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Hi all. I’ve got a ’67 Camaro, and trying to run down a mild driveline vibration that occurs around 55mph, then goes away by 65mph. I say driveline, as the steering wheel doesn’t shake and the vibration is essentially coming through the seat, vibrating the console, glovebox area.
I had a vibration before, but was much more violent. I had my driveshaft balanced, which made it ride very smooth at all speeds. Since then, I had my pinion seal replaced, and it seemed that’s when the smaller vibrations started. Not sure if its coincidence or not. I’ve also cut my coils in the front by a half a coil, and then fine tuned with a spacer, so I’m in need of an alignment. Not sure if that could be contributing as well. I’m thinking that maybe when the pinion was done, perhaps a weight was lost when the driveshaft was removed. All just ideas.
I realize this is all subjective, but wanted to see if anyone had any other thoughts.
Thanks!!
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You might try turning the drive shaft at the rear differential 180 degrees. It could be when the pinion repair was done it didn’t get replaced in the original position.
That makes sense Barney. I’ll have that rotated on my next visit for alignment and see where it goes. Thanks!
I’m with Barney on this. You’d be surprised how many times I’ve seen drive shafts put in upside down or 180% out. Usually if you remove a drive shaft you should have match marks so you can put it back together correctly. But your best bet is to look at how the drive shaft is sitting. Usually it’ll be a solid shaft or two seperate shafts with a centre bearing between them bolted to the body.
Another area you might check is the balance on the rear tires… A shake in the seat of your pants can be an indicator of unbalanced rear tires…
-Karl
The cars of this era were a one piece design with a front
spline yoke and a rear pinion yoke. I don’t think there is
a way you can install it wrong or out of phase/sequence.
Rotate your tires to see if the vibration changes. if not
I would suspect the pinion. Also check the U joints.I would have a look at the U joints, they can cause a nice little shake, and are a pretty common failure point on those old school rear drive setups.
[quote=”college man” post=85630]The cars of this era were a one piece design with a front
spline yoke and a rear pinion yoke. I don’t think there is
a way you can install it wrong or out of phase/sequence.
Rotate your tires to see if the vibration changes. if not
I would suspect the pinion. Also check the U joints.[/quote]When they said 180 degrees out, he was saying unbolt it and flip it around because this does help in some instances even though it will bolt in either way. Everyone I know puts a mark on the driveshaft and yoke before removing to remember the exact positioning.
Yep, I’ve heard of doing it the same way by making marks on the driveshaft and u-joint. U-joint was replaced not too long ago, so it should be good to go. I’m not able to rotate the tires, except for side to side, as the sizes are not equal from front to back. The wheels and tires are both new, but may need to be balanced again, as they are not hub centric in nature. I have hub centric rings, but wouldn’t hurt. I’m almost finished swapping out the subframe bushings, so it will need to be re-aligned. I’ll try it once the shop has it and report back. Thank again!
Little update guys. I finally got around to rotating the drive shaft, and although it ‘seemed’ to be a little better, still didn’t take it away completely. When I first bought the car, the vibrations were so bad it seemed like the car was possessed. That was before I had the drive shaft balanced, and then it was like butter. Or maybe it just seemed perfect because I had only experienced the exorcist car, and didn’t notice the minor stuff like I have now.
Anyhow, might pull the drive shaft again and have it looked at by the shop to ensure that it is completely balanced or hasn’t had a weight knocked off during alignment or the pinion seal installation.
Thanks again.
Have the U-joints been carefully rotated by hand when the shaft was loose? Sometimes the joints will develop rough spots while still remaining tight.
What about the fit of the shaft yoke into the back of the transmission? Any chance the rear bushing in the tailhousing has some excessive wear?Very cool car. The ’67 and ’68 Camaros have always been my favorites and I knew several people who owned them way back in the day.
A friend had a ’68 396 and paid me to put long tube headers on it. I think I used every curse word known to man and invented some new ones before that job was done. 🙂I owned a second generation F-body and I remember the SM made reference to the angles at the U-joints. They were supposed to each be at a certain angle, they actually showed a special tool for measuring this angle, saying if the angles weren’t correct you would experience a vibration.
Interestingly, the front and rear angles were not the same.
Don’t forget about the simple stuff. I’m with ToyotaKarl, check the balance of the rear tires. In fact, a tire balance issue will show up in that exact speed range. Not a bad idea to check the tires themselves either. If you have a bad tire it can also cause that issue. The rest of the posters seemed to cover the usual suspects like U joints and driveshaft balance, but it could also be an issue in the differential itself if you strike out with those and the tires. I’ve actually written about this issue in this article that may provide additional information for you.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/determining-the-causes-of-vehicle-vibrations
Keep us posted.
P.S. I love your car. Well my dream is for a 69 SS RS 327 with a 4 speed if we want to get technical. That said, post a pic if you can.
Thanks for the feedback guys. The wheels and tires are new and were balanced not too long ago. The vibration seems to be coming from the floorboard and seat area versus the wheel, which is why I was thinking driveshaft. The wheels are Torque Thrust II’s, so they are not hub centric, and I use rings for that. I suppose that could be a culprit. I just pulled them off last night and put them back on for something else I was working on, so maybe it might help re-seating them with the the alignment rings that I use.
Fxdx95 may have hit on something, as the u-joint bolts were really tight when I pulled the shaft off. I mean, I had to set the closed wrench on the bolt, then jack up my jack against it to break it. I’ve read that tightening that much is a no no, but not sure what kind of impact it might have had on the joint. I’m assuming that I wouldn’t know unless I replaced the joint itself.
Eric – Yes, my ’67 is a blast to drive. Original RS and 4-speed. It’s certainly a labor of love, as it has its problems, but interestingly enough, it could be sitting by a Ferrari or Lamborghini, and people always gravitate to the Camaro. The ’69 is certainly the most popular out of all 3 years, and the interior is much more refined, but something about having the first year it was made intrigues me, as the design is just as attractive now as it was in ’67. That’s what you call genius in my book! And of course, the RS/SS combo is the mecca. Only a Yenko or COPO trumps it.
Anyhow, I’ll take a look at a couple of the suggestions and let you guys know. Vibrations have to be the most aggravating and puzzling piece of owning these old cars, but well worth the effort! I posted a pic below. Hopefully I did it correctly. 🙂
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