Wobbly axle?

[luiscolorado]

Hi, everybody!

My 4-cyl automatic Camry 96 (190K) has a vibration when going over 75mph. The steering wheel doesn't vibrate, so it thought that a rear wheel was out of balance, so I took it for balancing to tire store.

They told me that the wheels were balanced, and that the vibration may be produced by the left axle. They told me that the axle fell wobbly, and the "wobbliness" came from the transmission, so they recommended me to take my car to a transmission shop.

Do you think that's right? I have a hard time imagining this "wobbliness" coming from the transmission. Do you think it may be a serious thing? Should replacing the axle solve this problem?


Thanks a bunch for your help!

Luis

[Mike Gerber]

You can check this yourself if you have a floor jack and a pair of jack stands. Jack up the front end of the car. Place jack stands securely under the front of the car. Now have someone place the car in drive and slowly increase the speed until the speed at which you feel the vibration. You will be on the ground looking at both axles to see if they are warped and causing the vibration. Just make sure the front end is securely placed on the jack stands.

Mike

[ecucio]

I would like to see what luis find out and solution to his wobbly axle. It seems I have the same problem after the mechanic replaced my passenger side axle assembly. The mechanic said it fine and should be the alignment/balance proble.

[luiscolorado]

It was a blown tire that showed me the light!

It came up that the wheel had bad damage, and replacing it with a used, but tested and balanced wheel, solved the problem. It was amazing! The mechanic wanted to charge $600 for new axle, and the problem was a damaged wheel! I don't get any more vibrations at any speed.

Luis

[timebuilder]

Very often, a blown tire is preceeded by a shifted belt in the tire. The shifted belt will cause a recurrent tramping sound at wheel frequency, every time the bad spot hits the pavement.

That's when to get the tire replaced. A good tech will recommend a new wheel when damage is significant, like it was with the old wheel you had.

[marc780]

The mechanic wanted to charge $600 for new axle, and the problem was a damaged wheel!

With all the horror stories i've heard on this site i wonder exactly what type of repair this guy would have done for that much cash. Especially if he had changed the axle and then found out he still had the problem. Most mechanics are just parts changers anymore it seems.
Example, a week ago i had two tires installed by Pep boys (yes i know ). I work in a shop with tire changing equipment so usually i just get tires carry out and put them on myself. But this time i didnt feel like doing that so, against my own better judgment i had them install the tires. Two days later i swapped the wheels left to right because of pulling and i chanced to balance the tires in the process. Sure enough, BOTH wheels were balanced wrong. So either their balancer is wrong, the mechanic was a no-nothing, or both.

More and more the auto makers are designing cars that cant be serviced by the owner. Be afraid, be very afraid.

[timebuilder]

It costs pep boys more money to have a "mechanic" mount a tire than they would like to pay.

So, they have an "installer" do it instead. An installer is not a mechanic. He is an hourly paid employee who would like to become a "mechanic," but who is an entry level guy in the garage.

There are initially only two people who check the work of an installer. One is the installer, and the other is a customer.

Someone "will" check the lug nuts on the car when the installer is done, but paradoxically, that someone can be another installer.

I have the "touring SE" tires on my car. They run just fine if you're not out to get "high performance" from a tiire.