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Weird Noise And Vibration When In 4Wd


Thunderbolt
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I get a a weird noise and feel some vibration when in 4WD and under load(like going up a hill) but when lift off the gas, it's go away or put it into 2wd. :wtf: I'm thinking that the CV axles are shot, even thou the boots aren't torn and I have warn hubs, so I usually don't lock, expect when wheel en or driving in the snow. Any idea would be great and another thing is she has 168000 miles on her now.

 

David

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I have the very same thing of my 2001. My cv's are brand new... I have found out that my ujoints in the front are shot. This is where the vibration comes from. One way to know for sure for you would be to simply remove your front driveshaft and see how the ujoints work... if they are stiff and seem like stuck (like mine were), you can give them some life back by hitting the end cap with a hammer. This will loosen them up a bit until you change them.

 

I have already done a few research on the parts and i'm gonna try spicer. (there is spicer,precision,neapco and oem nissan)

 

the spicer part number you are looking would be 5-153x for the front (x2) and 5-1505x for the rear (x2) (if the ones on the rear driveshaft are shot too)... They cost about 1/3rd of the oem nissan I will will give them a try...Also, the spicer have a zirk fitting for lubrication , which nissan ones do not ..

 

 

**update** : Spicer ujoint listed here are not the good ones. I ended up going with neapco : NEAPCO 1-449 for the front (which are greaseable) and the higher end 1-0029BF Brute Force series for the back. See complete story here : http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=25609&st=0&p=481906&hl=neapco&fromsearch=1entry481906

S.

Edited by fleurys
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  • 9 months later...

I want thank Steve for the part # for the U joints. Last weekend I finally replace the u joint on her and still have the same problem,wtf.jpg I'm thinking either it's the transmission mount and possibly the motor mount might part of it or something is broke in the front differential. This problem only happens in 4wd under load at any speeds and go away when letting of the accelertor.

 

David

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the sound youre talking about sounds very familiar. i too have a vibration where the whole truck shakes. for me it only happens in R, D 2 and 1, and is only when i am not moving and am on the brakes. i too think this is an engine mount. it was hard to tell, but i checked the transmission mount and it seemed to be fine. now the problem is changing the engine mounts, because i don't know how!

 

the way i look at it in your case is, if the engine is under a lot of load it causes it to work harder, meaning it is more prone to vibration if it is not secured properly. a bad engine mount would cause the vibration. someone correct me if i am wrong...

Edited by exit34rocker1017
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Hey David, I know we just talked about this on the phone the other day, but thought I'd chime in just to have more information all in one thread (and that we now have a similar setup).

 

During our snow a few weeks ago, I put it in Auto/AWD (for the first time since installing the SFD) and had a weird noise from what sounded like the back somewhere. It only happened when I was turning sharp and accelerating from a complete stop. I didn't feel/hear it when I took it out of Auto and back in to 2Hi.

 

Between then and now, I have put on larger tires and added just under 2" of lift to the back springs. I put it in 4Hi yesterday morning (snow/ice) just to see what would happen. I no longer heard/felt a noise from the back, now I heard/felt vibration when turning and accelerating from a stop from what sounded like the front. I took it out of 4Hi in the afternoon and ran Auto and didn't hear/feel anything like what I had heard just a few weeks ago. The roads where I was driving were extremely slick (2WD cars had trouble leaving my neighborhood) so I don't think it was just a binding issue.

 

Next real snow (like 1-2 feet) I'm going to leave it in 4Hi for a while and see if I can repeat it.

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I say remove your halfshaft 1 at a time (so that always one makes your driveshaft turn) and have a test run if you feel the vibration is coming from the front.... If it shakes only at load, then I doubt it's the motor mounts or trans mount... the halfshaft test is easy to do and takes not a lot of time..

 

or else, how's your rear ujoints doing... did you replace all of your ujoints or just the front..?

