Tristin Posted April 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 Well, yesterday was uneventfully eventful. I stopped by Qtips place to swap in some rear coilovers to get a little more fancy for Nissanfest coming up. Disassembly and reassembly went pretty well with no major hiccups. This is what it looked like:Rear height before: Rear height after: Car looked awesome, I had no rubbing, and a decent amount of clearance still to drive around. I was stoked. Buttoned everything up, and took off to drive home (40mins of freeway). It did great through town, but as soon as I went over 40 to get on the freeway the whole car felt like it was going to shake itself apart. It was horrible. Long story short, Im not back to the same height and still have a little vibration at 65mph-ish. Luckily I was able to get home, but it looks like Im going to have to do something to fix this. It was pointed out that I shouldnt have had a problem that low if you look at Raphaels car. It was even lower on stock half-shalfs and did fine. I may have had some already minorly fucked shafts and the stress of being lower finally made them fail. I guess the night wasnt a complete loss... I was able to score a new set of wiper blades for the stock wipers and we realigned my hood so it wasnt so crooked. 1 Link to comment
izzo Posted April 8, 2013 Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 at least you didn't get a flat tire? Looks badass that low. PM datto510 His was super low at one point, probably still is. He had camber like that too. Idk what all mods he did, but maybe he has some insight. If you do msg him, sometimes it takes some time for him to respond as he works on a boat. Link to comment
sedition88 Posted April 8, 2013 Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 5dimer (ryan) His 4 door is pretty low too, no vibration at freeway speeds Link to comment
q-tip Posted April 8, 2013 Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 My monies would be on bad u joints in a half shaft, or both. The angle just finally did them in 2 Link to comment
spudly13 Posted April 8, 2013 Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 I wouldn't say rapheals car did fine.... the difference is he literally didn't give a fuck... I was messing with my bags on the freeway, aired out and it got a bad vibration from the back, aired back up and it went away. so my money would be on worn out half shafts as well. Link to comment
jrock4224 Posted April 8, 2013 Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 My monies would be on bad u joints in a half shaft, or both. The angle just finally did them in q tip s right.... u just hard angling a bad u joint and its saying no please dont at speed.... better just plan on fixing both up with new u joints to be safe Link to comment
Tristin Posted April 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 at least you didn't get a flat tire? Looks badass that low. PM datto510 His was super low at one point, probably still is. He had camber like that too. Idk what all mods he did, but maybe he has some insight. If you do msg him, sometimes it takes some time for him to respond as he works on a boat. Yeah at least it wasnt another flat. I will say that a snapped half shaft would be pretty bad though haha 5dimer (ryan) His 4 door is pretty low too, no vibration at freeway speeds Ill check out his thread and see what hes doing. My monies would be on bad u joints in a half shaft, or both. The angle just finally did them in Yeah, like we talked about Im sure it is. I wouldn't say rapheals car did fine.... the difference is he literally didn't give a fuck... I was messing with my bags on the freeway, aired out and it got a bad vibration from the back, aired back up and it went away. so my money would be on worn out half shafts as well. Well, this isnt even something you can just say, "fuck it!" with... its nowhere near ignorable. I can understand you just overlooking a little vibration, but the car literally feels like its going to be shaken apart at speeds over 35/40mph. If you ever plan on driving anywhere over school zone speeds, theres zero way to just not care. I dont even think the diehards would do it. Its bad. Im at the point now after raising it up a bit that the vibration is at the "fuck it!" level so Im looking around at my rebuild options. q tip s right.... u just hard angling a bad u joint and its saying no please dont at speed.... better just plan on fixing both up with new u joints to be safe Yeah, I agree. Ill probably just rebuild both of them and see if that fixes them. I wish I had a second good set to swap in to make sure that was the issue. 1 Link to comment
jrock4224 Posted April 8, 2013 Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 yeah the last part ......spares would make it easier to fix and still drive Link to comment
Tristin Posted April 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 yeah the last part ......spares would make it easier to fix and still drive Q offered up a set that needs a rebuild so at least I can have those done and still drive the car in the mean time. Id also like to just find a set of known good ones, go back to the low height like I want, and see if the vibration is still there. If it isnt, then I know its the half-shafts. If it is, then its something else (or I just ruining another set of half-shafts) Link to comment
Draker Posted April 8, 2013 Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 Do you have the plastic surround/finisher radio piece? I want to find one that is already modded for a DIN head unit. I'd rather not hack the one I've got up. It's in perfect shape. Link to comment
