Very Bad Vibration
 

Just finished up the AWD Swap and took it for a test drive down the street. It has a serious vibration happening and is very sloppy.

Things I know:
The carrier bearings on the driveshaft seem to be in great condition, no rips cracks or anything and they spin freely on the shaft no problem. I can move the shaft in the bushings but was told it looked normal. Video of said play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_my9ekvx1s

The u-joints are becoming worn, the front is ok, the middle is smooth as butter, but the rear is pretty notchy.

The shaft is straight when it is hanging on the car and has no forward or backwards play at all.

The rear drivers knuckle I believe is bent causing that wheel to have a bunch of positive camber and toe. Crazy amounts. The other side is pretty negative on camber and good on toe visually.

The rear divers side also has a bad wheel bearing that I am changing when I put the new knuckle on.

Going to be hopefully putting a new knuckle on it tonight along with a Precision u-joint to see if that helps any.

Any other suggestions?
Thanks, Mark

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

This is the u- joint I was going to get http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...Stores=true#at

And here is where I got my info from.
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...Stores=true#at

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Please do not get Precision U-joints!

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

That notchy rear joint probably has a lot to do with the vibration. Does the tubes have any dents in it? It's hard to tell if the driveshaft is straight unless you have it on a balancer to check for runout.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

ok lol. Only the OEM ones?

The driveshaft tube is dent free.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

I had to say it asap. Usually customers bring in their driveshaft to balance after they installed precision u joints. They have end play like used old joints. Get some quality joints. I don't know if Spicer makes joints for dsm driveshaft but the oem shouldn't be too much.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

I would suggest a balance after installing new joints. You might get lucky but most of the time it gets out of balance.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Yup just saw that they only come with 1 of the 3 different sets of snap rings

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

I don't know if you're planning to get it balanced but I would definitely recommend buying new hanger bearings and all 3 joints if you do balance it.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

ok I may just try to replace the u-joint without a balance and see if it still vibrates. How much do balances normally go for? This vibration is terrible at like 5mph and over. Can't go more than 20ish without feeling like something is going to break.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

can anyone chime in, if the toe was out far enough would that cause a very bad wobble/ shake vibration?

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

No

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

where can u get them balanced?

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

^ What dsmghost said. Toe will not cause a vibration. The only things that typically cause a vibration when it comes to wheels and tires are a bent rim, unbalanced wheel, or very, very bad wheel bearings.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

3 piece would be a weird one. We usually charge 2 piece and then add an additional shaft. 2 piece balance is around 140 without tax added. I believe adding an additional one is around 50-60. I'm not sure if we havet the fixtures for the dsm flanges since we rarely balance them. This price includes straightening the shaft with heat as well. Otherwise they suck to balance out. something else must be bad if it'it's vibrating at 5mph. didnt you do a ring and pinion on that rear diff?

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Proven force, catco, most driveshaft shop should have balancers. But of course, you want the best right? I've seen other shop's work and they are garbage.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

holy shit thats crazy expensive. I guess if you need it you need it.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Yep, a lot of trucks needs it. Plus we build a lot of custom driveshaft. I am planning to build a custom one once I go awd. A 2 piece shaft instead of the factory 3 piece.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

thats very cool i plan on just buying the dss when i need it. mark i have the ds that i twisted the u joints out of at pg last year if it comes down to needing spare parts altho it deff wasn't pretty when it happened

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Yes I did but it went very smoothly and no issues seemed to pop up. It was pretty straight forward.

I think any u-joint is better than the rear one. I'm going to post a video of it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFu8...ature=youtu.be

Can see it being notchy and kinda "sticky"

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

I think your excessive toe + bad wheel bearing could definitely be causing it. You're putting a side load on the wheel bearing (which has play in it) and you could be seeing an oscillation in the dynamic toe of the wheel. I'd fix those problems before you worry too much about throwing more $$$ and parts at it.

