Thread: Vibration solved once and for all!

I'm a happy boy right now, today I have FINALLY fixed a steering vibration I've had since owning my 2001 HSE.
The vibration has always been there, but barely noticeable, I could always see the passenger seat vibrating slightly...although after about 6 months, things started to get worse. Some weird clunks coming from underneath, I discovered a chewed out front uni joint, which I changed and found the vibration to be back to where it was.
Fast forward a couple of years and once again a chewed out front uni joint, as well as a noisy cv joint.
I decided to have a closer look at everything and discovered the front diff was very sloppy, with 2mm movement of the yoke when pushed from side to side, indicating a worn diff bearing.
After pricing rebuilt and new diffs, and on the advice of trusted experts, I put in a good second hand front diff centre, as well as a new cv joint, and another front uni joint.
As it turns out, the slop in the old diff was covering up the problem, with the new tight diff in, the vibration was now much much worse...grrrrr!
So this week I pulled the front driveshaft off and took it in to a specialist to be balanced.
Straight away they could see movement in the uni joint caps, indicating worn components.
They had the shaft for a day, I got it back yesterday, it did indeed have a wobble in the shaft, which they fixed, as well as two new uni joints, they told me it was now running perfectly balanced.
I got under the Rangie this morning, put it all back together, took it for a drive and I could not believe it, after all this time, the vibration has completely gone.
Happy days!
I have read elsewhere about the front drive shaft being the culprit, but I did not expect it to have such a big impact on the other components.
I've done a lot of work on my P38 over the last 3 months, welded a leaky diff, new drivers door latch to stop the jumping door locks, rebuilt the EAS valve block, rebuilt eas compressor, new tyres all round, new headliner, new rear uni joints, new anti roll bar bushes and links, it's like a new car! I must say, this one takes the cake though, I feel very happy with myself right now!
I hope this helps someone else track down any driveline vibration you may be experiencing, as I discovered they can be very hard to diagnose.
Cheers, Pete.

Thanks for your help with this process Keithy and Hoges, as well as anyone else that contributed. Glad you got your front unis sorted Keithy, how much better is it with no vibrations! Nice one