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Ok.. I have a brand new CV axles on one side and swap the other side with mine spare, because the orignal one boot need to be replace . I've broken an axle on the trail before and recommend having a spare and the are sementrical. I havent replace the rear one's yet, planning on it in the very near future. Replacing the motor mounts wouldn't be that hard, loosen the sfd motor mount bolts to the brackets and then put a block of wood on a jack and put it under the oil pan(block of wood to protect the oil pan) and lift it until you can remove the brackets and get the rest of the motor mounts.

 

David

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I'm on the same page with a vibration when in 4WD. Coming back from Breckenridge after a baller day of skiing, I put it in 4hi for the short trip through some wet mountain roads. Under acceleration there was quite a vibration, when I let off it was gone. After I put it in 2 it was gone. That being said however, I do have some lesser vibration at 50 and again around 70-80 whenever I drive it in 2WD. I assumed off the bat it was worn U-joints in the driveshaft, and I think this may be the root of the cause. My alignment *seems* fairly straight with no significant pulling or uneven tire wear. BTW I am running on stock tire size and stock (albiet worn) suspension.

 

Any suggestions? I don't mean to take from your thread *Thunderbolt, however it is along the same lines so I hoped to get some answers here. Thanks everyone! And I hope your problem gets solved soon too man!

Edited by Boosted
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I'm on the same page with a vibration when in 4WD. Coming back from Breckenridge after a baller day of skiing, I put it in HI for the short trip through some wet mountain roads. Under acceleration there was quite a vibration, when I let off it was gone. After I put it in 2 it was gone. That being said however, I do have some lesser vibration at 50 and again around 70-80 whenever I drive it in 2WD. I assumed off the bat it was worn U-joints in the driveshaft, and I think this may be the root of the cause. My alignment *seems* fairly straight with no significant pulling or uneven tire wear. BTW I am running on stock tire size and stock (albiet worn) suspension.

 

Any suggestions? I don't mean to take from your thread *Thunderbolt, however it is along the same lines so I hoped to get some answers here. Thanks everyone! And I hope your problem gets solved soon too man!

 

I would try replacing the U joints, that seems to fix most people problems, this weekend a buddy and I will see if we can figure out what is going on with my truck and when that's figure out, I'll definitely let everybody know. I also see that you also live in Colorado, need come up here sometime and do some Wheeling. Some time in the near future we go to China Wall that is near Woodland area, I'll let you know when that happens.

 

David

Edited by Thunderbolt
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  • 4 months later...

Finally after all this time with the vibration.. it ended up be the motor mounts. My driver side came apart in 2 pieces and I still need to replace the passenger side. But so far back to normal.

 

David :jig:

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i think for the most part its just the extreme angle the CV is at. And under load, it vibrates like crazy. I noticed after my lift, in 4wd even at half throttle it vibrates pretty good. Now im not saying i dont have a bad motor mount, im sure i do, but the CV seems like a bigger culprit.

 

I have a buddy who owned a '07 Ram Big Horn Edition and it was stock. Sat up pretty high for stock. If he put it in 4wd and put the hammer down (anywhere between 1/2 and full throttle), it felt like the front of the truck was going to fall off...Turns out it was the front CV's, when he hit the gas, the front of the truck would lift, changing the CV angle from 15degrees to approximately 30degrees (i think thats what he said). AT least something of this nature.

 

And none of this would happen when he was in 2wd.

 

just thought id mention that story...

Edited by Phantom01Pathfinder
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Mine does it in 2wd with the hubs unlocked.....

hmm...tires not balanced properly? does your steering wheel shake back and forth alot at highway speeds or do u just feel vibrations through the wheel? hope that sentence makes sense, cuz it just doesnt sound right...

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My tires are wayy out of balance at the moment but new tires are in the future so I may as well just let em do what they want no big issue to me. But the humm seems to be coming from the rear. I think it may be a ujoint but I just have not had the time to drop the shaft and check.

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Another item to inspect is the input bearing in the front differential.

 

Grab the front drive shaft, and push up and down on it to check for movement in the flange of the diff.

 

Minimal movement is ok, excessive movement is not.

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