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Highway vibration

10K views 41 replies 11 participants last post by  dejablue 
#1 ·
Just purchased my 2000 Xterra XE 4WD today. 170k miles and well maintained. Only minor issue I detect is a cabin vibration between 65-75mph. Its got Goodyear Wrangler Authority tires which are somewhat loud but the steering wheel doesn't really shake, just the car itself.

Any ideas? I've seen a few threads on worn u-joints on the rear prop shaft?
 
#2 ·
Easy check on the u joints. Grasp each half of each one and try and twist. If there's Play it's bad if tight it's good. Maybe a broken belt in a tire,or even a missing wheel balance weight or mud stuck to a rim. Maybe look for those first. Couple of quick ideas anyway.best luck with finding it.
 
#3 ·
could be many things. lift truck and check wheel bearings and BJ's by pushing wheel in top to bottom and in side to side. if there is play theres a prob. also run your hand across the tire wall to wall and see if its flat or wavy. might not have been rotated properly and warping. also check motormounts while truck is running in park parkin brake on open hood and rev throttle pulley and watch to see if the engine is jumping off the mount. plus what the guy said above. prob more too, but not that i can think of at the moment
 
#4 ·
Another thing I just thought of. If you swap the tires front to rear and the vibration goes from cabin to the steering wheel problem is one of the now front tires. I realize we've listed a bunch of things, but on the good side they are easy checks to do,quick and free. Plus they cover a lot of the probable causes of your problem. If the tires have uneven or weird wear problems I'd suspect broken belt. (But we've got a lot of tire busting potholes here). Also check your wheel nuts for tight. If one is loose it'd give a vibration.
 
#6 ·
So took the X in for a wheel balance and alignment. They claim because of the oversized tires (31x10.5x15 wrangler authorities) they weren't able to get the camber/caster into spec. Also said the front shocks were slightly bent possibly caused by the oversized tires. At 170k I was going to replace the shocks anyway so whether they are actually bent or not doesn't matter at this point (sounds like BS in terms of the tires causing it). Probably the source of my vibration.

Anyone ever heard of 31's being too large to properly do an alignment?
 
#7 ·
No that is complete BS.
 
#9 ·
Nope no lift. The camber/caster are about half a degree out of nissan's spec so I'm not really that concerned. At least they were able to get the toe back into spec. The guy didn't try to sell me on any replacement stuff, even tried to pull up a youtube video on why he couldn't get it aligned.

I was going to replace the shocks anyway so I'll probably just do that and next time take it to the 4x4 parts place for an alignment.
 
#11 ·
So took the X in for a wheel balance and alignment.

They claim because of the oversized tires (31x10.5x15 wrangler authorities) they weren't able to get the camber/caster into spec.

Also said the front shocks were slightly bent possibly caused by the oversized tires.

At 170k I was going to replace the shocks anyway so whether they are actually bent or not doesn't matter at this point (sounds like BS in terms of the tires causing it). Probably the source of my vibration.

Anyone ever heard of 31's being too large to properly do an alignment?
Your guy is either stupid/incompetent or dishonest....pick one.

You need a different shop, period, end of story.

The tire cannot physically bend a shock...and many of us run 33's, let alone 31's which are barely over OEM for that year anyway.

A shop that says they can't do an alignment with 31" tires is all but incomprehensible.


I would ignore EVERYTHING this shop says....as there's no way to know if they are dishonest (Know its BS but say it anyway), or stupid (Don't know how to do their job)...but neither scenario is OK.
 
#12 ·
Your guy is either stupid/incompetent or dishonest....pick one.

You need a different shop, period, end of story.

The tire cannot physically bend a shock...and many of us run 33's, let alone 31's which are barely over OEM for that year anyway.

A shop that says they can't do an alignment with 31" tires is all but incomprehensible.


I would ignore EVERYTHING this shop says....as there's no way to know if they are dishonest (Know its BS but say it anyway), or stupid (Don't know how to do their job)...but neither scenario is OK.
Yep
 
#14 ·
Yeah don't think I'll be going back. Wish I had known there was an actual 4x4parts shop right down the street before hand.

Nothing like 20/20 Hindsight.

:nerd:
 
#17 ·
Ive fashioned a deep socket set from harbor freight into a dedicated bushing/ujoint extractor. Along w a 1/2 extension which I hold w a vise grip then smack w a bfh. Also sometimes use a BJ press or punch set.
HF is great for low use stuff like that. When you guys put the drive shaft back in, should I be putting some grease on the slip yoke first?
 
#18 ·
I have a friend whose X shook at highway speed. Had is tires re-balanced several times alignments done twice. For him at least it turned out his shocks were completely toast. He replaced them and the vibration was gone. While Im not sure this was the root problem, the shocks fixed or masked the vibration for good.
 
#21 ·
I'm down with a sinus infection...what am I supposed to confirm?
 
#23 ·
I hate those :p

I think whether I'm supposed to grease the slip yoke before putting the drive shaft back in (after u-joint replacement).
Front or rear shaft?
 
#25 ·
Wanted to throw an update on this. New ujoints for the rear prop shaft and new bilsteins all the way around. I think the shocks help dampen the vibration a tiny bit but its definitely still there. I think I've eliminated it being a drivetrain issue as I downshifted to no change in the vibration. Seems to just be related to wheel speed. I also noticed when doing my shocks my front passenger hub has a little bit of play in it. So here is my new list of things to try:

1. Replace the front wheel bearings. I've read some DIYs on this and it doesn't look too bad, although they were for repacking current ones. If I'm doing a complete replacement the only additional step would be to knock the races out of the hub so they can be replaced right? As long as a press isn't required I can tackle that.

2. Take it to a shop that isn't full of morons and get a proper alignment. I'm still slightly out of spec (less than .5 degrees though).
 
#26 ·
Did you confirm that the tires are balanced properly/the rims are not gunned to the hubs so hard they are warping from uneven torque?

Did you confirm none of the tires have a bad ply, etc?

IIRC, the shop you had this done at was manned by orangutangs or something?

>:D
 
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