Help! Is it a transmission or a drive axle problem?

[Phaedrus]

Drive Axles or the Transmission -Help, Input Needed!
Hello all,
My '97 with 181,000 miles has a strange new problem. The steering wheel is shaking like a serverly unbalanced tire or bent rim from speeds of 30 MPH up. Its more pronounced from 30 to 40 than it is from 60-70.
Obviously my first thought was bad tires. So, new tires went on it. That didn't fix the problem. In fact, I spent a lot of time with the tire guys making sure the balance was perfect (they use the Hunter roadforce balancer 9700). We then tried two new tires anyways and that didn't improve the situation. So, to make it clear, the tires have been ruled out.

We then thought it was a bad CV joints/drive axle. Given that this car was supposed to take a 500 mile trip this week, we decided to let PEP Boys look at the drive axles this morning. (We wouldn't normally go to them, but they had both sides on the shelf and said they could do the work today).

They looked at it for 10 minutes and came back and said nope, its the transmission. They said I'm feeling the power transfered back and forth from wheel to wheel... Now they weren't trying to scam me because they don't do transmission work and sent me on my way...

I've never heard of a transmission failing like this. Has anyone else? Does anybody else have the opinion that PEP Boys got it wrong? This car has had the tranny flushed regularly, and it shifts as smooth as butter. No slippage, no grinding, no outward signs of problems what so ever. The rack is good, as are the ball joints, and tie rods are all solid, and it has a good alignment. It does this in both Drive and Neutral while coasting down the road... -Just a severe steering wheel vibration / shimmy at slower speeds.

Does anybody have any input or ideas. I'm going to take it to the dealer tomorrow to see what they have to say, but I wanted the groups insight into this first.

Thanks,
~Jon

[marc780]

I'd get another diagnosis! IMO many of the mechanics at Pep Boys are idiots. I think it could be any of the following: warped rotors, bent cv drive axle shaft, worn out hub bearing, bent wheels, worn out front end parts.

Re Pep boys, they are by and large just parts changers; they will often try to sell you things you dont need; and alot of times the work isnt done right there. They installed an alternator once on my 0ld 85 Nissan 200 sx. And the alt burned up because they put one on with the wrong size pulley and so you couldnt tighten the belt right. Furthermore they stripped out the clamp bolt hole doing it. If that were the only thing they ever messed up for me i would give them the benefit of the doubt like i did the first couple times but now I no longer take my cars there if they need work.

[Klutch]

Originally Posted by marc780

I'd get another diagnosis! IMO many of the mechanics at Pep Boys are idiots. I think it could be any of the following: warped rotors, bent cv drive axle shaft, worn out hub bearing, bent wheels, worn out front end parts.

Re Pep boys, they are by and large just parts changers; they will often try to sell you things you dont need; and alot of times the work isnt done right there. They installed an alternator once on my 0ld 85 Nissan 200 sx. And the alt burned up because they put one on with the wrong size pulley and so you couldnt tighten the belt right. Furthermore they stripped out the clamp bolt hole doing it. If that were the only thing they ever messed up for me i would give them the benefit of the doubt like i did the first couple times but now I no longer take my cars there if they need work.

Any "shop" is a coin flip because it all depends on the mechanic. That being said the better mechanics are probably working at the higher paying jobs. Personally I'd take it to the dealer and don't mention what's already been ruled out and see what they say. Diag shouldn't run too much.

Additionally I'd put the rear wheels/tires on the front and front on the back and see if there is a difference. Might be a wheel that the balancer didn't catch. Hit any pot holes lately?

[Phaedrus]

Thanks for the input. Yeah, I have the same opinion on PEP Boys, but they were open on Sunday and had the parts in stock.

We tried rotating the tires, heck the tire shop even unmounted all the tires and check/balanced each wheel by itself.

I have however done the brakes recently With all genuine Toyota parts, (pads and rotors). Stopping seems smooth as silk. Heck, I just went out there with a dial indicator and checked runout. That seems good, so for the moment I'm going to rule out brakes.

I'll let the dealership have at it tomorrow...

~Jon