Loud Vibration over 50 mph

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T

TX650L

Joined
Nov 15, 2008
Threads
24
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103
Location
Houston
Ok I decided to drive the 60 to work today even with only the passenger seat in it. On the way there I got on the Beltway to and accelerated to about 65. I started having a constant loud vibration that sounded like I was riding on the rumble strips on the shoulder. It seemed to be concentrated to the left side. Also my spedometer was jumping around big time when all this happened as well. Well I exited and just took the feeder road the rest of the way to work and it stopped if I kept it under 50 mph or so.

Does anyone have any idea what might cause this? Also I want to mention that this is the first time driving it on the road with no carpet in it. Right now I'm running just bare metal floor with the facotry sound deadening tar looking stuff.
 
Driveshaft would be my guess. Make sure it's tight, good u-joints, in phase and balanced.
 
u-joints???? 3rd member on the rear??? check seals on the rear to see if they are leaky.
if the speedo cable was bouncing only when the vibration happened.......then I would also consider the transfer case as the cable plugs into it.
 
Check the t-case output flange on the t-case and the pinion flange on the rear diff for play perpendicular to the rotation of the drive shaft. While doing that you should also check the torque on the drive shaft bolts. If all that is fine then either your drive shaft is out of phase / balance or you have a bad bearing in the rear axle / t-case.

Are your tires balanced? Do you have a lift?
 
If you're going 50+ and it's vibrating, does the vibration stop when you press the clutch? If not then see above posts for your list of suspects. If it goes away with the clutch in, then your vibration source may be engine or flywheel related.

Butt
 
what Butt said. If vibrations continue, also check bushings for wear/presence. my shop calls it 'the death wobble'.

fwiw, after I wheeled the saggin wagon the vibrations moved from 45+ to 65+, so maybe you need to go get 'er muddy.... ;)
 
sirenmoses said:
what Butt said. If vibrations continue, also check bushings for wear/presence. my shop calls it 'the death wobble'.
Click to expand...

First of all, cruisers don't get "death wobble" only jeeps do :flipoff2: Wear in the bushings might add to a pre-existing vibration.
 
GLTHFJ60 said:
First of all, cruisers don't get "death wobble" only jeeps do :flipoff2: Wear in the bushings might add to a pre-existing vibration.
Click to expand...
I just did a knuckle rebuild, TRE's, steering damper, wheel balance, wheel bearings and new bushing to cure the serious case of .......DEATH WOBBLE ...is was experiencing!!! If it is a Jeep thing..... I caught it! and need some medicated cream or something for it!:cheers:
 
Well I have narrowed this thing down to the u-joints. I went ahead and took the rear drive shaft off and they are definitely worn. Well I was able to remove the snap rings but the dang cups will just not push out. I but them in a vice and tried to beat them out for a good while but they didn't even budge! So I'm now trying to get them into Houston Drive Train Services to get them swapped out. Since I have the drive shaft removed and the rings off as well as the new u-joint hopefully things will be cheap.

What do you guys usually pay to get the u-joints removed if you have the drive shaft off? Also do you think I should get it balanced while I'm in there?

:confused:
 
TX650L said:
Well I have narrowed this thing down to the u-joints. I went ahead and took the rear drive shaft off and they are definitely worn. Well I was able to remove the snap rings but the dang cups will just not push out. I but them in a vice and tried to beat them out for a good while but they didn't even budge! So I'm now trying to get them into Houston Drive Train Services to get them swapped out. Since I have the drive shaft removed and the rings off as well as the new u-joint hopefully things will be cheap.

What do you guys usually pay to get the u-joints removed if you have the drive shaft off? Also do you think I should get it balanced while I'm in there?

:confused:
Click to expand...

I'm going to share my painful U-joint experience with you. First, the aftermarket ones, and I had tried several different brands, BMG, Neapco and one other, DON"T WORK! All three brands allowed the bearing caps to move outward because the retaing clips were too thin, or the thing was just made wrong, or whatever. If you want this done once and done right, spend the bucks on the Toyota U-joints. And yes, a balence is worth it.
 
I have had a great experience with the Spicer u-joint the shop put in my rear d-shaft. I slammed it right on a number of boulders and it still has no vibes. Just got home from a 600 mile trip after wheeling and if it was going to let go, it would have already. Very satisfied.
 
No luck. The new u-joint is in and Houston we still have vibration! I may take it to the local Cruiser Mechanic. I am going to take the drive shaft back off though and take it in to get ballanced to see if that helps. Also I guess it won't hurt to get the tires balanced even though they were just put on under 1000 miles ago.
 
I put in 3 different off-brand u-joints in mine before I bit the bullet and bought Toyota u-joints and took it to the driveshaft place. Interestingly, without ever having damaged my driveshaft, it was out of balance. Once I got it professionally balanced and the new OEM u-joints in, it was smooth as silk.
 
Ok here is what the culprit is. I took the driveshaft to Houston Drivetrain and they gave me the dyagnosis. As it turns out my driveshaft took a good hard whack somewhere along the way. It was somewhat fixed and the spot was painted over so it was hard to see. Also he said it had some play in the telescoping section. He could reapair the driveshaft enough to where it worked and it would be around $200. Or he said he could build me a new driveshaft and it would be in the area of $500! :rolleyes: Well I called CruiserParts.net and he had one that he said was good for $75 and $36 shipping. After all the shipping and fees that one came out to $118. So hopefully this one comes in and is good to go. The guys over at Houston Drivetrain seem pretty honest and they have some good reviews on the net so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully this gets fixed soon as right now the Cruiser just sits in the garage immobile. :bang:
 
TX650L said:
Ok here is what the culprit is. I took the driveshaft to Houston Drivetrain and they gave me the dyagnosis. As it turns out my driveshaft took a good hard whack somewhere along the way. It was somewhat fixed and the spot was painted over so it was hard to see. Also he said it had some play in the telescoping section. He could reapair the driveshaft enough to where it worked and it would be around $200. Or he said he could build me a new driveshaft and it would be in the area of $500! :rolleyes: Well I called CruiserParts.net and he had one that he said was good for $75 and $36 shipping. After all the shipping and fees that one came out to $118. So hopefully this one comes in and is good to go. The guys over at Houston Drivetrain seem pretty honest and they have some good reviews on the net so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully this gets fixed soon as right now the Cruiser just sits in the garage immobile. :bang:
Click to expand...

You could always motor around in front wheel drive :hillbilly:

Hopefully the new D/S fixes it. Did the speedo still jump around before taking the D/S off this most recent time? Now I'm remembering that I got similar symptoms the first time I rebuilt my transfer case and left out the front output shaft bearing race. Has it been opened up?
 
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