Gentlemen, I think a hub on my Brat may have gone bad. I have had a pretty good intermittent vibration for some time now. Sometimes it is so bad I have to slow down to about 40 MPH IOT make it stop.

 

I have changed the axle shafts, wheel bearings, had the tires balanced, ball joints, struts and mounts, and tie rod ends, and I am still getting this death wobble. It is mostly accelerating up steep hills at highway speeds. The axles I used are EMPI, which have had good reviews.

 

Yester day I jacked up the tire by the control arm and could feel a slight wobble in the tire. I tightened the axle nut as tight as I could and checked the pinch bolt for the strut. The wobble persisted. I am thinking the hub or the retaining washers might be bad. What do you guys think?

I had a similar problem and my driver's side hub was out of round. Do the ea81 cars have the conical washer and the convex washer on the hubs, make sure they are installed properly. You said you tightened the axle nut, Does your axle nut back off on its own at all?

Once the splines on the hubs get worn the axle nut wont stay tight, and you will have clunking from the splines every time you take off from a stop. Ive not had a death wobble befor. If you look at the splines you can tell if they are worn. The washers (flat and cone) should be replaced with new ones.

Is the wobble just the front end or is it shaking the steering wheel too? Can you have someone else "rock" the tire while you kneel down and watch?

Other thoughts... The rack its self, I suppose the knuckle could be bad, check the pinch bolt for the lower ball joints.

Edited September 8, 201510 yr by ihscout54

They are almost identical to EA82 hubs. So yes, they have the washers. The nut has not been getting loose.

there is no play in the rack, but it not just shakes the steering wheel but the whole truck. It also makes it pull hard to the right. The knuckle seems OK. When it was being shaken jacked up nothing moved except the wheel/ hub. I used a pry bar to check the ball joint and it didn't have any movement either.

 

I am not getting clicking or anything when I accelerate.

 

When being shaken, it looks like only the inside of the hub is moving, but all of the bearings are new and they were certainly tight when pressing in.

Edited September 8, 201510 yr by iluvdrt

Do not be surprised if the CV joint is beginning to seize from being dry they can do nasty things like that and vibrations similar to what you have experienced often come from a failing inner double offset joint.

Interesting. Would that cause the wheel hub to have play in it though?

If I were you I would switch axles side to side, put driver's side on pass and pass on driver's side, see if anything changes. Just a thought. That would help eliminate any chance of it being a bad axle.

I'll mess with it this weekend and report back. I have other axles in various states of serviceability I could use. I think I am also going to change out the cone washers with new ones.

Is it the inside of the hub moving or the driveshaft lose and able to be moved as from memory with the driveshaft fitted it would be all but impossible to see the hub moving itself,Maybe measure the section relevant of the outer CV cup unit to make sure there is no difference in diameter there causing the issue.

There have been both early and late driveshaft specs in these vehicles over the years so that may be where the problem comes from, Just a thought.

oddly enough. i had a death wobble between 65-85MPH on my rear driver wheel on a 1998 Suzuki Sidekick. the seats shook well enough to get a back massage. I thought it was the worst. but, i took the car in to have new summer shoes put on & balancing done to the wheels, The steel rim was very slightly bent. We had it swapped for the rim on the spare tire and the car rolled like butter ever since.

 

You never know...

 

*hey! never mind. chances are low this will help. I didn't comprehend what i read at first.*

Edited December 12, 201510 yr by Link0demons

Have you ever changed the engine and transmission mounts?

rotating the tires can eliminate if the front tires were the problem. 7 out of 10 times, vibrations over 55 are in the tires/tire balance. fix-a-flat can also cause some gnarly vibrations if too much is added. 

Tires with a broken steel belt will wobble, just before they blow.  Wheels with loose lug nuts will wobble.  Stick with T rated tires because there are some crappy H and S tires out there.  And then there is the balancing question.  Older steel wheels will rust inside of the tire and make it impossible to balance.

also, check the lower control arm bolt on the cross member. and the tie rod bushings