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CV AXLES VIBRATION


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I installed new CV axles and hubs a few months ago. The mechanic who supplied the axles also repaired the diff mounts and replaced the diff pinion seal.

Since fitting the axles the car has developed a vibration whenever the drivers side axle is under load at speed on the freeway i.e. on left hand bends, when the rear end compresses on undulations in the road and when accelerating hard say in 4th at 100km/h.

I have thoroughly checked for tyre rubbing, exhaust contact and anything loose. There are no signs of anything untoward.

In the absence of any problems believe it is the new CV axle.

I understand that CV joints can have one or more sticky bearings and this will cause vibration when the axle is under load.

The new pinion seal has failed, probably a defective seal, and the mechanic has agreed to fit a new drivers axle when he replaces the pinion seal.

Has anyone had a problem with a CV axle causing a vibration in the above circumstances?

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I installed new CV axles and hubs a few months ago. The mechanic who supplied the axles also repaired the diff mounts and replaced the diff pinion seal.

Since fitting the axles the car has developed a vibration whenever the drivers side axle is under load at speed on the freeway i.e. on left hand bends, when the rear end compresses on undulations in the road and when accelerating hard say in 4th at 100km/h.

I have thoroughly checked for tyre rubbing, exhaust contact and anything loose. There are no signs of anything untoward.

In the absence of any problems believe it is the new CV axle.

I understand that CV joints can have one or more sticky bearings and this will cause vibration when the axle is under load.

The new pinion seal has failed, probably a defective seal, and the mechanic has agreed to fit a new drivers axle when he replaces the pinion seal.

Has anyone had a problem with a CV axle causing a vibration in the above circumstances?

Hi John,

You do not state what type or whose CV axle has been fitted? Please advise us!

 

Bruce.

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That sounds very much like a hub bearing or end float problem. Were the CV shafts supplied with new hubs ?

 

Mick Richards

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That sounds very much like a hub bearing or end float problem. Were the CV shafts supplied with new hubs ?

 

Mick Richards

Yep, all new from the wheel to the diff; hub, axle and nuts and bolts. There is no bearing or axle play. I expect if it was play in these areas the vibration would be constant and you would hear it.

 

These axles are Nissan based, made in Brisbane and distributed Australia wide through Triumph specialist shops. I understand they were modelled on the Goodparts ones because freight from the US is so high.

 

If it is the axle causing the vibration then I suspect it is a one off problem. I will know when the replacement axle goes on.

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Bearing housing not sufficiently tight fit in hub (alloy ?) and it's turning ?

 

Mick Richards

Edited by Motorsport Mickey
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Bearing housing not sufficiently tight fit in hub (alloy ?) and it's turning ?

 

Mick Richards

Good points. All 6 studs and bolts are tight. The big nut that holds the hub to the axle is tightened to 105 lbs as specified. There is no play in the wheel at all.

Again, if this area did have any play it would be noticeable at any speed over say 80 km/h. It only occurs when the axle is under load.

It is because I can't find any abnormalities in these areas, and the mechanic who provided them has also had to fit them when he did the diff mounts, that I believe it to to be the CV joint in the axle.

Edited by John McCormack
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Swap the axles left to right....see if the vibration is on the passenger side. Then you know for sure.

 

I didn't do this because I was thinking the axles are specific to each side. They aren't, it is only the diff flange that is specific to each side.

It definitely would help resolve the issue but is a time consuming bit of stuffing around when the mechanic and I are pretty confident it is the axle. He has to take the diff out to fix the pinion seal so I rang him first.

He said don't worry about it, that he will sort it when he gets it in the workshop.

If I didn't have the option of leaving it to the mechanic, I would definitely remove the axle and if I couldn't find a problem with it out of the car swap them over.

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Hohn,

Not sure if it makes sense, but can you check run-out on left and right at several locations and compare.

Normally, imbalance is not affected much by load I think, but worth checking.

Keep searching and head scratching..

Regards,

Waldi

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" The big nut that holds the hub to the axle is tightened to 105 lbs as specified. There is no play in the wheel at all"

 

Not sure about these CV shafts but on the items supplied by CDD in the UK from memory the large nut needs lots more than that, I think about 240nm.

 

Mick Richards

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There has already been mention on here somewhere of a vibration problem with a CV jointed shaft so you may well be correct.

Stuart.

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" The big nut that holds the hub to the axle is tightened to 105 lbs as specified. There is no play in the wheel at all"

 

Not sure about these CV shafts but on the items supplied by CDD in the UK from memory the large nut needs lots more than that, I think about 240nm.

 

Mick Richards

I have CDD CV shafts and the big nuts are tightened to 210lbs. No vibrations

 

best Bill

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I have CDD CV shafts and the big nuts are tightened to 210lbs. No vibrations

 

best Bill

Thanks Bill. These ones are specified to 105lbs so when I fitted them that is what I used. The mechanic also tightened them when he was working on it so I expect they are tight.

Any play in the hubs will manifest itself by vibration at speed all the time. This only vibrates when the axle is under load.

It is possible that the nuts might be tight but there is play due to poor manufacture although there is no detectable play in the wheel or hub.

I will leave it to the mechanic now, the pinion seal needs to be replaced so he can sort it out when he has it apart.

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" The big nut that holds the hub to the axle is tightened to 105 lbs as specified. There is no play in the wheel at all"

 

Not sure about these CV shafts but on the items supplied by CDD in the UK from memory the large nut needs lots more than that, I think about 240nm.

