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intermittant agressive wobble after changing cv axle; diagnosis needed please help
Topic Started: Jun 17 2016, 06:36 PM (1,404 Views)
the.Tetrix
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this is for my 94 suzuki swift 1.3

I changed out a bad cv axle, now I have a bad intermittent wobble, the whole car vibrates slightly but mostly at the steering wheel, along with the steering viering from side to side some times. Some times the car drives straight with little wobble, the faster I go the worse off it is especially going uphill.

I also have bad wear forming on the outside of the front left tire where i changed out the axle.

I re used the old cv washer, I tightened the lower ball joint nut. I checked if the lower ball joint was bad but I couldn't see it play when i Jacked up the car and pulled up on the bottom of the tire with a bar. I also ran the car jacked up and the vibration is very bad.

Could it be a bad CV axle causing all this? I would have thought a bad lower ball joint would do all these things. I'm new to suspension work any help would be appreciated. Thank you

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Silver2K


The tire wear suggests it is out of alignment, which can happen when you remove the axle, especially if you remove the steering ball joint as the FSM says. I just remove the strut to knuckle connection instead.

The wobble & shaking sounds like a tire out of balance. But replacing the axle should not make the tire lose balance.

A bad axle can cause vibration under load. This happened to me once.

My guess is something is not connected properly. Maybe you did not push the axle in all the way. Get under the car and pull the axle away from the tranny. It should not move much. If it is the right axle, and it is of the split shaft, like my 2000 1.3L, then maybe it is not pushed in all the way. It can be hard to get the axles to seat when they have the new clip. I have learned my lesson. I always remove the new clip and reuse the old one.

Edit: To get the new axle to seat, I jiggle vigorously side to side as I push the axle in. Pull on the axle to ensure it is locked.
Edited by Silver2K, Jun 18 2016, 11:50 PM.
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suzukitom
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Tom

It is common for the lower control arm ball joint to wear out. For some reason the driver side seems to go first. If the CV joint/axle required replacement, any vibration from that issue may have masked the worn ball joint vibration. I find that checking ball joint wear is tricky with the traditional shake test as the coil spring and strut provides downward force against the joint. Play may not be obvious except when steering is turned to full lock and wheel is off the ground and the jack is not under the control arm. Have a helper hold the steering wheel at full lock and then try to turn the wheel back and forth while observing the ball joint for lateral play. My ball joint seemed tight until doing this test.. The ball joint was so worn it was ready to pop out of the socket.
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JellyBeanDriver


correct CV shaft installed? Could it be binding up?
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Wolf
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Sounds like a loose axle nut to me. If left under-torqued, it will wear the hub and cause most of the symptoms you describe. There's a lot of false info floating around about 'hand tightening' the center nut because people assume it 'pre-loads' the wheel bearings like it did on a lot of older rear-wheel drive cars. In truth, the nut just clamps the axle to the hub and prevents them from wobbling around inside the wheel bearings. If the nut is indeed loose, the hub is probably already too worn and needs to be replaced.

Another possibility is a tire-bubble or bent rim. The vibration wouldn't be intermittent so I doubt this is the issue. Swap tire with rear wheel to check.

Assuming the CV axle is properly seated in the transmission (C-clip installed), nothing short of a severely broken/bent CV axle would cause vibration like you describe. A bad lower ball joint doesn't usually cause vibrations, just uneven tire wear, poor cornering, and possibly a clunking noise on bumps and corners.
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Crvett69


not sure how popping the ball joint out of the hub will change the alignment
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Silver2K


Crvett69
 
not sure how popping the ball joint out of the hub will change the alignment


I should have said removing the tie rod end to avoid popping off the ball joint.
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