Need help with shaking/shudder
Posted: August 28th, 2011, 12:08 am
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.
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.