Vibration mystery partly solved.

OK, so I spent the afternoon in my oven like garage under the Rangie today, replaced the front universal joint, and what do you know, I think the vibration is gone.
What a relief!
I got the front flange (front drive shaft) undone ok, but for the life of me could not work out how to undo the rear uni on the front shaft without taking the cross member off.
You can get to the bolts (just), but not well enough to get them undone.
I couldn't find anything in the Rave manual about removing the cross member when replacing unis, so I was just working it out as I went.
Anyway, as it turns out that uni is ok, it was the front one that had the movement.
I'll take it for a proper spin tomorrow and see how it goes.
Thanks to everyone for your valuable imput, special thanks to andrew e for the advice on checking the uni joints, that is what led to the fix :)
Cheers, Pete.

No need to remove the cross member.

Undo the rear UJ with a slim (3/8 drive) socket and a "wobbly" extension bar between it and the rachet drive so you can apply the torque at an angle...leave one bolt engaged and done up just finger tight.

Note the direction of the bolt heads for when you are refitting...

Remove front UJ.

Remove the remaining rear UJ bolt and then compress the shaft lengthwise... then slide it out on an angle... presume you put a shot or two of new grease into the shaft to lube the splines? ;)

Thanks Hoges, I sure did grease all the uni's/shaft splines while I was under there, that was the fun bit.
I'll have to get me a wobbly extension!
Cheers, Pete.

I thought I should give a summary of my findings to anyone looking to solve a vibration they may be experiencing.
My vibration was occuring upwards from around 80km/h, less noticeable around 90 km/h and worst at around 100km/h and above.
It was very hard to pick where it was coming from, just a general vibration that shook the rear vision mirrors.
Following suggestions kindly posted on this forum, this is what I did.
Do the easy things first, usually much cheaper than looking for bigger problems as a starting point.
First up I got a wheel balance, at $12 each it is a quick and easy first step.
That did make a difference to the vibration, much less noticeable, however it was still there.
The next step was to pump the rear tyres up to 38 and the fronts to 30psi, that also made a positive difference, but the main cause still persisted.
Next I got under the vehicle, got hold of the front drive shaft and checked for any movement.
The very front uni joint had a few mm's movement, which was very easy to see when I moved the drive shaft the right way.
BINGO!
I replaced the front uni joint and greased everything while I was under the vehicle.
I took it for a 250km drive this weekend and it drove like a dream, no vibration to be felt at all.
So it probably was a combination of things causing the vibration, but the main cause was the front uni joint.
I know there can be many causes for vibrations such as uneven wear on tyres and transfer case issues, but this is what solved my problem.
Hope this helps someone out there, or at least gives you a starting point.
Cheers, Pete.

:BigThumb: :clap2: :twobeers:
well done!

Nice job on the repairs Pete.

Great summary too.

:thumbsup:

Cheers
Rob

I'm doing the uni's on my front shaft now and can't fathom how you got those nuts off with the crossmember attached! Even with a wobbly I can't get a good purchase on the head of the nut! Is it possible that the previous person to work on my Rangie put the bolts through the wrong way?

The transfer case uni's on mine have about 6mm of play!

Cheers
Keithy

Bailed out by Brian! 9/16 is a better fit for those ones (fronts were 14mm??).

New uni's in and shaft back in.

Keithy

Hi

I have one of these on my shopping list

DA1119 | Propshaft bolt removal tool (usually 14.50GBP)

Steve

This thread was an interesting read. I got a really bad vibration at 65-80km/h (when not accelerating) through the steering wheel after getting new wheels on Saturday. I'll take it back to the wheel place to check it out, but if the wheels and tyres are perfect maybe going from 16" to 20" may have just emphasised an existing problem.. Then I'll take a look underneath.

Is this a common P38 problem?