severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

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jimcrazy
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My tercel:: 1985 4wd 1986fwd 1983 4wd

Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by jimcrazy »

oldfaithful where are you heading to now? gonna miss the hurricane if its hits the first of the week
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helipilot77
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My tercel:: 1984 SR5 wagon
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by helipilot77 »

Glad to hear that you found the source of the problem.
. / TOYOTA
./_| |/|/ |]
oldfaithful
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My tercel:: 1984 Tercel 4WD

Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by oldfaithful »

Hi Jim. We went to North Bay last Friday then spent the weekend with my Aunt in Kapuskasing then back to North Bay Monday, we came back to Ottawa Tuesday and spending time with my twin nephews and their wives and leave Friday morning and likely spend the night in Fredericton and then head home Saturday,just in time for the huricane, hopefully it by passes us.
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
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Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by Petros »

I am reviving this thread because the problem has not fully gone away, and has now becoming more troublesome and really annoying.

Here again is what happens: above about 40 mph, during acceleration only, I get a noticeable vibration, appears to be fron the right front. when coasting in neutral at any speed, smooth. when accelerating at low speed, nothing, even with engine at higher rpms. only during accelerating above 40 mph, and it is worse if turning to the left (right side loaded), than if turning to the right (left side loaded). in 2wd or 4wd makes no difference.

in summary, here is what I did:

1. Replaced front right cv axle with new one, left one feels tight (and is not very old)
2. Check front wheel bearing (smooth and quite, it was new a year ago)
3. Had tires balanced
4. Check/changed spark plugs, wires, distributor assembly
5. Inspected tie rod ends, bushings and ball joints (it got a new ball joint on that side about a year ago, replace right side outter tie rod end with new one.

everything is tight, all bushings appear in good shape, CV joints are tight (no sloppiness). Not likely CV joints (acted the same with old axles and with new ones). I am thinking it might be internal to the front diff assembly, but that seems unlikely since it is smooth running at low speeds, even under load.

Any suggestions on what to check next?
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
jimcrazy
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My tercel:: 1985 4wd 1986fwd 1983 4wd

Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by jimcrazy »

i have the same problem,,i just put the strut spacers in and made it a little worse,,i found the front diff is wore in the carrier that supports the axle,, the bore is supposed to .985" mine on the drivers side is .992"-.998" being bigger out close to the seal,i have 3 other diffs that all measure .985" and all of them never had a vibration when I ran them.i may get it changed out this weekend coming,,
jimcrazy
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My tercel:: 1985 4wd 1986fwd 1983 4wd

Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by jimcrazy »

o I have also replaced inner and outer tie rods,,both wheel bearings,, the sway bar bushings are tight,and ball joints,and both axles,,
jimcrazy
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My tercel:: 1985 4wd 1986fwd 1983 4wd

Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by jimcrazy »

finished up swapping the front diff crown gear,,the vib/shake is now gone
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
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Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by Petros »

that is what I was thinking was the cause. I am afraid I will have to swap out the front diff assy. Nothing else makes sense.

Now to see if I have a 3.73 front diff (I know I have several 4.1:1 front diffs, so I may have to swap out the rear diff too). with the larger 4ac engine, I have actually come to like the 3.73 final drive since it is better for hwy speeds (the engine is less noisy).
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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helipilot77
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My tercel:: 1984 SR5 wagon
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by helipilot77 »

Yeah. Sounds like you have eliminated everything else. What a bear that is going to be. Will you have to set the diff up again, or can you just swap the whole diff?
. / TOYOTA
./_| |/|/ |]
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Petros
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Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by Petros »

I am hoping one of the spar trans assmblies I have has the 3.73:1 ratio, I will just swap out the whole assembly. much faster and easier, and does not require special tools. I think all I have is for the later 4.1:1 ring and pinion ratio, but I have not had a chance to dig though my piles and boxes of spare parts.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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Buzzard67
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My tercel:: 1984 Toyota Tercel Delux
Location: Minnesota

Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by Buzzard67 »

Thank you for posting this as I Am having the same problem. I did put a post about the same problem last month. Only with acceleration over 55.
Replaced:
Both front axles
New Struts and Shocks
4 New tires
Balance all tires
Front end alignment
Sway bar bushings

I'm not very good at being a backyard mechanic so I will bring it to a trusted garage and just to be sure have them change the front wheel bearings.
Did you just replace the front wheel bearing or all ?
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irowiki
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Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by irowiki »

Buzzard, he's saying the diff is bad, not the wheel bearing in this case.
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
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Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by Petros »

Correct, not the wheel bearing, the bearing in the diff assembly. usually wheel bearing will make scraping noise, not vibration. it is the bearing in the front diff assembly where the inboard end of the cv axle spline goes into the diff assembly. this is a big job and usually it is easier to replace the front diff assembly (you have to pull the transmission to do that).

It might be possible to replace just the bad bearing in the diff assembly without removing it from the car. I have not considered that, but you can get the front cover off the diff, so it might be possible. You have to take it to a good diff or transmission shop and ask them there (make sure they are honest and competent). It would save a lot of time and money if the transaxle can be left in the car. might be worth considering. The lash or clearance between the ring and pinion gear is really critical, so I would leave that to someone that knows how to check and adjust this clearance. Otherwise you could trash the front diff, and with it maybe the transmission too.

You want to be completely certain that the vibration is from the front diff, and not something overlooked on the suspension or drive train. It is much better to check/eliminate something that is less costly to fix before you do the big repair.

Always diagnose the problem before you try and fix it!

good luck.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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Ace
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My tercel:: '83 DLX 4WD Tercel wagon 3AC

Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by Ace »

This is a shot in the dark, but you might take another look at your engine mounts. You said you replaced a bad mount a while back. Maybe another mount is bad or failing, or the replacement mount too soft, and vibrates only under hard acceleration at speed. When you had the exhaust pipe incident, maybe an engine mount got torn/damaged?

Another thought, if the steering tie-rods have loose joints the torque of acceleration may be increasing front wheel toe-in excessively, causing tire scrubbing and wheel hop at higher speeds.
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
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Re: severe vibration above 50 mph on acceleration

Post by Petros »

good thought on the mounts, the rear one has been a concern. all of the tie rod ends are good, some are near new, I already fixed that (helped a bit, but it was not the cause, just reduced the amount of free play).
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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