my car shakes when driving, is it the driveshaft?
Rotary Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 1,273
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From: Ft. Worth, Texas, USA, Earth, Solar System...
Originally posted by flubyux2
yea, i was layin in bed last night, and couldnt get to sleep, and i thought about my cars.
i came to the conclusion that it HAS to be my ball joint. heres what the symptoms are, they may not all be due to one culprit:
1.clunk/click when applying brakes @ 5mph
2.Severe wander/pull in the lane when rainy or snowy (white knuckle driving) it feels like torque steer, and it actually pulls the whole car left and right.
3. on and off steering wheel shimmy (comes and goes)
4. car vibration @ highway speeds, gets worse as speeds go up
. 4a. when at high speed, vibration gets REAL bad when holding the clutch in and coasting.
5. lots of wheel hop, even when spinning the tires on wet roads
6. lots of understeer (probalby due to extensive weight reduction in front, but not rear)
7. clunk when i kick the top of the driverside front tire
im gonna go out and check my rear trans mount see if its still tight, and while the car is in the air, ill grab both front tires and wobble them top-to-bottom (hands on 12 and 2 oclock) see what noise it makes. ill check all the other suspension links and bushings too.
thanks guys
chris
PS, i love rx7s...you know, they make some cars that dont even have removable ball joints?! JEBUS CRIPES...
yea, i was layin in bed last night, and couldnt get to sleep, and i thought about my cars.
i came to the conclusion that it HAS to be my ball joint. heres what the symptoms are, they may not all be due to one culprit:
1.clunk/click when applying brakes @ 5mph
2.Severe wander/pull in the lane when rainy or snowy (white knuckle driving) it feels like torque steer, and it actually pulls the whole car left and right.
3. on and off steering wheel shimmy (comes and goes)
4. car vibration @ highway speeds, gets worse as speeds go up
. 4a. when at high speed, vibration gets REAL bad when holding the clutch in and coasting.
5. lots of wheel hop, even when spinning the tires on wet roads
6. lots of understeer (probalby due to extensive weight reduction in front, but not rear)
7. clunk when i kick the top of the driverside front tire
im gonna go out and check my rear trans mount see if its still tight, and while the car is in the air, ill grab both front tires and wobble them top-to-bottom (hands on 12 and 2 oclock) see what noise it makes. ill check all the other suspension links and bushings too.
thanks guys
chris
PS, i love rx7s...you know, they make some cars that dont even have removable ball joints?! JEBUS CRIPES...
Brad
Thread Starter
Thats not an FC...
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 844
Likes: 0
From: spring hill, Fla
Brad, for sheezy. does anyone remeber how much those ball joints cost? mine are pretty much shot, cuz the rubber grease boot is split almost 270* on the horizontal axis. ill probably need an alignment after replacing them huh?
Amur, 12 and 6, Got it...i think i probably meant to say 6...just wasnt payin attn. i did check them and there was some slop so i tightened up the bearings a little, and its pretty solid feeling now. but it still has some vibration and SEVERE road wander when its rainy, and definitly snowy. it happens around 40-60 mph, but doing 65 or more, it doesnt do it...i dont know whats up w/ it
i dont know if i said this already, but i have a semi-solid trans mount in the rear, and i tightend it up cuz it was loose, and loctite'd it. and NOW, i can hear the gear whine inside the car, like it has straight cut gears. but also, that vibration that shakes the whole car (not the steering wheel vibration) is WORSE. ESPECIALLY when i feather the throttle at highway speed so im not decelerating but not accelerating or maintaining speed, or when i clutch it and coast at 70 mph, its not nice at all. it HAS to be the ujoint. mazdatrix has a write up about diagnosing the problem, ill check it out to see which end is the culprit.
wasnt there a post around here somehwere, about a guy who had replacement Ujoints for the driveshafts that supposedly dont have removable ujoints? that may come in handy.
thanks
chris
Amur, 12 and 6, Got it...i think i probably meant to say 6...just wasnt payin attn. i did check them and there was some slop so i tightened up the bearings a little, and its pretty solid feeling now. but it still has some vibration and SEVERE road wander when its rainy, and definitly snowy. it happens around 40-60 mph, but doing 65 or more, it doesnt do it...i dont know whats up w/ it
i dont know if i said this already, but i have a semi-solid trans mount in the rear, and i tightend it up cuz it was loose, and loctite'd it. and NOW, i can hear the gear whine inside the car, like it has straight cut gears. but also, that vibration that shakes the whole car (not the steering wheel vibration) is WORSE. ESPECIALLY when i feather the throttle at highway speed so im not decelerating but not accelerating or maintaining speed, or when i clutch it and coast at 70 mph, its not nice at all. it HAS to be the ujoint. mazdatrix has a write up about diagnosing the problem, ill check it out to see which end is the culprit.
wasnt there a post around here somehwere, about a guy who had replacement Ujoints for the driveshafts that supposedly dont have removable ujoints? that may come in handy.
thanks
chris
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