Home › Forums › Stay Dirty Lounge › Service and Repair Questions Answered Here › Front end vibration after replacing axle.
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November 29, 2011 at 11:00 am #445620
Busted a CV boot so I replaced the right side axle. Car is a 2002 Pontiac Grand Pix GTP.
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November 29, 2011 at 11:00 am #445621
Did you torque all the bolts down to spec, particular the spindle nut and the lug nuts?
The 2 bolts you removed on the knuckle, where they for the struts? If so, make sure they were not eccentric bolts as they will affect your alignment.
November 29, 2011 at 11:00 am #445622Yes, everything is torqued to spec. Even the lugs because I have slotted rotors. The two bolts on the knuckle do connect to the strut assembly but I don’t see how how they could cause a mis-allignment. There’s no way the angle of the bolts can be adjusted. I replaced the opposite side axle over a year ago the same way with no problems. I did replace the rotors and pads on both sides at the same time doing this job. Braking does not affect the vibration and the car doesn’t pull while braking either.
November 30, 2011 at 11:00 am #445623Did you loaded the weight on the car before torquing down the suspension parts? All cars are different so I am not sure what is the procedure for your car. For most Hondas, you jack up the control arm until the weight of the car can be lifted from the jacking point – then torque down the suspension bolts -The same procedure for the front and rear. For BMWs, you would have to put it on a ramp and load driver and passenger side of the car with 150 – 200LB of weight. I am sure that you would need to do something similar – either place the front end of the car on a ramp or left part of suspension with a jack.
November 30, 2011 at 11:00 am #445624No the suspension wasn’t under load when I torqued everything. I’ll try re-torquing everything tonight with a jack under the control arm. Couldn’t hurt.
November 30, 2011 at 11:00 am #445625I’m thinking you have a bad axle, I’ve run into this a time or 2 myself. I would try a different axle and see if the problem still exists.
December 1, 2011 at 11:00 am #445626Ohh boy… Let me first say you are not alone…
This was my nightmare when I first bought my old Accord… I replaced both front CV’s after purchasing the car with A1 Cardon remans, the driverside vibrated really bad… Complained to carquest and was told this was very very uncommon, the old dude behind the counter said he had never had one returned (BS I’ve read all over the internet about issues with cardone remans).. swaped it out with another and still had the vibration under acceleration but less… 6 months later I looked under the car and the passenger side boot was ripped. I did a bunch of research and a lot of people complain about A1 cardon and all the chinese aftermarket axles on the honda forums… Like I was thinking at the time how can a honda CV last for 200000 km’s plus with the original boots, but new axles have ripped boots in 6 months which would destroy the sub par joint in no time… The issue with the remans is with cars that get to be older most of the axles that start being remaned with new joints are bad chinese ones that were never properly heat treated…
I got some AUP axles from rock auto, really nice axles out of the box came with the dynamic dampener on the longer shaft installed them and no more vibration!!!!!! Of course it was probably only 8 months to a year later the passenger side boot cracked and then ripped… I now have an EMPI axle on that side…
All this being said if I lived in the states, I would buy from Raxles, he has amazing service and ppl on the forums rave about the quality of his axles… However I have never purchased from him because he need OEM cores which I no longer have or he charges you for them and combined that with shipping and it kills the deal for me… if you’re tight on money buy new EMPI axles from rock auto…
I hope that story helps a bit man, I know how frustrating it can be!
I think the EMPI axles are pretty darn good the boots still look nice no crack and it’s been on almost a year now, the other AUP axle I have has boots with cosmetic cracks but haven’t ripped yet… The thing that bugs me to no end is your CV is only as good as the F’in boot, so why use sub par boots?
December 6, 2011 at 11:00 am #445627Thanks Eric and Sorcerer. I swapped out the axle for another and problem solved. No more vibration at highway speeds. Actually the first one I bought was an A-1 Cardone from rock auto. I messed up the axle seal with the pry bar second time around and had to replace it. Let me tell you all, don’t bother wasting your time with aftermarket seals. I fought for over an hour with two different brands of aftermarket seals until I finally went to the GM dealer. OEM seal popped right in place with a few good taps and it was even less expensive that the aftermarket ones. These cheap Chinese metal parts just end up wasting my time and money. AHHHH!!!
December 6, 2011 at 11:00 am #445628Im glad the issue was resolved! And thanks for keeping us posted!
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