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2002 Xterra Vibration / Shake / Shimmy at Speed

27K views 37 replies 19 participants last post by  dawgn86 
#1 ·
so I've been searching through this and other forums and I can't seem to get a Definitive direction on where to go tons of people have posted simular issues but nobody has ever posted the solution, so unfortunatly I need to post a question that has been asked 100 times before

here is my Situation

2002 Nissan Xterra

SC SE Autotragic 4X4

at 100 km/h (60 MPH) my truck starts to shake its consistent and does not change when increasing speed


first I thought it was my wheels so I did a quick rotate swapping front for rear
thinking if it were my rear tires/wheels me swapping them to the front of my X would cause my steering to shake this did not happen.

I've checked the rear driveshaft and there appears to be no play then again I'm not too sure.

what should I look for in Driveshaft play or Ujoints? should I look at Motor Mounts?

I also noticed when accelerating from a stop I can feel engine vibration through my transfer case shifter is this normal?
 
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#2 ·
If there was slop in the driveshaft U-joints, you should be able to wiggle it even just slightly. The motor mounts (mainly the drivers side) are known to fail but I wouldn't think it would give you a vibration like that at speed. One way to tell is when you rev the engine, the t-case shifter should torque abruptly to the side.

Have you jacked up the front-end to see if there is any play in the wheels? Jack it up and see if you are able to wiggle the wheel from side to side, in and out, etc. It could possibly be a bad BJ but I'm not 100%.
 
#3 ·
My X has started to make a vibration sound when decelerating/braking(sometimes, not all the time). I can hear it inside the cabin like a vibration sound. Still haven't been able to track this down, started doing it recently like a week ago. This is also coming from the rear like the OP.
 
#4 ·
but if it was a bad BJ wouldn't I feel it in the steering wheel?

shouldn't any side to side motion transfer through to the steering wheel?

the X tracks straight on the highway

the vibration is not coming from the rear as I originally throught this is why I'm asking the questions

its more like the entire truck shakes
 
#5 ·
The truck will shake due to balancing which will come out of wack often. When is the last time you had your truck balanced? Given that you have it happen in the 60MPH range I bet you its the balancing on the tires.

My Impala maybe 2 times a year would need to get balanced because of the crappy roads in NJ and the shimmy shake would just eat away at me. Tell me this, at 60MPH, if you take your hands off the wheel(not fully off but light so you can still grab it) does the wheel shimmy/shake? If it does, take it for the balancing, its usually like 5-10 bucks a tire and takes like 10-15 minutes.

Balancing could be from tire wear, a weight on the rim falling off etc. Its a cheap fix and worth it if you haven't had it done recently.
 
#7 ·
A thought

It is weird because almost all vibration issues that are not tires will occur at any speed. But try this, if you have a tach figure out the RPM at 60. Then put your transmission in to a lower gear and see if you have the same vibration at the same RPM at lower speeds.

If you do then you have a drive line issue somewhere, if not it is somehow related to the tires and or rims.

But it could be a whacked rotor, if one of your disc brake rotors has been warped you will get a funny vibration, but you should also feel it when braking hard before the ABS kicks in.
 
#11 ·
when my ujoint/carrier bushing went out i couldnt detect any play in the driveshaft, wish i had seen this earlier

i shook stuff under the truck for days, never got play in anything, but after replacing said suspect parts the problem was fixed

i say its a ujoint or some other driveshaft problem(if its bent it would do the same thing and eventually a ujoint would go bad anyway form the shaking)
 
#13 ·
so I've got my truck back from the Stealership

New U Joints all around

drive shafts (Front & Rear) balanced

and IT STILL SHAKES!!!

so far

new Tires
Balanced wheels
alignment
New U Joints
Balance Driveshafts
New Brakes

Next?

thinking about taking a look at the transfer case?

perhaps all the mounts on the shafts?

Any Ideas would be great
 
#14 · (Edited)
If it doesn't vibe until you hit 60 mph, and, then it stays vibrating the same as long as faster than that...w/o vibrating faster or slower as you speed up and slow down...its not too likely to be from the drivetrain...as an imbalance there should get worse as speed increases.

