installed LCA's now I have a vibration

JDwhite98gt

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Ok so I bought and installed some used Hotchkis LCA's and the ride feels absolutely great also accounted to the upgrade of tokico blues. Anyway I now have a pretty good vibration above maybe 50 mph or so. I dont know if its just a coincidence or not but it feels like maybe the U joints? I have a clunk going into reverse and when I take my foot off and on the throttle quickly in gear at highway speeds. The vibration is mainly felt in my seat and on the floor when my foot is resting on the floorboard. Also I have no idea if i installed my swaybar correctly...I mounted it to the outside of the brackets ( or on the side that faces the tire) it was a really tight fit, so should it be mounted to the inside ( or the side of the control arm bracket that faces the posi)?
 
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JDwhite98gt

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yes i understand that and it was expected but this is a pretty serious vibration. it almost feels as though my wheels/tires are rubbing on something but i have checked twice both on and off the ground once on ramps and once on jackstands. My wheels are not touching anything and it also feels as though its harder for my car to accelerate on the highway like its dragging or im towing a trailer. Maybe its my rear...i have yet to check it but, cant bad u joints cause this sensation?
 

Paul

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Did you mark the driveshaft and make sure it reinstalled the same way it came off? Sometimes just having them "clocked" differently can make the car vibrate all weird. I had this happen once. I kept rotating the driveshaft and re-bolting it. That fixed it. Weird? Yes. But it worked.
 

NERD

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JDwhite98gt said:
yes i understand that and it was expected but this is a pretty serious vibration. it almost feels as though my wheels/tires are rubbing on something but i have checked twice both on and off the ground once on ramps and once on jackstands. My wheels are not touching anything and it also feels as though its harder for my car to accelerate on the highway like its dragging or im towing a trailer. Maybe its my rear...i have yet to check it but, cant bad u joints cause this sensation?

Do you feel it in the seat or the steering wheel?
 

duff daddy

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Also depending on the type of lower control arm, you could have changed the pinion angle alot thus causing the driveshaft u-joints to wear in a differnt style/angle and then cause that vibration.
 
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JDwhite98gt

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ok never took off my driveshaft. I used to have adjustable uppers that are now off so maybe they wore the u joints funny and now i feel the vibration. The lowers that i just put on are non adjustable boxed with poly bushings on both sides. I think that u joints are inexpensive so i might just throw them on there and see what happens
 

cntchds

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I would never throw a new driveshaft on without having it balanced. Might as well just put new u-joints on and have it balanced.
 
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JDwhite98gt

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ok guys, just for the record..I felt the vibration after installing lower control arms, I never touched the driveshaft once. Anyways, lol, I went back to my alignment mechanic to have it rechecked since his newbie fucked it up. I told him about the vibration and we checked the driveshaft together. The problem that we found was the flange on the rearend is loose and it wiggles slightly. Now I might be wrong but thats the pinion flange right? So since it had play, the mechanic says lets unbolt the driveshaft and crank down on the bolt a little. He said not too much because of the crush sleeve behind it. For those of u gung-ho on driveshafts...we DID mark it lol. Ok so i take it on a test drive and on deceleration it now sounds like a jeep wrangler, making a whirring sound as soon as a take my foot off the gas and coast to a stop but ONLY while coasting not during normal driving. I asked him about this and he said yea unfortunately it sound as if the bearing is going bad and I might need a full rebuild and to try and drive it for another hundred or so miles and see if it wears down a little more and sounds better. what do u guys think?
 

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