 

Mick Richards

I do not know about CDD types but the Limora type certainly do. That is why I asked what type was fitted in post #2. Also you have to have had Toolmaking experience to fit the spline shaft to the hub as it is an interference fit. In my view not within the realms of a Mechanic?

 

Bruce.

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Not the CDD driveshafts, they come already assembled fitted to new hubs (if that's what you ordered) well for Stags anyway.

 

Mick Richards

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These axles and hubs are supplied complete and assembled.

The only jobs to be done are:

1. Replace the diff flanges with the ones supplied.

2. Bolt the axle in place on the flange with the spline through the hub carrier.

3. Fit the hub to the hub carrier on the axle spline and tighten the 6 nuts.

4. Install the big nut on the axle and tighten.

As far as I can see there is no special equipment or knowledge needed.

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The new diff pinion seal and replacement drivers side axle went in last Thursday. The CV joint in the axle he pulled out was quite stiff when rotated compared to the replacement axle.

Of interest, the pinion seal he had just put in had disintegrated. The rubber had separated from the metal.

This morning I took her for a run on the same 90km there and 90km back route I was on when the pinion seal failed and the vibration was really evident. Mainly down the freeway south of Sydney.

There was no vibration today, even when I tried to put load on the axles on the same bends and bumps. I still need to take it for a fast run on a winding road to complete the test, which I will do on Wednesday weather permitting.

It seems the CV joint was the culprit.

And it was a great blast on a cool clear morning. I cruised at 110-115km/h with one very brief burst to 130 or so.

Edited by John McCormack
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Good news John, thanks for reporting back.

 

Mick Richards

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I do not know about CDD types but the Limora type certainly do. That is why I asked what type was fitted in post #2. Also you have to have had Toolmaking experience to fit the spline shaft to the hub as it is an interference fit. In my view not within the realms of a Mechanic?

 

Bruce.

 

It seems many suppliers have problems with the proper size.

If it is small you get the "clonk"

if it is large you can not fit it without force.

All splines should without play and without force!

The good thing is the interference fit is gone after some time,

so stripping the axle is no pain!

 

Had same problems fitting the shaft into the hub.

Meanwhile I swapped to Nissan.

So I have hubs from a big batch and the cv-joint to fit, too.

As long as I built some of them I never had problems any more.

Also the driveshaft itself is often too small that the joint on the shaft has play.

Result again is the "clonk"

Never had them too big because that can not be fitted together.

 

That is also gone with shafts from Nissan that I cut to size and weld together.

Both splined ends fit perfectly without play!

 

Driveshaft in parts

post-13092-0-90031900-1528096208_thumb.jpg

 

.... and put together

post-13092-0-94706800-1528096224_thumb.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

I spoke too early.

The car no longer experiences this vibration on the freeway BUT when pushing it through fast left hand bends and on bigger bumps this rear end vibration is still there. There is no noise with the vibration, there are no noises at all in any driving situation. It only occurs on left hand bends at speed and on bumps where the suspension compresses a long way.

As it isn't as bad as before the new CV axle was replaced with another CV axle, the obvious answer is the axles are the issue. I don't think this is the case as the new axle was checked thoroughly before installation and moved freely. The diff was removed as well in the repair to fit the new pinion seal.

I have removed the right rear wheel and checked everything is tight. There is no sign of any rubbing. I rotated the wheel and the hubs, new with the axles, are spinning freely and there is no noise nor is there any play in the hub or anywhere.

I'm stumped.

I'm tempted to ignore it and just keep an eye on the wheel and hub over time.

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The only remedy at home is to fit the old universal jointed axles.

This will show if the cv axles have been the culprit.

I also had trouble with the propshaft, it feels quite similar,

under load you get a hard humming that seems to come from somewhere else.

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I'll swap the hubs over first. If the vibration goes to the other side the hub will be the problem.

 

If the vibration is still there as before I'll swap the wheels over. I can't see how the wheels could cause this but worth a try.

 

I will then look at removing the right side cv axle and putting in the original splined one.

 

If that doesn't fix it I'll give up playing with it until something breaks or it settles down.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I definitely spoke too early previously. I took the TR6 on a 250km run today on the freeway and a winding country road.

 

The vibration in the car is pronounced in these circumstances:

Hard vibration on tight left hand bends under lots of power.

Medium vibration when accelerating hard in 3rd and top especially on uneven roads. But intermittently, sometimes on smooth roads there is no vibration when giving it a gutful in 2nd or 3rd.

Light to no vibration on a trailing throttle on left hand bends.

No vibration on right hand bends both under power or trailing throttle.

No vibration on smooth freeway conditions at speeds up to 130km/h.

 

There is no noise with the vibration, it is just a vibration through the body.

 

In summary, a combination of power and left hand bends is the worst for vibration.

 

Before todays run I have:

replaced the new right hand CV axle with another new one. Little if any improvement.

swapped the new hubs left to right and vice versa with no effect.

swapped the wheels left to right and vice versa with no effect.

changed the exhaust hanger bolt on the diff mount, it was too long and was pressing hard against the spare wheel well. I was hopeful this was the problem so am pretty disappointed it made no improvement.

I am now thinking it isn't the back end at all causing the vibration. Vibrations can be caused in one area and be felt in another.

 

My thoughts are it could be the gearbox mount, which might be suspect.

 

By my reckoning the engine torque will twist the gearbox to cause it to move right. When combined with a left hand bend there is enough movement to cause metal to metal contact in the gearbox mount or the tail shaft.

 

However, I am really in the dark on this and am clutching at straws.

 

What else could cause such a noiseless vibration if not the gearbox mount?

Edited by John McCormack
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