96gxe5spd

iTrader: (1)

Hey org!

I had a nasty vibration in my pass side front end on Friday and found that the inner cv joint had a bunch of radial play so i replaced it on Sunday. When i took it out for a test drive a new vibration was happening. I'm thinking i may have damaged the lower ball joint or maybe put the caliper back in wrong, but i haven't had time to pull the wheel and check it out.

Any thoughts on something else that i might have screwed up?

FallenOne

iTrader: (17)

sorry, not to be an ***; but well.. we cant see for ya Only thing CV related that i can think of If your unsure of your install is did you press it in all the way?

96gxe5spd

iTrader: (1)

Sorry kinda typed that up in a hurry and failed to make it really clear. Yes the driveshaft is in all the way, placed in the hub correctly and fully torqued, and lug nuts are installed and torqued.

Now it has a vibration you can feel through the wheel at about the same speed as the vibration from the bad CV joint, just not nearly as bad.

The reason I'm thinking I might have damaged the LBJ is that I got a driveshaft with the inner CV pulled out (some kind of man defect, from autozone but first time I've ever had a problem with thier parts) and I might have been a little too rough on the LBJ trying to get the bad driveshaft to fit.

I also took the brake caliper off the rotor and cable tied it to the spring so I wouldn't damage the brake lines so thinking that my have something to do with it too.

Really what I'm looking for someone to post up and say "hey last time I replaced an axle it was doing that too and I looked and found that I had screwed X up". You know what I mean?

Any ideas are always welcomed. THANKS!!!!

FallenOne

iTrader: (17)

well, go ahead and push and pull on the wheel in various directions see if youve got play from anything. thats all i got, ball joint does seem like it could be a possibility..

96gxe5spd

iTrader: (1)

Thanks one, I've been planning that and haven't had time. Luckily the max is kinda a spare car right now.

Nozama

iTrader: (1)

Last time I had that happen it was a "new" cv shaft from Autozone that had a bad joint. I replaced it twice before I had one that didn't vibrate.

vqmaxman

Is your axle seated all the way in, If not this is also a possible cause for some viberation to happen. Does the viberation happen constently even when your turning the steering wheel and do you feel it in your steering wheel when your accelerating. If you do I think it's your axle that is not fully seated in, again It also can be a bad axle. I would check on the following before you decide to yank the axle back out. Did you install the caliper the way It's supposed to be put on. Were the brake pads seated in correctly and were the shims properly seated in to. Did you have to pull the tie rod out to get the axles out. I am thinking it's related to the axle, because this has happened to me to before. I did not get the axle in all the way, so the axle came out on me on interstate. (I was scared)

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Being as you said you had a vibration before you replaced the axle and now still have a vibration, the axle was not causing it.

Have you looked at the wheels and tires? Balancing? Are the tires worn? Any play in the front end? Just shake both wheels, top to bottom, side to side. Vertical movement would point to a poss. ball joint or control arm issue. Horizontal movement wound point to steering components.

96gxe5spd

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for all the ideas guys! The old axle was bad and definitely contributed to the vibration, but I'll concede that there might have been something else going on all along too. Like maybe the vibration from the bad inner CV broke the LBJ while I was limping it home from work when I first noticed it.

It does happen all the time, turning or not; on the gas, engine braking, or clutch in; and on the brakes or not. It is a lot more obvious at higher speeds but that's true for just about any vibration.

I'm pretty sure the axle is fully seated in on both ends. The little bearing collar on the chassis is bolted in place right, but is it possible to not have the wheel end not seated into the hub right? I hadn't considered that.

The new CV's were nice and tight with no radial play on either one, what else would indicate that I have a(nother!!!!) lemon driveshaft?

My roomie needs to use the car tmrw so I will be getting it fixed tonight. I'll start by jacking it up and checking for play in the front end, then pull the wheel and check the brakes, etc. I'll keep everyone posted too.

And I'll be sure to check back on this thread before I start.

96gxe5spd

iTrader: (1)

OK, so I jacked it up and shook the wheel and got nothing so balljoint, tie rod ends are out. Then I pulled the wheel off and checked the brakes, they look good too. So I get in behind the steering knuckle and see some shiny metal particles right below where the driveshaft enters the knuckle. I didn't have the 36 mm socket handy so I couldn't remove the driveshaft, but I'm thinking that all this means that I got a bad wheel bearing. Oh the joys!

Any thoughts! TIA

96gxe5spd

iTrader: (1)

So here's what I did to close out the thread:

I got a new spindle off a parts car for 40 bucks, and put it in. Had to replace the lower ball joint cause I chewed up the threads, which is a royal PITA, but luckily I have a buddy who works in a machine shop who pressed out the old one and pressed in the new.

Why Nissan switched from the 3-bolt balljoint that the 2nd and 3rd gens had I do not understand. On my 87 model I replaced both LBJ's in an HOUR!

The old spindle had a lot of radial play and a lot of metal filings coming out of the broken bearing seal.

Drives perfectly now. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!