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Vibration in 2000 Legacy starting at 30mph


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8 hours ago, brus brother said:

is there vibration in the steering wheel or do you just feel it in the seat 

A tiny bit in the steering wheel, but more vibration from the interior walls and the rear view mirror shakes visibly to the point where I can't see behind me.

Took it for a test drive last nght. Problem is still there, so FWD fuse and moving tires around didn't affect it.

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OK, does it 'seem' like it is in sync with tire rotation speed - or could it be about 4 times faster, that would be ~ driveshaft speed.

could you have a helper pace your car with another car , perhaps with a 3rd person as observer, on a 2 lane road such that any bouncing of a wheel might be observed?

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On 6/13/2019 at 11:07 AM, 1 Lucky Texan said:

OK, does it 'seem' like it is in sync with tire rotation speed - or could it be about 4 times faster, that would be ~ driveshaft speed.

could you have a helper pace your car with another car , perhaps with a 3rd person as observer, on a 2 lane road such that any bouncing of a wheel might be observed?

It did seem 4x the speed of the tires, which is why I originally put in a used one, still did it, a new one, still did it, and returned the new one for another new one and it still did it. So that rules out the main propeller shaft

Took the tires to a tire shop and had them rebalance them. Still does it. I'm thinking it has to be a cv shaft. Maybe that one that hasnt' been replaced yet, or one of the 3 new ones I put in a little while ago.

Wondering if I should put a new cv shaft in the front left (the only one I haven't replaced yet), and do the wheel bearing while I have the front suspension apart.

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2 hours ago, 1 Lucky Texan said:

any sound at all? I have read that carrier bearings on the DS can really howl - dunno if they can cause vibration with no noise.

There is some noise. I got the drivers side apart and I think it might be the bearing. With the knuckle out of the car and on the bench I can feel the bearing better and there's a liittle scratchiness to it. Ordered an axle for the left side and both wheel bearings/seals so hopefully that fiixes it.

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Now that I'm looking for new axles, I almost wonder if I bought the wrong axles back when I changed them. I used the Suretrack sb8048 and sb8049. One place on ebay has it as for the 5spd. Another says its for both. Then Rock auto says its for the  5 spd. Overall length seems to be a difference of 1/16th of an inch between those two axles and one I found that says its for an auto. Can anyone confirm this are right or wrong? I have a 2000 legacy gt limited auto

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Confirmed with the manufactuer that I did put in the correct rear axles (Surtrack SB8048 and SB8049). That being said, this weekend I removed the left rear, and it was really really stuck in the center differential. I couldn't get it pried out with just a 4ft crowbar, I had to use a metal wedge that I usually use for removing ball joints and jam it on one side (while avoiding the dust ring) and pry with the crowbar on the opposite side. Took almost everything I had to get it out. Other side is just a normal slip on fit. Not sure what happened but its looking like somethngs up with that left rear axle or maybe even the differential.  That was where the clicking was coming from also.

Edited by destey
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Here's a couple of videos of the axles. The right front one didn't come out very well, you can only see the axle barely. The second video of the right rear is better. Doesn't seem to be vibrating from the right rear axle. The differential doesn't look to be vibrating either.

I'm going to try and get another video of the right front tomorrow. Sort of looks like its vibrating but hard to tell.

https://youtu.be/U-2-xwKjzO0

https://youtu.be/GymuEYBT6Pw

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Put the axle that I took out of the left front and put it in the right front, still doing it.

That just leaves the right rear axle, rear differential, front differential, or automatic transmission.

Doesn't look like its the right rear cv axle based on the video. Nor does it look like the rear carrier is vibrating.

I guess the next step is to try and mount that camera to each thing and see if it vibrates. If that doesn't seem to find it, I ordered a cheap arduino accelerometer module from china. I'll build this and see if I can pinpoint it http://stevesprojectpages.com/accelerometer-data-logger-with-ir-trigger/

Edited by destey
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Swapped in a new axle to the left rear, still doing it. That rules out all the CV axles. Has to be the rear differential, front differential, auto transmission or propeller shaft. I did notice when I had the car on the lift for the last axle change that when I spun the tires, the main propeller shaft wobbles. Which is weird since this I put a new propeller shaft in, then returned it due to thinking it was bad, and the replacement didn't help either. Not sure what else it could be. Going to put in the original prop shaft and see it changes.

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I bought a cheap prop shaft from partsgeek for my 05 Outback. $250 (cheapest one they had).

The center joint was shot and while some shade tree mechanics have pressed in new ones, not even local shops do it around here on this car.

Car had a rumble in the seat and would actually hit the bottom of the car as well on quick acceleration. There may be a related bushing that was (is) worn, not replaced, but all other symptoms were gone. Check to see if your bushings are adequate.

There is always a $15 off cpn if you decide to order from PG I can send it your way.

Edited by brus brother
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On 6/12/2019 at 8:25 PM, brus brother said:

is there vibration in the steering wheel or do you just feel it in the seat 

A lititle bit in the steering wheel when it gets bad at about 45 or so. I see the rear view mirror vibrating and I can feel vibration on the cabin interior

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It was the main propeller shaft. I put in a used one I had bought a while back from a junkyard and the vibration disappeared. Originally I bought the new driveshaft because the junkyard one was rusted and pitted at the transmission end and wore out the seal.

So that part outfit sent me 2 bad propeller shafts, the original one was bad and so was the replacement. 

Edited by destey
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  • 2 weeks later...

Returned that bad shaft, then they sent me another one. Which was all scratched up, and surprise, vibrated terribly. 3 bad shafts in a row, the third one looked exactly like the the first one down to the scratches. I think they just sent  me the first shaft again. Don't ever buy from Buyautoparts.com or their ebay store.

Edited by destey
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1 hour ago, FerGloyale said:

Just press new U-joints into the driveline.

Easy.

Press out old u-joints past the stakes, use a sanding drum on dremel to remove burrs from stakes.  Press in new U-joint with interior C-clips and Zerks. 

Now you have grease-able U-joints.

I actually tried to do that to the original driveshaft after I felt vibration. Bought a kit supposedly that would work in my driveline. Pressed out the old yoke, put in the new one. There was a tiny bit of slop though after and no way to figure out how to shim it because I have no balancer. There was something about the surfaces too that didn't allow for a very precise location of the yoke caps.

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