Tristin Posted April 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 Do you have the plastic surround/finisher radio piece? I want to find one that is already modded for a DIN head unit. I'd rather not hack the one I've got up. It's in perfect shape. Yes I already have one, but its unmodified. Link to comment
Draker Posted April 8, 2013 Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 Cool. I'd hate to modify the piece.. I'll put it on my shopping list. Link to comment
Tristin Posted April 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 Yeah they are decently rare. Most just threw it away when they installed radios or hacked them up over the years. Hard to just find one floating around. 1 Link to comment
Laecaon Posted April 9, 2013 Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 Just replace them. Truck guys often have issues with lowering. The Ujoints get so used to operating in a specific spot for so long, and then you move them out of the comfort zone. New Ujoints should fix it fine. I replaced my Ujoints in my garage, with 2 sockets and a 4lb hammer. Link to comment
Tristin Posted April 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 Just replace them. Truck guys often have issues with lowering. The Ujoints get so used to operating in a specific spot for so long, and then you move them out of the comfort zone. New Ujoints should fix it fine. I replaced my Ujoints in my garage, with 2 sockets and a 4lb hammer. So you recommend that I dont fully rebuild the shafts?- just install new u-joints? Link to comment
Tristin Posted April 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 After a little searching it looks like Ill just do the u-joints myself. Here is a good how-to Ill be following: http://www.turbophile.com/technical/uni_joints.html I was going to use MOOG/PRECISION Part #391 for the u-joints. Should I do all four at the same time?- are the inside joints the same as the outside one? Link to comment
anth Posted April 9, 2013 Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 When I first lowered my car on coilovers I had the same issue, so I changed to CV joints. I think the u-joints just don't like operating at such an extreme angle. If you can rebuilt a set for cheap I'd definitely give that a shot first before exploring more expensive avenues. Link to comment
Tristin Posted April 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 When I first lowered my car on coilovers I had the same issue, so I changed to CV joints. I think the u-joints just don't like operating at such an extreme angle. If you can rebuilt a set for cheap I'd definitely give that a shot first before exploring more expensive avenues. Yeah, it looks like its about $40US to replace all the u-joints. I would like to go CV, but I dont have the cash to drop on the conversion. I know it can be pricey and Id like to do an LSD with the upgrade as well... CVs are a for sure thing in the future though. I know they will support the angle much better. Link to comment
q-tip Posted April 9, 2013 Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 Don't know about others experiences but i had a really hard time replacing the u joints in my half shafts, and I was using a fully tooled shop. When a u joint it stuffed into its home and has been there for 40 years it doesn't cone out without a fight. And the new ones don't want to go back in Link to comment
Laecaon Posted April 9, 2013 Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 So get the other pair from q-tip and rebuild those? I went to napa for my U-joints, just asked for the brand that was made in Japan. Course I changed the ones in my Driveshaft. Link to comment
Tristin Posted April 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 So get the other pair from q-tip and rebuild those? I went to napa for my U-joints, just asked for the brand that was made in Japan. Course I changed the ones in my Driveshaft. I will be rebuilding those. I meant known good so that I could eliminate bad u-joints. Q already offered up his set to keep me driving; hes a swell guy. I was going to pick them up from Rock Auto but may try to source them locally then. Link to comment
jrock4224 Posted April 10, 2013 Report Share Posted April 10, 2013 Just replace them. Truck guys often have issues with lowering. The Ujoints get so used to operating in a specific spot for so long, and then you move them out of the comfort zone. New Ujoints should fix it fine. I replaced my Ujoints in my garage, with 2 sockets and a 4lb hammer. yeah i had this and im a truck guy... . think there was a z how to somewhere...same procedure.. Link to comment
q-tip Posted April 10, 2013 Report Share Posted April 10, 2013 We had to cut the old ones out and actually bent one end of the shaft pressing the new a one in. Some are more difficult than others, I always seem to get the worst of the bunch. Link to comment
Tristin Posted April 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2013 Well Im hoping to pick up new u-joints tomorrow and install them this weekend. Hopefully it goes a little smoother than having to cut them out... Link to comment
jrock4224 Posted April 10, 2013 Report Share Posted April 10, 2013 We had to cut the old ones out and actually bent one end of the shaft pressing the new a one in. Some are more difficult than others, I always seem to get the worst of the bunch. can aggree with u more.... the two on my 520 drive shaft ... one took 2.5 hours to get out the second one only took 1.5 Link to comment
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