On Wed, 09 Oct 2013 20:53:44 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Wed, 09 Oct 2013 23:03:36 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 09 Oct 2013 07:01:18 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Wed, 09 Oct 2013 20:37:37 +0800, Glenn B
wrote:

On 9/10/2013 4:39 PM, wrote:
On Monday, October 7, 2013 8:08:54 PM UTC-6, Ignoramus3720 wrote:
I have a problem that I noticed with my pick-up truck. The problem is that at certain speeds, such as 40-45 MPH, I feel vibration if I step on the gas pedal and try to accelerate. If I let go of the gas pedal, vibration stops even as the truck continues to drive forward. It has gotten worse lately. I have thought a lot on what could cause it. It does not seem to be related to the engine RPM. I watch the RPM vary and the vibration does not vary with it. What could it be? i

Worn suspension arm bushings caused that in my case, the upper suspension arm bonded bushings had deteriorated to the point where there was only shreds of rubber left. The lowers still had the rubber but the bonding to the inner sleeve was gone. I had another vehicle that still had the original factory tie rod ends, these were also bonded rubber and had gone away. Only rattled at certain speeds and really didn't affect steering, somehow.

Amazing. It should have been wandering all over the road after you
hit even a slight bump.


The parts for these replacements were pretty cheap, had to have a heavy press to replace the bushings. Have had to do this now on several vehicles since I tend to run them until they go to the junkyard. Upper bushings are hard to see on a lot of vehicles, hard to get to, too. Bum ball joints will do this, also, but you usually get a vague drifting feel with the steering when that happens. So check your suspension. Only real way I know of is to detach the upper ball joint, get the spring out and see if there's play on arms or ball joints.
Now that I know how, I can usually do both ball joints and bushings on a Sat. Don't go for super-cheap suspension parts or you'll get to do it again quite soon.

Amen to that.


I've had regular Hooke's u-joints go bad with the needles rusted out and gone, never really had any vibration at speed but had a loud clunk when shifting into reverse, this was on an old IH Scout with a three-speed manual and 4WD. Never really caught on until I downshifted on the highway and the stubs broke off on the cross on the front joint. Very noisy. Was my dad's truck when I was a teen and he plowed all winter with it. Didn't get much maintenance in sub-zero. You should be able to check for u-joint play by jacking up a rear wheel and twisting the drive shaft back and forth by hand.

I heard a Mexi-mobile (some funky old chebby) take off from a parking
lot once. EEK-OOK-EEK-OOK-EEK-OOK from zero to 15mph or so. Must have
driven the driver crazy. It was a pole-vaulting event waiting to
happen. When front u-joints let go, it can make for spectacular
crashes on the freeway.

A highschool classmate had a big-block '67 Chevy that he used to drive
pretty hard - Tearing down the street behind the school and
speedshifting, he took out the front U-joint and poked the driveshaft
right through the diff into the gas-tank - lifting the rear bumper a
few feet in the process and tearing a furrow in the asphault.

My buddy with the '67 Goat went through driveshafts, trannies, diff
nuts, and axles like -popcorn-, but he never went pole vaulting. I
used to kid him about all the money he threw away by being so
aggressive behind the wheel.

When I stood on my Javelin, the whole rear end dropped 7 inches as it
wrapped the springs around the axle, but it then shot like an arrow.
The close ratio Borg tranny was hard to keep up with behind the
slightly built 390. (circa 400hp and 450ft#) I'm really surprised I
never lost a u-joint.


I had a truck's rear u-joint go while I was following it once. The
center flew out and hit my windshield right between my eyes. Luckily,
it was spinning beneficially to the slant of the windshield, so my
F-150 glass only got a shearing scratch there, no puncture. Most of
it polished out. I was -really- lucky that day. A truck cross through
the forehead would have kinda hurt. I avoided the drive shaft which
the truck jumped over because I was in the next lane over by that
time. Talk about adrenaline shakes...


Had the rear U-Joint let go on the AeroScare on the way from Kitchener
to Winnipeg, via Michigan. I had the u-joint replaced by a shop while
I was out of the country in Burkina Faso for a month, knowing I had
the winnipeg trip coming up as soon as I got home, taking my daughter
to University. The mechanic who installed it didn't get the retainer
clip in right and it threw a cup just east of Flint, friday of the
Labour Day weekend. No tools in the truck - no shop able to do the
job - changed it laying on my back under the truck with a combination
of borrowed tools and a vice and hammer I bought at the parts store
where I bought the U-Joint.

I hope you asked for and got a full refund from the jerk who did that
to you. "Refund or lawsuit, what'll it be, sir?" big grin
The "jerk" was my kid brother - and yes, I got a full refund!!!