I've used the precision joints and never had problems, nor have they caused my driveshaft to be crazy out of balance.

Notchy U-joints are totally normal (seen it on almost every DSM driveshaft) and shouldn't be causing that much vibration. It'd have to be really damaged and in need of replacement. Can't hurt to change them though, they're pretty cheap.

What it sounds like to me is that you may have borked driveshaft angles. I've never done an AWD swap so i'm not sure how easy it is to mess up, but if you have too severe an angle on one of your U-joints, you can and will get good amounts of vibration. Could also be caused by a really bad carrier. Although at 5mph I wouldn't think the shaft is spinning fast enough to even cause that much vibration.

Are you sure you don't have something rubbing on the bent knuckle, driveshaft rubbing exhaust, etc?

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Yea all the videos and threads about carriers i've seen they get a vibration at like 50mph and under acceleration. I can get nowhere near that speed.

I will look to see if it might be hitting the downpipe.

The driveshaft looks pretty darn straight when it's bolted up and I tried my best to align it exactly where the other bracket that I removed was. But I don't have a tool to measure the angles of it, so I have no real evidence.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Did you do a bearing kit as well on the rear diff? With a new ring a pinion, you should always check your pattern.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

I did not. What do you mean by "pattern"?

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Looking at the gear mesh for proper shimming of the gear.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Idk if this pic helps but this was right before the last cap went on. There was no excess play in the pinion gear when I grabbed it from the flange where it connects to the D.S. And I never touched the lsd part...If that's what you are referring to?

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

A lot of times if it's a carrier bearing you would get a knocking noise with the vibration.

I'd pack those bitches in urethane anyways though, check for proper gear mesh and fix the known bad wheel bearing

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Waiting on the new knuckle to change the wheel bearing because I don't want to ruin the good one.

I don't remember hearing a knocking sound but I was also just worried nothing was going to break and focusing on that lol

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Maybe i'll put it all back together tonight and take it for another test drive and video it to see if I can locate anything suspicious.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Yeah with a new ring and pinion, you will most likely have to re-shim the pinion or differential carrier. Without the proper pattern, you can get vibration and can cause a lot of damage to the differential carrier.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Any way to test or tell if it will need to be re-shimmed?

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Heres the positive camber and toe issue. Toe isn't as far out as I remember but is still definitely positive.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Pull out the cover, mark like 5-8 teeth with some gear marking compound, and turn the pinion until you can see the pattern on the ring. You will want to spin it both ways. The rear end has to be able to spin so it would be easier if the driveshaft and axles weren't in it. Otherwise I think you should be able to spin it with all 4 wheels in the air in neutral.

That camber issues looks pretty bad. I would definitely fix that asap as well.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Driveshaft is already out. Would it be easiest just to pull the diff?
Or I can just drop the whole rear end again

Mark the teeth of the ring gear?

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Leave the differential in it. It has to be bolted up to how it would be setup. I've never been underneath an awd dsm so I don't know how tight the space is. But if you can't get the cover off, you will have to drop the rear end off.
Yes, mark the teeth of the ring gear. As you turn the pinion, it will make contact with the ring gear and show you the pattern.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Ok well couldn't find the marking compound at either oreilly or napa.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Holy shit, that is some serious positive camber. You know how "stanced" cars only ride on the inside edge of the tire and how dangerous it is? That is basically what you are doing, except riding on the outside edge of the tire.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Holy shit @ that pic. Doesn't take an alignment machine to tell you how far out of whack that is. I'd get that corrected ASAP. I'd be fixing the things I know are wrong, one by one, and go from there.

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Just waiting on getting the knuckle then it's going in ASAP!

Re: Very Bad Vibration
 

Just thought of what it could possibly be!! When I did the ring and pinion gears I never swapped this bearing and spacer over I just used the one already on the pinion gear that I received! :KANE:
I'm guessing I was supposed to do that!? f me if I was lol