A Vibration To Call My Own

[Warner Bigend]

I\'ve recently discovered I pick up a bit of a vibration at 45 or so and
over (until a couple of weeks ago the car was simply undriveable at
those speeds!). I know the exhaust is hitting/ resting on the subframe
as the mount is missing (anyone got one cheap?) and the whole system
isn\'t fitted properly (like front box hitting u/j, everything mounted
too far forwards) but I\'m not convinced it\'s just that.<br>
<br>
So today, while the back was on stands to do ther handbrake, I thought
I\'d grease the driveshaft u/j\'s. Which would be fine but I don\'t seem
to have any nipples! <img> The trouble is
the car has basically been neglected mechanically for at least the last
5 years (previous owner never changed the oil, ran on lethal tyres, so
what\'re the chances of other service areas being maintained?) so
there\'s every chance my bad vibrations are down to neglect more than
failure.<br>
<br>
So, where on earth ore the grease nipples? I\'ve looked between the
yokes on teh driveshafts, where the pic in my manual calims they should
be, and there\'s just no sign!<br>
<br>
Also, where should I be looking for the diff filler, and what should I
be putting in there (same goes for gearbox)? Want to do everything that
requires going under the car in one go as I don\'t like having something
quite so big and heavy resting on a couple of stands inches from my
delicate features...<br>
<br>
<br>

<edited><editID>Warner Bigend</editID><editDate>38663.7705555556</editDate></edited>

[Brian]

Hello
you probably have sealed for life u/js with no grease nipples (so called maintenance free). Looking from the front of the car, the diff filler is on the left hand side of the diff, about halfway up and the gearbox filler is on the right hand side, about halfway up. Use GL4 gearoil in the gearbox, preferably EP90 but I can only find EP80/90 (which seems fine) and the same in the diff. I am told that GL5 is ok in the diff but NOT the gearbox as it eats the bronze.

[Warner Bigend]

Ahh, so such things exist and I\'m not being blind then? That\'s good and
bad - Good I haven\'t lost the plot, bad because I think they\'d benefit
greatly from greasing. And the drums are rusted to the hubs so the
already frightening prospect of removing the drive shafts doesn\'t get
any better...<br>
<br>
I thought there was some problem with modern EP, when I asked in the
local motor factors they reckoned anything they had should be fine.
Looks like I was right now to be convinced, thanks I might as well
get GL4 in either 90 or 80/90 flavour then as I want to be able to top
the box and diff up without worrying about grabbing the right bottle
before entering the murky underworld below the car <br>

[Dion]

You can make out if the exhaust rattles through the rear subframe quite
easy: when revving the engine if stationairy and it make a kind of a
rumble in the upper revs.<br>
Took me some weeks to find that...!<br>
<br>
The vibration had me off the streets for weeks too - as described in
another topic. Main culprit proved to be the propshaft not in balance.<br>
<br>
Oh, and the diff plug is easily overlooked from beneath the car as there is a horizontal ridge just below it.<br>
<br>
Dion<br>

[Warner Bigend]

My engine/ car makes rumbles from all over the place all of the time!
But the exhaust is definately resting on the rear subframe a great deal
of the time, it was hard against it when I was under doing the
handbrake cable, and it has a tendency to rub/ rattle round corners
under power. It\'s all not helped by the whole system being misaligned
though.<br>
<br>
I can\'t be sure if this rumble has always been there - This car has
turned out to be a bit of a lemon so there\'s been plenty of noises,
rattles and knocks that may well have been hiding other noises, rattles
and knocks. But I\'ve never noticed it until recently, which is why I
wondered if it\'s more of a u/j issue as I can\'t really see how the prop
would be balanced one day, and not the next.<br>
<br>
Got to see if liberal amounts of fresh grease has taken out the play in
the rack (if not then it may well be pinion damper, so I\'ll have a
crack at adjusting that before buying a new rack), give all the
suspension a quick check, do the usual pre-MOT going over then try the
impossible of MOTing it for another 12 months. When that\'s done I\'ll be
able to go at it at a slower pace, meaning I can save up and do things
properly over time, instead of the miserly half measures I\'m having to
take at the moment.<br>
<br>
I think I\'ll start with getting the exhaust mount and alignment sorted
out, then start thinking about u/j\'s. That\'s if the clutch release
holds together that long (slight problem being I don\'t feel like taking
the box off, and one of the crossmember studs is no longer captive...).<br>
<br>
I\'ll keep looking back at your thread though for pointers as I go along, some useful tips on there <br>

[Dion]

[QUOTE=Warner Bigend]But I\'ve never noticed it until recently, which is why I wondered if it\'s more of a u/j issue as I can\'t really see how the prop would be balanced one day, and not the next.[/QUOTE]
I agree to that, but...
Thinking that maybe the propshaft on my car was not in balance, I exchanged it to another s/h one (condition unknown). I argued that it the possibility that both would be not in balance would be very unlikely. Echanging the shaft resulted in no improvements, so I spent weeks&nbsp;on searching for another reason.
In the end I had a shaft balanced, and that resulted in more or less vibration-free running!
Dion&nbsp;