I'm having a problem with a bad shimmy/vibration from the front of my 84 GL wagon. The problem only happens when I'm accelerating or deccerlerating. When coasting in neutral there is no problem. When I turn right or left the shimmy goes away. It all started about a month ago when it would only shimmy going up hills around 60 mph.... the problem keeps progressing, now it will do it at any speed. The vibration is more in the floor board then the steering wheel. Feels like the whole front end is going to fall to pieces sometimes. When moving slow the front end kinda shifts from side to side.

 

I dove under the car today and everything seems good and tight.... So, I'm at a loss. I know it's not the tires because I tried rotating them. I'm thinking CV joint??

 

HELP!!!

I'm having a problem with a bad shimmy/vibration from the front of my 84 GL wagon. The problem only happens when I'm accelerating or deccerlerating. When coasting in neutral there is no problem. When I turn right or left the shimmy goes away. It all started about a month ago when it would only shimmy going up hills around 60 mph.... the problem keeps progressing, now it will do it at any speed. The vibration is more in the floor board then the steering wheel. Feels like the whole front end is going to fall to pieces sometimes. When moving slow the front end kinda shifts from side to side.

 

I dove under the car today and everything seems good and tight.... So, I'm at a loss. I know it's not the tires because I tried rotating them. I'm thinking CV joint??

 

HELP!!!

 

 

 

Axle are probably right "if it vibrates under load its most likley a cv axle!!" Quote from louie the mechanic

Most likely axle related; from the sound of it, the inner joint (DOJ) is bad. Check the boots on the inner joints, if one or both are torn, that's the axle I'd replace first.

2 thoughts: Leading rod bushings and rack bushings. Old/nasty leading rod bushings can allow annoying-to-nasty oscillations, but they usually feel more fore-aft or wheel-shake than side-to-side.

I had a problem with a pretty serious shimmy in my steering column awhile back. I had the tires all balanced, rotated, and whatnot...didn't make a difference. They were great looking Bridgestones and seemed fine, but I had them all replaced and that took care of the problem 100%.

 

Your problem sounds a bit more severe, but it's something to consider.

Alright I figured it's a CV. eh.... gotta wait for pay day.

Thanks everyone for your help. I replaced the axle today and the problem has gone away! yay! It was hard to figure out which axle went bad, so I took a 50 50 chance and nailed it the first time.

 

Thanks again,