Alright need help, looking for advice from anyone who has had a similar problem. I have been fighting a vibration for over a year now. 86.5 n/a jerks between 20 and 30 mph then at about 60 mph a vibration starts that can be felt in the seat of my pants but not necessarily the steering wheel. The vibration is not rpm related but speed related. I can take the car out of gear and coast and still feel the vibration. I have swapped the rearend out with one from my parts car. I have had the driveshaft u-joints replaced then had the driveshaft spun balanced and told it was good. The rotors and brake pads are new all around. Just had the half-shafts replaced. New steering dampener and steering rack. Wheels are new and both wheels and tires have been balanced twice. I was reading sogi archives and found similar problems as mine but found no one who resolved the problem. I'm thinking the center bearing may be the problem but can't understand how it would spin balance fine but still be shot. I'm also thinking wheel bearings but their not making any noise. Has anyone else had this problem.
Ugghh... Vibrations can be hard to trace. If you have a parts car then you have the best means to track it down- swap parts one at a time until it goes away. I know it is a royal pain but sometimes that is the best bet.
Also- you can learn alot from watching moving parts go around at speed. It is extremely dangerous but I do it sometimes at work. Put the car up on a lift and get the wheels up to 60 mph. Then look around to see if anything is wobbling. Could be a bent hub or something. Just don't kill yourself doing this. The car must be VERY securely supported.
Posts: 1346 | Location: long island N.Y. | Registered: February 16, 2003
While the car is jacked up, try to wiggle the wheels on the top and bottom and on the sides. Then look to see where it is loose. Also, check the tires and see how they are wearing. That should tell you which ones are wiggling. Also, if the rotors had anything underneath them when you put them on, they will be crooked and impossible to balance. Are any of your wheels bent? They can still balance out on the machine and be bent and wobble.
I eat rice with my beef.
Posts: 1106 | Location: Spokane, WA | Registered: September 28, 2002
I agree it's defininately driveline related and even sounds driveshaft related. But I took the whole driveshaft including center bearing to a driveshaft shop in Omaha and they told me it spun balanced fine including the bearing. My problem is that everything on the Supra from Toyota verges on the insanily expensive. Hell, just the steering dampener which is nothing but a little shock cost $160.00 from the local dealership. I was told a new center bearing is $260.00. That's alot for something that may or may not fix my problem. I've already thrown about $800.00 at this problem and am really trying to find someone with nearly the same symptoms who found the culprit instead of just continuing to throw money at it.
Then you need to look at a damaged axle or diff, but the diff is usually just noise.
The output shaft of the trans has speed related symptoms, but it also usually causes a noise. Tranny noises can often by diagonsed by just pushing the clutch pedal in and out and listening for noise.
You are not fast, and you sure as hell are not furious.
Posts: 5574 | Location: Need to know basis | Registered: August 08, 2002
Problem found, jacked the rearend up again today and spun the tires. This time I found a wobble in the tires but didn't think that was it. Took the tires off, put the lugnuts back on and did it again. The half-shafts were wobbling from where it comes out of the differential. Had a mechanic look at it. Turns out the bearings are egg-shaped. Now to find one someone is selling from a parts car. Thanks for the help.
