U Joint Problem Diagnosis

B_man_Al

B_man_Al

Senior Member
Anyone with a good method of diagnosing a U joint fault on a model B? I suspect the U joint based on what I think is excessive vibration at higher speeds (above 35 -40 MPH) . THe car has 70k miles, and I think its still the original.

Al
 
A or B no difference. Try putting on jacks, run it, listen u/neath with stethascope??
More info needed, where do you suspect vib coming from??
Paul in CT
 
Is the frequency of the vibration with the wheels or engine ? Usually a u-joint will show itself at a low power cruise and decel.
 
If the UJ is worn you will more vibration on the over run when the engine is being back driven by the rear wheels .If the Hyatt bearing in the torque tube neck is worn it too causes the same vibration .The UJ could still be good but the bearing/sleeve could be worn. You can check the state of the bearing by removing the speedo drive cap from the torque tube and try to push the spiral gear up and down there should be very little or no "up or down" .It is a bit of a fiddle to do but does work as my cabriolet had the same problem.I changed the sleeve and bearing and no more vibration.

John in sunny Suffolk County England .
 
I would say the vibration is at the engine speed , and more pronounced on deceleration.

I've always thought it was just exhaust noise from the muffler because of the lack of any rubber isolation along the way, particularly at the back where it goes through the cross member. After changing the exhaust out with a new one, there was no noticable change in vibration.

I put new front drake motor mounts which improved things quit a bit, but it still seems too noisy to me
 
I would shift to high and crawl under the car with one rear wheel jacked up, then have someone jerk the wheel back and forth to see if you can hear or feel any looseness in the U-joint area.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top