Vibration help! Can't find the cause

stew82 · Postby **stew82** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 11:40 am

I have a 2006 Pathfinder Offroad and it has a general vibration around 40-50 mph. It goes away and comes back at 70-80 mph. This is a real rattler. It shakes the crap out of my change tray. I thought it was the tires because they were warn irregularly and were cupped etc. I took it to a tire shop and they said the cupping would cause that. Maybe alignment might cause it too. I bought a new set of 4 new alignment. Same vibration. Took it back and told them to drive it and tell me what was wrong. They balanced the new tires back up. Same vibration. I thought it might be a bad rotor on the front but the vibration doesn't pulse the pedal when braking. Thought it might be the drive line. Crawled under and gave it a little shake. Slight movement in the rear U joint. Rebuilt driveine....same vibration maybe slightly better.

AHHHH! Any suggestions?
Greg

Postby **disallow** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 12:25 pm

I had the same thing, and one of the cups on my rear driveshaft was completely dry and the needles were all rusty. New u-joint and its as good as new. The 'shake test' did not show anything wrong, but the u-joint was indeed seized.

Did you do both u-joints on the rear driveshaft?

t

stew82 · Postby **stew82** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 1:33 pm

Ya both joints and new harmonic balance on the driveline. Even new paint

Same vibration.

driftedoffroad · Postby **driftedoffroad** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 1:24 pm

I had a bad u-joint in the front and rear driveshafts. You didn't mention front or rear driveshaft just rear u-joint. I would check that if you haven't yet.

stew82 · Postby **stew82** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:02 pm

I didn't check the front driveline. I didn't think it spun unless its in 4 wheel drive. I didn't even think to check that one. I will.

NVSteve · Postby **NVSteve** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 8:44 am

stew82 wrote:I didn't check the front driveline. I didn't think it spun unless its in 4 wheel drive. I didn't even think to check that one. I will.

Yeah, it still spins. The transfer case might not be engaged, but the differentials are still spinning, which spins the front shaft. I had nothing but problems with the front shafts and yokes on an old full size GMC Jimmy, and my previous Durango. As others have mentioned, I would bet that it is something related to the the drive shafts, be it the yoke, the shaft itself or u joints. You could always take it into a driveline repair place-they should be able to tell right off if there is a problem.

stew82 · Postby **stew82** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 8:16 pm

HOLY CRAP!!! I crawled under there tonight and the front driveline is obviously loose. I'll take it off on Monday and take it for a rebuild. That has to be it.

ShipFixer · Postby **ShipFixer** » Wed Dec 29, 2010 4:28 pm

+1, my front driveshaft was bent and had a bad U joint, causing the same problem.

Npath · Postby **Npath** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 12:05 am

stew82 wrote:HOLY CRAP!!! I crawled under there tonight and the front driveline is obviously loose. I'll take it off on Monday and take it for a rebuild. That has to be it.

It may also need to be rebalanced, but they'll look for that also.

webmastir · Postby **webmastir** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 12:21 pm

So my wife has had this vibration described by the o.p. for quite some time now. I swore it had to be the U-Joint(s), so I have pulled the driveshaft. Upon checking to see if the U-Joints really needed to be replaced, I noticed they weren't that loose & were pivoting/turning as they should. My next guess is the tranny...

After reading this thread, what are you referring to "front driveline". I assume this isn't the driveshaft that I had pulled to check both U-Joints, correct?
Where is it if it's not..

thx

eieio · Postby **eieio** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 12:23 pm

webmastir wrote:So my wife has had this vibration described by the o.p. for quite some time now. I swore it had to be the U-Joint(s), so I have pulled the driveshaft. Upon checking to see if the U-Joints really needed to be replaced, I noticed they weren't that loose & were pivoting/turning as they should. My next guess is the tranny...

After reading this thread, what are you referring to "front driveline". I assume this isn't the driveshaft that I had pulled to check both U-Joints, correct?
Where is it if it's not..

thx

front driveline would be the front driveshaft & components on a 4WD model
is yours 4WD?

webmastir · Postby **webmastir** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 12:26 pm

eieio wrote:front driveline would be the front driveshaft & components on a 4WD model
is yours 4WD?

lol. doh

no it's not. thx

eieio · Postby **eieio** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 12:28 pm

webmastir wrote:
eieio wrote:front driveline would be the front driveshaft & components on a 4WD model
is yours 4WD?
lol. doh

no it's not. thx

have you by-passed your radiator transmission cooler?

webmastir · Postby **webmastir** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 12:34 pm

ya, couple months ago. fluid was a bit dirty but did not look to have any rad fluid in it. haven't changed that out yet but doubt it would be causing all these issues most say they have w/ vibration/shudder at 45mph (or maintaining speed around there) & i think it even happens around 70mph too?
if you gun it some ... it accelerates fine past those speeds & goes away. lately seems to be getting a bit more noticeable. so really need to find a way to pointpoint the issue soon

(posted pics of my fluid here:
http://www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic. ... 5925#25925)

eieio · Postby **eieio** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 12:41 pm

webmastir wrote: so really need to find a way to pointpoint the issue soon

i can't think of any other possibilities other than trans or driveshaft
there have been some broken motor mounts, but i think that is usually a vibration @ idle symptom
maybe something overlooked on the driveshaft/u-joint inspection?
might also be time to also re-check the level & condition of your trans fluid

Vibration help! Can't find the cause

Vibration help! Can't find the cause

Nissan Forums

Infiniti Forums

Datsun Forums

Technical Forums

Classifieds / Marketplace

Nissan Motorsports

General Forums