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Vibration on deceleration.....


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97 OBW, AT, with about 173k on it. I get a fairly bad vibration when I decelerate, pop it into nutral and the shake goes way. My first inclination was a bad U-joint, but when I gave the drive shaft a tug the carrier bearing seemed to have a lot of play in it. I'm just trying to get confirmation that it should not have much slop in it. I don't think the carrier can be replaced with out replacing the front drive line. Please let me know what you all think.

 

PS this started getting bad during a camping trip pulling a pop-up camper.

 

Thanks, Tim

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Well you found the problem.

 

The carier bearing is replaceable. If its a Universal joint, you either replace the driveshaft (used) or have a drive shaft shop replace the Universal joint.

 

 

nipper

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Is the carrier and it's surounding rubber deal available from a parts store or is this a dealer item??? Thanks Nipper!!!

 

That i don't know for sure, especially since your out in pickup truck country.

 

DO a search here for more information. I think its a dealer part

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i would install a used one and inspect your old one for a rebuild if you're interested in going that route. the entire driveshaft can be found for $50 or less. post in the parts wanted forum here or call some yards and have it shipped to you.

 

off the top of my head i can't think of anyone rebuildling the carrier bearing. before assuming that's all you need i'd also remove the shaft and make sure the joint isn't bad. a bad joint could possibly ruin the carrier bearing. the joints can not always be diagnosed on the vehicle, they have to be removed. actually more often than not in my experience, the bad ujoint doesn't show itself until it's off the vehicle. a seized joint will look fine and feel solid on the vehicle, but it's certainly really bad.

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i would install a used one and inspect your old one for a rebuild if you're interested in going that route. the entire driveshaft can be found for $50 or less. post in the parts wanted forum here or call some yards and have it shipped to you.

 

off the top of my head i can't think of anyone rebuildling the carrier bearing. before assuming that's all you need i'd also remove the shaft and make sure the joint isn't bad. a bad joint could possibly ruin the carrier bearing. the joints can not always be diagnosed on the vehicle, they have to be removed. actually more often than not in my experience, the bad ujoint doesn't show itself until it's off the vehicle. a seized joint will look fine and feel solid on the vehicle, but it's certainly really bad.

 

Okay, it's out and there are two bad U-joints, one on each end. I found this place, not sure if that's the route I'll be taking but it is a start. http://www.thrashdriveshaft.com/ $369 is not bad with what you get. The car is going to start to need a lot of love at it's age :lol: . I need to make up my mind how long I want to keep it and all. Thanks for the help, Tim

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I just got off the phone with the drive line guy (Jeff) at Drive Line Specialist and I ordered one from them. I decided not to get a used one (not that any of the yards around here even had one:rolleyes: ) and the local drive line shop was a little leary of the job and thought it would be expensive too. Shipping was also included in the $369 price so that was a deal closer. I'll let you know how the quality is after I get it, and everything put back together. Later, Tim

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I just got finished crawling around under my '90 Legacy, I was determined to find the source of my 'vibration on deceleration'. My problem started the day I drove it out of AAMCO after they rebuilt it, I was told 'it needed time to break in' as the cause of the noise :mad:. It's been 4.5 months now and the vibration has remained.

 

I found the cause though, they stripped an outside bolt on the transmission mount and it wasn't holding anything. This caused the mount to drop about 1/8" on that corner (3 bolts on each side of the mount) bringing it into contact with the heat shield around the muffler pipe when the motor 'flexed' while decelerating. You could barely see a wear mark on the topside of the shielding, I accidentally found it while checking for loose bolts in that area even though earlier I had been looking for contact points exactly like this one :banghead:. If any one of the other 5 bolts were removed this would not have happened as the muffler pipe just happens to cross the transmission mount at that exact corner. Go figure!

 

You had extra load upon deceleration while towing a trailer when your vibration started, perhaps it cause more 'flex' in the motor resulting in the muffler pipe moving upwards. It's a shot in the dark, but it couldn't hurt to check for a contact point in this area.

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Well the new drive shaft is in and the vib is still there:mad: . However, they did a really nice job on the DS, and hey, I did have two binding U-joints so it was a sooner or later job, just wish it wasn't sooner. I'll keep you up on the progress. Tim

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  • 3 weeks later...

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