Shake, rattle and roll (Now with pics)
progress
Wagonist
Hi again.
Whenever I drive 40 MPH, I get a shaking and rattling in my wagon's rear end. It gets progressively worse as I get closer to 60 MPH and intolerable once I hit 80 MPH. At that speed it seems like I'm going to be ejected from my seat and the wagon will disintegrate into a million pieces.
Is this a worn down bushing issue? Or is it an alignment issue? I know it isn't the front end shaking as the steering wheel stays straight when I let it go. Or is it some whole other issue altogether?
All I know is if I were a woman, I would love to be driving my car at 70 MPH!
Whenever I drive 40 MPH, I get a shaking and rattling in my wagon's rear end. It gets progressively worse as I get closer to 60 MPH and intolerable once I hit 80 MPH. At that speed it seems like I'm going to be ejected from my seat and the wagon will disintegrate into a million pieces.
Is this a worn down bushing issue? Or is it an alignment issue? I know it isn't the front end shaking as the steering wheel stays straight when I let it go. Or is it some whole other issue altogether?
All I know is if I were a woman, I would love to be driving my car at 70 MPH!
Comments
it could be your wheels need to be balanced. my friend once hit a curb and put a hell of a dent in the steelie and when ever we hit higher speeds it would literally bounce up and down... thats prolly not your issue but its worth checking.
does your steering wheel shake at all? it could be an alignment issue, if it was the rear though the steering wheels wouldnt shake. maybe you have screwed up toe in the rear...
and if it was a worn bushing in the rear it would prolly shake a lot as well since the moving parts would have extra travel and sliding space.
out of all these its prolly the bushing. anyways. good luck.
Second thing to check is if the wheel is bent... especially the back part. It doesn't take much to bend/dent the back lip on a honda steely. I drove really slow for two blocks on a flat tire, and my wheel got bent back there.
Third thing would be tire/wheel balance.
And having not looked under the car yet, other than in the parking lot, how would I go about fixing the diff mount(s)?
Looks like I might not be able to make the HCW Philly meet this Sat. BOOO!!!!
You should be able to put it in 2wd and remove the driveshaft, diff, and rear axles and drive it. It might prematurely destroy your rear wheel bearings, but otherwise shouldn't cause any problems.
Thanks! Do you have part numbers or a link to the page on hondaautomotiveparts.com where I can find the mounts? For the life of me I couldn't find it anywhere. I must be blind!
Passenger's side:
Driver's side:
Ghetto fix to get the car home:
Now, once I get the mounts for the diff., how easy/hard will it be to install them? Take into consideration I have no access to a lift, just some ramps, jacks and jackstands. What other tools will be needed aside from sockets and stuff?
If anyone has done this before, would it be possible to get a write up?
Thanks!
good luck dude.
Thanks wagodizzle. Should I have a plan of attack? How are they bolted up anyways? Threaded bolts to the bod/frame or bolts and nuts? Or both?
my first plan of attack would be to clean out the area as best as you can with WD-40. then locate the bolts and/or nuts.
most anything on our cars is pretty straight forward.
So, what are my options? Seems to me I will need to have new metal welded to a: fix the hole and b: have something for the mount to bolt onto. Or can I have someone fab up a bar that the rear diff can bolt up to directly? Kind of like the way epictuning.com mounted their rear diff on their civic hatch with 4WD as shown below.
Either way, I think to get this wagon back on the road I will ned to have some welding done. Damn. Wish I could weld.
Thanks for helping out!
I would say that you should replace that section of the floorpan area or take out the rwd part and drive it in 2wd all the time.
We were also thinking of temporarily using threaded battery hold down bolts and a metal strap and strapping up the broken rear diff. mount so it sits in it's original spot. It would be similar to the way the gas tank is strapped up. In fact one of the holes we would be using is the same rear hole that the gas tank strap uses.
Maybe if I took pictures of my hot coworkers, more people would respond...
Oh well, we'll hopefully figure out what we're going to do this weekend.
Thanks to those who responded.
I prefer to call it "Macguyverism". I'm guessing that's why it was sold to me at such a great deal! But hey, I got what I paid for. Even with all the problems I've had since buying it, it isn't the garbage car my wife and sister say it is.
:evil: BAD idea.Too much torque.A better idea is to switch it out of the 4WD mode from in the engine compartment.There's a posting about this on here somewhere.This way you don't need to remove any of the 4WD drive parts.
8) I like your Dad's idea.
Ya, the more I think about it, the more better it seems. I guess I was worried about sullying up my interior but it will most likely be covered up anyways.
I've read that thread before about putting it into 2 wheel drive. If I do that for now or until we can drill the body, won't it ruin my rear diff and the axles since the diff is basically hanging by 2 of the 3 mounts? What if I were to do my idea with the battery hold down bolts AND turn off the 4WD? That way the driveshaft isn't resting on the exhaust and the diff isn't just hanging there.
With the 4WD is disconnected.You could try your battery holddown idea since the Torque probs gone..
Here are the bolts and backing plate protruding from the trunk area:
Here's a shot underneath where the bolts and another metal plate are holding the mount to the body.
Now, I turned off the 4WD as I was a bit scared as to how the repair would handle any torque from 4WD. It seems pretty solid after dring 92 miles to work this morning. Do you think tuning the 4WD back on will have a negative effect on the repair? Thanks for looking!
i guess the only way to know if the 4WD can handle it is to take it for a test drive.... be easy at first
If you're referring to the metal that rusted out there was still a lot left. I'm not worried about the metal flexing. The hole was about as large as the hole when you touch your pointer finger and thumb together, maybe a fraction larger.