If the vibes start at 60 mph....and then go away again, say by 70-80 mph, etc...it could be a resonance issue.

As you report the steering is not impacted by the shaking, and that the truck itself is shaking...

I'd look next at the items that can resonate, and shake the truck.

For example, wind speed under the truck can set a part vibrating, there are harmonic balancing weights on the frame of the truck, and so forth.

How fast have you driven after the vibes started, to be SURE they do not get worse, OR Better, with additional speed?

When going faster than the vibe initiation speed, have you hit the brakes, floored the gas, made a turn, or any other measures to try to further diagnose this? (If not, go do all that and report back...I'll wait)

:D
 
#17 ·
Hello, I'm also having this issue with my 05 X SE from the sounds of it. I recently too my truck to the dealership and they changed the transfer case fluids and diff fluids? (I'm not very car savvy). The problem still persists.

I really notice the vehicle vibrate once I hit 60 approx and lower rpm's. If I turn overdrive off, I'm pretty sure I do not experience this problem.

Any ideas what could be the problem?

I check my Ujoints, they seem ok. My steering wheel doesn't vibrate when the veh has the griding sound. To give you an idea what the sound is like, it sounds exactly like the sound a car will make when you drive over those grooves on the side of the road to warn the driver you're getting to close to the edge of the highway.
 
#18 ·
Second gen's this is a common problem

for my first gen it seems to be the diff I changed the diff fluid and the vibration reduced by 50% but its still there

now there is a rumble when coasting

because the previous owner did not change any fluids I'm going to assume the clutches on the limited slip are damaged

a repair I do not want to do
 
#19 · (Edited)
I wonder what I should do next? I really want to take my vehicle to Louisianna next spring and I'm worried that such a long trip will be a disaster, especially since I plan to tow 2 jetski's... :(

Is there some troubleshooting I can do online to try and solve this? I took it to the dealership but all they did was flushed the transfer case and some other fluids.... not sure if they took the pan off... however, the dealer stated three things;

1) There was no evidence of metal shavings/fragments.
2) the rear diff fluids were black and really slimy and the odour was really foul with a hint of burning.
3) Ujoint had a little slack, but it's still good according to the tech.
 
#21 ·
Sucks to hear your'e having such trouble with diagnosing the shake. I'm in a similar boat with vibration from multiple things but haven't been motivated enough to start diagnosing.
 
#23 ·
so its been months now and my truck still shakes like a mofo

I'm tired of trying to diagnose it I've spend countless hours crawling around it and dropped stoopid amounts of cash into it

I've given up and figured I'll drive it until it breaks then I'll know for sure WTF it is
 
#24 ·
Hello, Try ordering a Calmini Idler Arm bracket (under $40.00) call them?

Also you may want to call Calmini and ask them for advise? and see there catalog...for steering upbeef...tie rods stiffers...

Maybe replace all the ball joints? ...etc...

We are having this problems ..some of it? ...did rotate and balance - help a little, next is to replace the Ilder arm bracket,tie-rods, ball joints ...Next

Aloha, ...find the weak links..and make it stronger...
 
#26 ·
I've got the same problem. I had new tires put on the truck with out an issue, then a week later I had all new brakes done on the rear and a new exhaust from the manifold back put on. The day I picked it up from getting the brakes and exhaust done it started shaking violently starting at 55 and getting worse from there.

Of course the brake guy blames the tires, and the tire guy has rebalanced them three times(high speed) and swears they are fine. I tend to believe the tire guy. Since this started I rotated the tire, replaced the shocks and front wheel bearings even relaxed the tension on the rear brakes to no avail. As a matter of fact I, think the shop screwed up my 4wheel drive when they did the bearings, but I need to get the shaking to stop before I loose my mind.

My new best guess is that I got a defective brake drum or two. I will be jacking the rear of the truck up this weekend and running it with the rear wheels on and also with them off. Will let you know what I find.
 
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