Drivehafts problems?

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alanshep
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Drivehafts problems?

Post by alanshep »

Hello. I have a 1994 ZX 1.9D.

Recently the front of the car has started to vibrate quite badly at above 60mph. It feels like the vibration is coming from the front drivers side driveshaft / wheel. The steering wheel does not vibrate.

The other thing I have noticed is that at very low speeds (crawling in a traffic jam for instance) it feels as if the front right hand side of the car is rising and falling with each rotation of the road wheel - almost as if there is a bulge on the tyre (which there isn't).

About 2 months back I had to replace the boot on the outer joint of the right hand driveshaft for the MOT. The boot had the tinniest split. No dirt had entered the joint. I dismantled the inner joint to replace the outer boot. I didn't mark the alignment of the 'tripod' bearing with the housing so the inner joint might have gone back together differently.

I've been under the car today expecting to find a problem with the right hand driveshaft but it seems OK as do the wheel bearings. I did however find that the outer joint on the left hand driveshaft feels pretty worn.

Do the vibration and the rising / falling sensation confirm a driveshaft problem ?

I have a pair of drivesahfts from a 1992 car. I was thinking of fitting them to mine to see if it cleared the problem. I know that the hub nut arrangement on these is different to mine. These have a pin and cover to lock the nut whereas on mine the nut is staked. Does anybody know if these older driveshafts will fit my 1994 model?

Thanks.

Alan.
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Post by Peter.N. »

I am sure you will find that if the car is rising and falling, you have a defective out of shape tyre. The only other possible cause would be an oval wheel bearing and if that was the case you would have a lot worse than a vibration!
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zx driveshafts

Post by 8304 »

a wobble between about 45mph and 60mph is classic worn triax joint symptom. Ive had it on a zx and a friend has on a renault cangoo van (i think thats what it was called)

but it wouldnt explain the rising and faling with the rotation of the wheel.

does the side to side vibration stop above 55 - 60mph, if so that is exactly what my zx was doing....

hope that helps!!

alastair
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alanshep
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Post by alanshep »

Thanks for the replies.

I must admit the rising / falling is a strange thing. I don't think there is actually that much movement involved but it's a weird sensation. It almost feels as if the road wheel isn't turning with constant velocity - as if it were slowing down at a certain point on it's rotation. This is what made me think that the driveshaft might be at fault but as I said in the original post the right hand driveshaft feels OK from under the car.

I will try the car with some other wheels on the front before delving further.

Alan.
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Post by 8304 »

yeah god plan

one other thing though, it is pretty much impossible to asses a drivesyhaft by wobbling it from underneath the car, somtimes they feel worn out but are fine and other times they feel good but are nakered!!!
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Post by bxbodger »

Unless you have hit something REALLY hard, it's most unlikely that the driveshaft is bent. I wouldn't have thought that the tri-joint would cause it, either-

I agree with Peter N, its most likely an out-of-round tyre: not the same as a bulge. Jack up and use something on the ground as a fixed point aligned with the centre of the tread and rotate the wheel against it to check.
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Post by 8304 »

just to clarify:

i wasnt saying the shaft could be bent, its the triax joint wear on the inside that makes the car wobble from side to side at low frequency....

the driveshaft would not cause the up and down sensation - i agree that that must be somthing like a bulged tyre or out of round wheel for whatever reason.

i know worn triax joints cause the wobble from two occasions as previously posted.. 8)

another thought.......... could it be a binding brake or badly warped disc????? when in traffic turning over slowly the on / off braking effect my give a senation on rising and falling - and then at hight speed the on / off braking could cause the car to wobble - but you would more then likely feel it through the steering. :idea: :?:

What to you think???


cheers

alastair
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Post by Peter.N. »

I had a vibration problem on my last CX which got worse as the car got hotter, on a short journey you wouldn't notice it, but on a very long journey it became quite pronounced, that turned out to be the inner drive shaft joints, it only got really bad when the shaft got hot enough to melt the grease.
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Post by alanshep »

I thought I'd report back.

I tried swapping the front wheels and it made no difference. I realised that the car was also vibrating more when stationary (subject of another post) so I changed the bottom engine mount. This cured the vibration when stationary but not above 60mph.

This last weekend I eventually got around to jacking up the back. I had my son spin the wheels and from about 20yds back it was obvious that one of the rear tyres had a fairly obvious 'kink' in it. Strangely enough the other tyre had a similar but less obvious kink. Also found that the left hand hanbrake cable is not releasing properly.

Swapped the rear wheels for some others and the vibration is gone so Peter was correct all along.

Handbrake cable is this weekends job.

The problem tyres have plenty of tread on them. When I bought the car a couple of years back the car wasn't moved for a about 4 months. I'm wondering whether during this period the tyres took some kind of 'set' which has only recently become a problem - it just seems strange that they should both have similar deformity.

Thanks to everyone for your advice.
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Post by AndersDK »

Tyres can not be stored as a loaded wheel. They will eventually get a flat induced - and that is exactly what you have tried. There is a reason why you always see these more or less clever designed wheel storage thingies on sale in super markets and car accessory shops.

I know this hurting feeling scrapping perfectly good threaded tyres. But take the pain - as the tyres are useless despite the perfect looking surface :shock:
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Post by Mandrake »

I've just run into the same problem with my spare tyre - when I got a puncture at the rear yesterday I put the spare on, and as soon as I was driving I noticed what seemed to be a bad shimmy at the back, so I jacked it up to spin the wheel thinking that the rim must be warped, but it is an out of round tyre :(

It was most noticable below 40Km/hr above about 50 the suspension was (presumably) absorbing the movement.

Anyone have any ideas how the spare tyre mounted under the boot could get into such a bad out of round state ?

Regards,
Simon
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Post by AndersDK »

Mandrake wrote:Anyone have any ideas how the spare tyre mounted under the boot could get into such a bad out of round state ?
Apart from any deformation caused by the storage cage - the obvious reason is a "cheapy" tyre already when fitted there.

I must admit that personally I still have this old-fashion attitude to a spare wheel : its a limp-home emergency wheel. Consequently about the most crap tyre I can find in my yard goes in there in the cage under my BX'es - *blush* :oops:

Besides I always carry a couple of tyre inflation bottles in the boot :wink:
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