shakes at highway speed

[NEp8ntballer]

So my 93 MTX has a case of the shakes when it gets above 55. I don't feel it in the steering wheel but I can feel it in the rest of the car moving so I'm not sure what to replace. It might be the road as well but it starts off pretty smooth but after a couple miles it starts to shake pretty good. I just replaced my CV axle and it was driving well for a couple days but after that it started to shake again. It did however remove my shudder under acceleration it had. If I lean the car over hard in a turn and load the suspension it tracks fine and the shake goes away but driving straight without any lateral Gs it just builds.

There is play in the wheel if you grab it at 3 and 9 but none at 12 and 6 so I'm leaning toward a tie rod end, but I figured I'd feel it in the wheel. It's driving similar to when my tires weren't balanced but all the wieghts are still where they should be. I've put around 5 thousand miles on the car so I guess I could rotate the tires and see if my car goes from shaking in the front to shaking in the back, but then I might have to start tipping it dollar bills. But if it was tire balance I'd figure it would feel it in turns as well. There isn't any popping and creaking but driving over the railroad tracks to get to work there are some decent amounts of clunking. Right now I'm leaning toward replaing the LCAs, outer TREs, and replacing the strut rod bushings but I figured I'd see if anybody here had any insights before I started throwing money at it.

 

[lowc]

sounds to me like your in the right areas to start checking. It sounds to me like a tie rod issue. Does the shake go away at higher speeds and come back again at a higher speed?(goes away at say 60 and comes back say 70)

 

[rubydist]

that's the advanced feature called the vibra-lounger
/Microsoft

 

[NEp8ntballer]

it seems like the faster it goes the worse it gets and the faster it happens but I'll run it up to felony speeding range when I go home tomorrow morning/afternoon

 

[lowc]

if thats the case then i would say either outter tie rod or wheel bearing issue. If by chance that what I stated above happens then it could be a simple balance issue, but isnt sounding that way

 

[NEp8ntballer]

the front wheel bearings probably have 10-15 k on them but one side wasn't installed properly at first and the bearing opened up. it was put back together but it didn't spin quite as freely as the other one. I don't recall which side it was though. the outer TREs on the car are non greasable units and the passenger side has always been a struggle to remove.

 

[johnboneske]

shake...

did you check the tires? They can be out of balance and you could of thrown a wheel weight...

I had the SAME problem this spring on my SHO, I threw a weight...that was it... it shook like a mother from about 35 to about 75...(worts about 55)... I would check weights/tire balance/flat spots first...

You can throw a whole lot of $$ into it... dont forget the simple things first!

 

[SHO87]

I actually just got done with trying to track my shake down. I didnt feel it in the steering either so I replaced the lower control arms, strut rod bushings and an alignment later no more shake. I would say you are definately on the right track.

 

[NEp8ntballer]

if thats the case then i would say either outter tie rod or wheel bearing issue. If by chance that what I stated above happens then it could be a simple balance issue, but isnt sounding that way

seems to be a TRE, ran it up to 70-75 and it shook harder quicker. I hate doing TREs on rusty cars though.

 

[lowc]

yea they are a blast to do in the rust belt!

 

[NEp8ntballer]

replaced the outer and it's better but not fixed. The inner had a bit of play as well. not sure if I want to do that one or leave it to somebody else.

 

[lowc]

why not? its not bad to do aslong as you get the tool to do it

 

[ShadetreeSHOguy]

How do the lower ball joints look? This will cause a shake as well if there's play.

 

[NEp8ntballer]

why not? its not bad to do aslong as you get the tool to do it

because I'm sort of lazy and don't want to buy a $50 tool that I'll likely only use once. but it'll be cheaper to buy the tool since it'll need an alignment and I can just do both sides. But by that same token a new rack would come with new inner TREs and a VAPS rack from RCM auto can be had for under 100 bucks plus teh core charge & shipping. but then I'd be looking at an unknown wait time for it to arrive.

I need to buy more rubber gloves anyway so a trip to Harbor freight is in order.

How do the lower ball joints look? This will cause a shake as well if there's play.

they aren't nearly as tight as the replacement I've yet to put on. There isn't any play in the 6 & 12 shake but I can move the ball joint when not connected to the knuckle whereas with the new one I couldn't even get the ball joint to move. Plus the grease boots are absent on the ones on the vehicle so I need to put new ones on anyway.

 

[NEp8ntballer]

checked again and my only six to 12 play is in the sidewalls of the tire.

 

[jthod]

slipped belt in a rear tire?

 

[NEp8ntballer]

slipped belt in a rear tire?

tires have less than 10k miles and it definitely feels like it's in the front end. I'm about to start tipping it one dollar bills.

 

[jthod]

I thought you said you couldn't feel it in the wheel? did you mean steering wheel, or just play in the actual wheel when it's jacked up?

 

[NEp8ntballer]

I thought you said you couldn't feel it in the wheel? did you mean steering wheel, or just play in the actual wheel when it's jacked up?

steering wheel. I checked the tires and there are no blisters or dimples that I could see or feel. the only play in the tires is in the sidewalls. and the only area that has play is at 3 and 9 at the inner tie rod on the passenger side. I guess I could swap them front to rear tonight on the passenger side and see if the car starts shaking its ass harder than a stripper.

 

[jthod]

even if you can't see any problems with the tread or sidewall, there still may be a slipped belt.