jonas Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 '84 gl wagon 4x4. i've got an annoying vibration comming up thru my steering wheel. things i've done. 1. replaced bad cv. 2. new tires. 3. balanced and aligned. 4. replaced rear u joint. 5. inspected ball joints. look good. 6. gone over front end w/ a comb. nothing unususal looking. 7. car never been wrecked. 8. vibration not noticable (doesn't mean it's not there) below 50 mph. now i'm leaning towards bad wheel bearings even tho i've done the "jack it up and wiggle the wheel" test and they are solid. not a bit of movement. i also started and put in gear while raised and they did have an up and down movement/vibration while rotating. am i off base here? this is really driving me nuts. any advice before i start tearing it apart would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 Have the wheels rebalanced. The shops these days do a crappy job because they are used to everything having power steering. The wheels must be carefully balanced with manual steering, as there is no fluid to dampen the vibration. Make them understand this. Check the rubber donut in the steering shaft where it exists the cabin - the VW bug urethane ones are a direct fit if you need one, and make sure the rubber rack & pinion bushings are in place, and tight. Bad wheel bearings are an unlikely cause of vibration - the will make aweful dying animal sounds, but I've never had any sort of vibration from them. You did check them with the parking brake off right? You won't notice any play with the parking brake set. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonas Posted July 15, 2006 Author Share Posted July 15, 2006 what a dumby i am! i shoulda thought of that. easiest fix staring me in the face. took it back to tire shop. it is alot better now. still a little vibration. i'm gonna take it to a different location (schwabbies were talking about so i shoulda known better) by my work. maybe those guys have a little more talent. ty GD. plus they handle most of our trucking fleet tire work. maybe that'll make 'em try a little harder! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatchsub Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 Yeah i had the same problem with town fair tire on both of my subys. I ended up doing the balancing myself on my current one cause it was giving me a vibration on the highway. I have some nice mechanics and they let me do some of the work on my car myself if its a weekend and slow business. Turned out one out of the 4 tires was off. Fixed that one and now little to no vibration!! woohoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 Another thing to check, or just go ahead and replace, are the rubber donut bushings on the suspension leading arms (run from lower control arm back to tranny-tunnel area). These control fore/aft forces and movement of the front suspension, and if the bushings are "tired" will allow other forces (tire balance, etc) to set up an oscillation in the front suspension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbh Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 May also be warped brake rotors. My car (Nissan) also vibrated above ~50mph, and I checked everything (wheel rebalance, suspension free play etc), nothing helped, so I had the brake discs machined - instant smooth ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonas Posted July 16, 2006 Author Share Posted July 16, 2006 May also be warped brake rotors. My car (Nissan) also vibrated above ~50mph, and I checked everything (wheel rebalance, suspension free play etc), nothing helped, so I had the brake discs machined - instant smooth ride. thats on my "to do" list. gonna be doing the rear disc swap here pretty soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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