Vibration,,thinking out loud (update)

We ain't talking about the Beach Boys "Good Vibrations"

We just got back home from our annual club picnic at Paris Mountain and decided to skip the interstate and take the back roads,,,so much fun in the wagon and going through the gears.

We came up on a group of bicyclist with their ****s high and peddling fast to get out in front of us to turn to the left so I had to slow down,,no brake stabbing just slowing down,,all the funny dressed cone headed riders got safely off the main road and I started off in first,,went to second,,then third but when I shifted to forth I had a heck of a vibration,,on to fifth and it was even worse.

I was about 15 miles from home and we slowed down and discussed what the heck happened,,all the gears still pull but the vibration is evident in all gears,,but really bad in 4th & 5th.

I'm thinking out loud,,drive shaft? HRP

 

The universal joints maybe ... but most likely in the transmission.

The drivesft turns a good many RPMS in 1, 2 and 3 ... so 4th and 5th
should not be a lot worse if it is the driveshaft or universals

Just my opinion.

Randy

 

Check the trans mount.

 

All of the above, plus possible thrown weight off the drive shaft, wheels etc.

 

That's what I was thinkin'...

 

Does it do it coasting with the clutch in? How about if you rev it up in neutral with the clutch out?
Coasting in neutral with the clutch out?
Just something to think about.
Good Luck

 

My vote is the universal bearings. It just happened to me 7/8 were perfect #8 was toast. DD only vehicle, 70 K on those joints.

 

Change the ***le to " A cop heard my car vibrating" and then 2300 more people would read it and maybe have a better answer.
Lets hope its something in the driveshaft, probably the easiest and cheapest to fix.

 

So there were no vibrations before that bicycle slow down? Are you seeing the vibration in the steering wheel at all or an overall shaking car? Strange the problem all of a sudden showed up.

 

probably lost a bit of clutch friction plate material on one side of clutch,a precursor to total clutch death.....

 

The drive shaft in my old Toyota 4X4 will come loose and cause a hell of a vibration. I'd check the u joints. It happens quickly too, no warning.

 

Sounds like time to do the low crawl .. under the wagon. my guess U joint or spring pad might have sheared center pin .... something got tweaked with the touch of the brakes.

 

Tire thrown out of balance by the remains of a bicyclist stuck to it?

 

I didn't even crawl under the car yesterday but plan to get the car jacked up and try to check everything out after work today.

Hoping it's something simple I can repair before the GoodGuys show this weekend.

Thanks for all the suggestions. HRP

 

Common sense says it probably is not the trans because it gets worse as road speed or driveshaft speed is increased? (well, maybe check the trans tailshaft bushing, to see if the yoke is moving up/down)

I would not test drive it anymore until close looks at u joints, pinion bearing slop. and even radial tire belt seperation.

If you can't find a problem with u joints or pinion up/down slop, can you borrow some donor tires/wheels? or check for tires that seem to have a serious out of round spot, as you spin them by hand up on stands.

 

Got away from work early today and got the wagon up on jack stands,I checked the transmission mounts,,everything is tight.

Drive shaft is in good condition along with the universal joints,,the drive shaft weight is intact.

The wheel weights are still in place and the tires are fine.

Cranked the car and clutch in or out no problems in 1,2,3rd,,,then forth and fifth back came the heavy vibration.

at this point I'm feeling like Randy was right and my problem is the transmission.

Thanks for all the trouble shooting ideas. HRP

 

Yea next time just those cone headed ****ers down and you won't have any problems. You know that is what caused it, no good turn goes unpunished ya know.

Someone will no doubt say it is that haven't all ready but also check for loose bell housing or transmission bolts. I think we have almost covered eveything.

 

Yeah,I checked those too,,I really think I've cover all the easy things,,I even check the motor mounts.

Definitely,not not the outcome I was hoping for,,but it's not the end of the world just a minor setback. HRP

 

I have a friend with a couple Mustang 5.0's with the 5 speed ... and he has had the same issue. He has replaced 2 or 3 5 speeds in the past few years.
BUT ... he has been replacing them with other USED, maybe high mileage transmissions.

 

I saw your post right after I submitted mine. I was hoping for something simple for you.

Well maybe someone else will see it and it will help them.

 

I just came back in the house,,I had decided to go ahead and pull the transmission so the first thing on the list was remove the drive shaft,,

After I got the drive shaft out I noticed the rear universal joint seemed very tight,,I removed the cup and look in and noticed a few bearings looked shorter,,went over to the tool box and got out a dental pick and discovered several of the bearings were broke and crushed,,

I think this might be the problem,,I'm on hold until tomorrow when NAPA opens in the morning.

I'm going to replace both and reinstall the drive shaft and drive the wagon,,if it cures the problem I'm good,,if not then I'll dig deeper.

Keep your fingers crossed. HRP

 

Fingers crossed. Good luck. I feel like I am constantly chasing vibrations around various cars in my fleet. Usually dont find them right away, if ever.

 

front bearing in the trans, i don't know how your trans i sbuilt but i had on that about every 80,000 miles i had to pull it down and put a new bearing in, this was the mid 80s, good luck

 

U-joint.. that's gettin' off real cheap, great score if that's it. I always replace them in pairs too.

Bob

 

Good luck on the U-joints. Sounds possible that could be the problem.

 

Got the drive shaft back in the wagon with new Moog U joints,,still got the problem,,so I'm just gonna wait until next week after the GoodGuys show to pull the transmission and go from there.

We will probably be driving the '32 Sedan to GoodGuys. HRP

 

The T5 has a poor reputation for the snap ring at the rear.
Sometimes you even lose 5th or 4th gear.

 

Sorry you didnt get the wagon fixed, but there are worse things than having to fall back on that ol 32.

 

I had a front bearing go to **** on my '64 Valiant's transmission...car shuddered and made horrible noises in 1st and 2nd but 3rd didn't have much of any sound. Replacing the bearing fixed that.

Also had a clutch disk release its springs into the pressure plate...that made the clutch a little "interesting"

 

Plus tire. I repaired all of those, no success. On trip to show last Friday, blew RR tire. Replaced both sides, no more vibration.

Jack