only way to know would be to replace them, but that's like $300 new and you just don't know what you're gonna get used.

I'm not sure what to do from here.

Whisper · Post by **Whisper** » November 25th, 2007, 4:12 am

It's possible someone replaced the axles and put in the wrong sized ones.

CVs don't usually grind. They pop or click when bad. Grinding is something else. Can you feel the vibration through the steering wheel, or just the floor? Mine I can feel through steering wheel and I can feel exactly which wheel is doing this.

If you do replace driveshafts, there are no new ones (unless you go custom). You can get rebuilt or used, and you're probably looking at $80 each after you turn in yours for the core refund. And you don't need to replace both, just one at a time.

wytbishop · Post by **wytbishop** » November 25th, 2007, 1:28 pm

By new I meant recon from the store...when I had asked abou tthem earlier I was told $125 ish per side plus the half shaft, but I see they're cheaper online.

My other fear is that it's wheel bearings. The reason being I just replaced the outer tie rod ends and I don't know if I can separate them without destroying them and I don't want to pay someone to do it.

It's a great big ole cluster @#$%

wytbishop · Post by **wytbishop** » November 28th, 2007, 4:23 pm

Ok, I took the car in to the shop that did the wheel alignment and they took it on four test drives before someone was able to recreate my symptom. They seem fairly convinced that it is the left front wheel bearing.

I hope they're right, cuz if they're wrong i'm out $255 for a shiney new wheel bearing that I didn't need.