Vibration till over 50.....need advice for shop

[JHarris1385]

Alright my shop has put my new axles in amongst fixing an overheating issue.

They called and said the VX vibrates till over the speed of 50. It's hard when I'm an hour away to get up there and see myself. However I trust the guys and they are very reasonable, plus they put my diff drop on. He did mention that it seems to be vibration in just the steering wheel AND there is no more grinding in axles/cvs.

Any advice, they work till 2pm tomorrow.
I just want to get it back. Dropped it off on June 18th.

Thanks!

[Triathlete]

Tires/wheels out of balance. Wheel bearings. Upper and/or lower control arm bushings. Tie rod ends. To name just a few possibilities.

[JHarris1385]

So potentially something they messed up when they replaced the cv's?

[Triathlete]

Most of that stuff "should" have been untouched. And thats if the vibration is in the front end. If not it could be driveshaft related (out of balance, bent, bad joints), could be an engine misfire....
if you can get more specific info it might narrow it down.
One thing they would have touch...maybe they didn't tighten the ball joint brackets completely?

[JHarris1385]

They replaced the bearings too.

New bearings, new cv's.

[Y33TREKker]

Are the tire pressures high enough? It sounds like your VX has been in the shop for awhile, so maybe the tires have lost a little pressure during that month of sitting, they start to get temporarily flat spotted after sitting for awhile, but smooth out once they're driven on and heated up?

The General tires I now have on my car have done that even they were new, and that would happen even after only being parked overnight. The pressures were always good, but it would take five minutes of driving for them to smooth out again.

I take it this wasn't happening before the VX went into the shop for the current repairs?

[JHarris1385]

Yeah, no vibration, just grinding while coasting at higher speeds.

[89Vette]

CV ball size too small? Road force balance to check tires? Shocks too old?

[VXorado]

Yeah, no vibration, just grinding while coasting at higher speeds.

Grease the U-Joints on the rear driveshaft if the problem is grinding & not vibration.

[Y33TREKker]

Grease the U-Joints on the rear driveshaft if the problem is grinding & not vibration.
X2

[JHarris1385]

Could that be felt in the steering wheel? Sounded like there was play in the steering wheel.

[tom4bren]

I'd have them check the preload on the bearings again. Since you said they were replaced, then the preload could change after the initial test drive. Too little preload could cause tires to wobble. Too much causes drag which will bring down your mpg. I had to monkey with mine a few times after the shop replaced my axle (WAAAY too little preload the first time).

[jmayer40]

Everything dealing drive line is felt thru steering wheel.. I hate that.

[UWVX89]

My front prop shaft lost a bolt and the same issue arose because of the imbalance in the spinning weight. Check bolts on the front prop shaft.

[EVO]

Flatspot or bubble on one or more of your tires. Guess how I know!!!

[JHarris1385]

He rotated the tires and then back and the vibration stopped.

The back ones are a tad more worn than the fronts and when the larger ones went on the back it wobbled.

[PK]

When the shop did your wheel bearings, did they also check and grease the needle roller bearing that the hub axle shaft spins in??
That little bearing often gets overlooked.

PK

[catskilljay]

so im having lots of wheel shake and seizures at 45 but gets better @ 60? had tires balanced rotated and truck aligned only got a lil beta.. havent checked the steering adjustment i jus learned of in a past thread yet. I was thinkn cv's? any suggestions folks?

[Triathlete]

Any popping or binding especially when turning?

[catskilljay]

WOW.. So the steering box adjustment fixed the issue completely! Although it wasn't as easy as it sounded, it probably hadn't been touched in 14 years. Thank you Tone and your many of words of wisdom! God bless your soul and your help from beyond the grave!! So after a few different lube/sprays a little ingenuity lots of cursing and bloody knuckles I was able to free the main adjustment bolt, while trying to hold the flat head screw in the center as per Tones description (that I read on some thread) CAUTION: VX owners of the future do not be in a rush (like I was) and use just any old screwdriver! It is at a very odd angle up against the radiator with little to no room. So I completely stripped out the inner screw. Had to pull out the grinder and fashion up some bits so they were wider, and could grip the screw, but was able to get a full turn or so out of it. Tighten back down the bolt and whahla the steering is tighter than I could have imagined, and all of the bouncing and vibration (which felt very similar to a unbalanced tire) is cured! Good luck everybody. What's next....

[karrijp]

I have been having the same problem the last few weeks. The mechanic I took it to said I had a bad drivers side cv shaft and wheel bearing. He admitted he had problems putting the new shaft in and it has not fixed the problem. My husband looked at it and saw the drivers side ball joint had a busted seal and was leaking grease so we fixed that. Still have the same vibration problem. I took it the tire and alignment shop today and they said to rotate and balance the tires which didn't help either. They did say my tires were cupped and would contribute to a vibration, but the vibration between 40 and 60 is horrid. I'm lost as to what to do next!

[LittleBeast]

Upper control arm bushings?