Over the course of this past weekend's track event my car developed a nasty vibration (felt in the steering wheel) under WOT acceleration and I want to know if there are some 'common' places to start diagnosing what's going on. The vibration is not nearly as severe under light acceleration. It seems to be directly correlated to hard acceleration rather than just high speeds.

The car is a street registered, track only, Civic hatch with a B-series engine. I just swapped in a new transmission (ITR tranny with 4.7 FD and a Kaaz LSD) into the car the prior weekend. I had the tires re-balanced at the track and the wobble in the steering wheel was still present during my subsequent sessions. I did not have any offs or encounters with berms that may have knocked the suspension out of alignment. I had a few instances where I chirped the tires under hard braking, but nothing severe enough (IMO) to flat spot the tires. I have flat spotted a tire before and it feels similar to that under hard acceleration, however I would think that a tire flat spotted severe enough to wobble like that would not be able to get balanced correctly. A friend suggest that it may be axle related....I use lifetime warranty Autozone axles and have not had to replace either of them in the past 2 years (maybe longer).

Any help or pointers from any of you who have experienced this on your cars would be appreciated.


Modified by BlueTeg at 1:45 AM 5/6/2008

 

I really can't think of anything that would cause this, interested

 

I had some crazy vibrations at the time attack a couple weeks ago. I thought it was some bad axles... but it wasnt that. I shook my intermediate shaft and it had a lot of play, so i swapped it out, but it seemed like that wasnt the cause either. So i basically just bared with it all day and didnt drive as i liked. Now i think it could be a bad wheel bearing on the driver side. I still have not had time to diagnose it yet though.

 

Check the following things:

1.) Tire Wear
2.) Tire Balancing (look for missing weights)

try moving your front tires to the rear and vice versa, and see if the problem moves

 

sounds like an inner tripod joint on your axels. esp if it gets worse with more throttle you give it.

 

I had the same problem on my street car and it was an axle. Also, the axle looked fine but when I took if off the car and tried to move the joint all the way around, it was the problem was obvious.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BrianZ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sounds like an inner tripod joint on your axels. esp if it gets worse with more throttle you give it.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's what I'm thinking as well. If I hadn't been so wrapped up in my problems last weekend, I would have tried to help you sort that out. I'm guessing new axles will probably solve the issue. I've had tires out of balance (lost all of the weights on one of mine) and it didn't cause any vibrations that severe under acceleration.

I got a new EMPI axle from Keith G (HASPORT) for my car on Sunday and it actually stayed in the transmission whereas the 2 used OEM Honda axles kept getting kicked out. He claims that the EMPIs hold up to a lot of track abuse, so you might think about hitting him up for some. It sounds like maybe you can get another set of autozone axles for free, but free isn't always free if you know what I mean. :-p

 

scott, your problem sounds like the snap ring isn't catching in the diff. (sorry don't know all the technical names)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FlyZlow &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
It sounds like maybe you can get another set of autozone axles for free, but free isn't always free if you know what I mean. :-p</TD></TR></TABLE>


On thawley's car.... an autozone axle lasted something like 2 laps or something crappy like that.

I've always used Napa or OEM

 

autozone axles are wierd. ive had some last 3 days and some last a full season. both of my autozone axles met their demise at about the same time (killed a joint at the end of last year, split a boot the first time on track this year)
my ef has a wierd vibration at like 75mph. i've changed EVERYTHING and cant get it to go away. but its not always there so i ignore it

 

Thanks guys, as previously stated, I had the (front) tires/wheels rebalanced at the track and the vibration was still present in the session I drove in after that. So I don't think its balance related.

I will try replacing the axles (they're probably due anyway after 24+ straight months of track usage) and see if that fixes the problem.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by slammed_93_hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">scott, your problem sounds like the snap ring isn't catching in the diff. (sorry don't know all the technical names)</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, I think you're right Jimmy. However, 2 different used OEM axles with brand new C clips did not fix the problem. One new EMPI axle with a new clip did. I'm not sure if it had something to do with the spline clearances or what. The teeth on the ends of both of the OEM axles were kind of chewed up and on the new axle they were obviously new, so maybe that's what made the difference. It's hard to say. Either way, I'll probably need to rebuild the diff at some point, but the EMPI axle seems to be holding it together for now.

 

MY vote goes to the inner joint. What happens is the bearings on the tripod wear a spot in the joint body and when the bearing moves in this divot it causes vibration.

When I lived in Wilmington, NC I came across a shop there

C V Specialists Inc
(910) 452-5668

They rebuild them in house with a dedicated CNC Machine just to machine joints. They weld the divot up and then remachine. I suspect some of these other parts houses reuse stuff that may still be within limits and that's where the problem arises.

I've used C V Specialists many times and have never had a problem. Give Tony a call and he get you straight.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Lo-Buck EF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">autozone axles are wierd. ive had some last 3 days and some last a full season. both of my autozone axles met their demise at about the same time (killed a joint at the end of last year, split a boot the first time on track this year)
my ef has a wierd vibration at like 75mph. i've changed EVERYTHING and cant get it to go away. but its not always there so i ignore it </TD></TR></TABLE>

Autozone does not use new bearings. They simply machine the races to make them smooth again. Napa rebuilds using new bearings.

 

How are Napa axles? Iv gone through 3 sets of autozones. 1st set i didnt have a problem for about 2 years. Then changed it out and then had a problem with the 2nd set, changed those out and had a problem with the 3rd set. Both the 2nd and 3rd set i only had in for a couple days and it vibrated and clunked. Maybe its time for some innovative axles? Any other recommendations for brand new axles and not remanufactured?

 

Man you guys I've been trying to sort this same issue out for months! I'm on my 3rd set of axles from Autozone. I got the Duralast 8006N. The guy at the parts counter said that the 8006 is reman and the 8006N is new. They don't even offer a core for it. I bought a passenger side one of those last night and it took the majority of the vibration away, but there is still some there. I'm going to replace the driver's side tomorrow and I PRAY to God it will fix this problem. I've been too scared to auto cross or track my car because of it. Man, if it doesn't fix the problem, I may have to fork over $350 for a new set of Raxles Axles.

Please, if you figure this out let us know.

Zak

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .:Made in OC:. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How are Napa axles?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have snapped one in an accident, and tore the boot on another. I generally get new ones at the start of each season and use the old ones as spares. I think they're great for the convenience/price (their new ones, not the remans).

-Chris

 

prelude guys have bad experiences with NAPA axles even on street cars, i can't imagine it being any better on track cars

i have a vibration on hard turns and it'll continue out of the corner if i stay on the throttle, but if i let of, or push the clutch in and then get back on it, no vibration

i'm using 1 Raxle and 1 hybrid axle i did myself, i'm sure its the axle though, as mentioned before, but i'd say go with Raxles, they're top notch