Gerrard has recuperated from having a new water pump and cambelt fitted.. so I was looking forward to a few months of him not needing any fertling... but up the motorway the other day I noticed a slight shudder from the front, which I put down to road surface.. but it wasn't an isolated incident.

This shuddering happens around 70mph or 2000+/- rpm... It feels like a wheel imbalance but there's no vibration in the steering wheel at all .. and the beast had two new front tyres about 2000 miles ago so the wheels were balanced not that long ago.

The beast runs fine with no misfires (the shuddering otherwise might feel like a duff injector) and starts/idles/pulls well so I doubt it's an ignition or fuelling problem.

It drives without any issues/hesitation/clonks or vibrations... so I guess the gearbox and clutch are off the hook too. Engine mounts has crossed my mind but acceleration isn't clonky and idle is fine other than the regular "diesel" thing..

Any ideas/suggestions/what elses can it be? Driveshafts? Wouldn't they be trembling the steering wheel?


Ralf S.

driveshaft / CVs would have been my guess mate from what you've said.

Have you checked tyres for damage, e.g. bulges in the surface / sidewall that might have upset it?

Yes.. the front tyres were new in May and I left them on the front rather than moving them to the back as I usually do (the rear tyres were only 10 months old and 7mm of tread still). No nicks/dents or abnormalities to report.

Strangely the beast is rather better since I removed the o/s front wheel for a nose at the camshaft pulley this weekend (that looked okay) and then re-fitted it.. but I wasn't paying attention to whether I fitted the wheel in the same position. 25% chance I suppose..

So, either rotating the wheel on the hub or re-tightening the wheel nuts has helped.. but it's still there.. albeit miles better than before.

Scratching my head... even though I'm not worrying about it quite so much. I'm taking the beast to Italy in September, so it would be handy to know it's not severe/going to cause a DNF.


Ralf S.

Ralf S. said:

Yes.. the front tyres were new in May and I left them on the front rather than moving them to the back as I usually do (the rear tyres were only 10 months old and 7mm of tread still). No nicks/dents or abnormalities to report.

Strangely the beast is rather better since I removed the o/s front wheel for a nose at the camshaft pulley this weekend (that looked okay) and then re-fitted it.. but I wasn't paying attention to whether I fitted the wheel in the same position. 25% chance I suppose..

So, either rotating the wheel on the hub or re-tightening the wheel nuts has helped.. but it's still there.. albeit miles better than before.

Scratching my head... even though I'm not worrying about it quite so much. I'm taking the beast to Italy in September, so it would be handy to know it's not severe/going to cause a DNF.


Ralf S.

Click to expand...

It's possible re-seating the wheel has done the trick!

As I've got 18" alloys with spigot rings on them and pitch correction bolts (4x100 alloys and Fiats are 4x98 hubs) they can be a little bit of a git if you dont torque things up evenly and you get a very fine vibration. Not so much that you'd see but you feel it in the steering wheel and hands after a longer / faster drive.

Hmmm.....

The beast managed a pretty faultless 3000 miles run to Cassino and back.. using just 200ml of oil and averaging 52mpg despite the odd "fast" (ahem! ) motorway sections and being chock-full of salami and cheese on the way back..

The only dramas were a failed ciggie lighter (Sat-Nav therefore expired) and a return of the vibrations, particularly when driving up hill into the Alps.

The beast didn't like accelerating up slight inclines. This made the o/s (I think) wheel vibrate a fair bit, which I could stop by altering my speed slightly, or lifting off the gas.

Curiously, after stopping and giving the wheel a good shake (everything "tight".. no play anywhere), the vibrations stopped for half an hour before starting again, the same as before.

Once on the downhill/into Italy.. the beast miraculously fixed itself and was fine for the rest of my hoolidays... although on the way back, on the French asphalt and up hill around Reims, some vibes re-appeared... but not as bad as before and which stopped soon after.

What's going on? I've convinced myself the driveshaft is dodgy but it's very intermittent (it's been fine since I arrived back in the UK) and other than vibrating, it makes no knocks, whistles, clicks or bangs.. and nothing is loose.


Ralf S.

Back in the UK and the beast only gives me a slight shimmy when I go into some (usually slightly uphill) left hand curves... Any thoughts?


Ralf S.

Suspension bushes? There is only really the bottom arm bushes that would allow any movement like that....

I sorted this.

The offside spider (aka inner CV) joint had worn through one of the tripoid's flange circlips and that had allowed most of the needle roller bearings to fall out on that ring...

I recovered the bodies of about 28 rollers but the other 10-12 had been mashed into iron dust...

The ring was still on it's bearing but only half a dozen rollers had stayed in there. Still, it managed about 5000 miles from when I first noticed it, so can't be all bad..

A new spider and it's all tickety-boo.


Ralf S.