I did the cv bucket swap and my cars vibration didn’t change. One of the buckets had one wear/pitting spot on on face of the bucket. Oddly, the other 2 contact points in the cv bucket were smooth. Also, the other bucket had no signs of wear. The “worn” bucket face is oriented so the bearing will only contact it on deceleration.
Any ideas on what else could be the issue. The shudder seems to be the most pronounced in fourth and fifth.

 

is it a shudder during acceleration or when cruising?

I'm no mechanic but maybe its either your diff mounts or your motor mounts? I could be totally wrong though.

 

Thanks for the reply. Shakes only on above medium acceleration. Symptoms are identical to worn cv cups. The 6 cv cup bearing seemed fine as well. Perhaps there is wear I cannot see or fee.

 

I just recently did the CV swap but have not had to drive the car yet since the car is in winter storage. One of my concerns AFTER doing the swap, and having the chance to look at everything, was the fact that the halfshaft axles are balanced units. Doing the CV swap, you are essentially ruining the balancing of the halfshaft. Especially with pitting on one CV joint, the balance is of course thrown off. You may get it right, you may not.

With how short the axle radius is, especially in comparison to a wheel, I don't think most people should notice anything and I'm not saying this is the case for you either. I believe the yokes are the next culprits to look at, but just something to keep in consideration as you move on down the checklist.

 

One factor that has me confused is the fact that it shakes more in fourth. Maybe harmonics, maybe that’s where the max torque is loading based on the greasing? I may buy a used set of axles and swap out those buckets (passenger side to divers and visa versus).

 

I don't believe the cups are individually balanced. I've swapped cups, removed them from other axles to swap on to my old axles and run spacers etc all with positive results. Swapping cups and adding spacers (which is my next suggestion here to OP to troubleshoot) doesn't seem to negatively effect anything, but rather either of these methods is the common go to fix for this vibration symptom under throttle.

 

If you can find a low mile set sure, otherwise as mentioned id shoot for getting the spacers to further pull the cups out of the wear path for troubleshooting. If you do this, be sure and get the spacers which come in 2 pieces so you don't have to entirely remove the cups again to install, but rather just back out the bolts enough to slip them in. The kit should come with longer studs though. I think Megan makes them - been a long time though since I got mine and don't fully recall. Who ever makes the two piece currently though is what you want.

 

OP...was your tripod loose on the spline?

I've seen an axle where the tripod itself was not firmly pressed to the spline. It was able to easily slide back/forth (obviously only until it touched the C clip).

 

Thans

I should have mentioned that I do already have the spacers.
I didn’t see any circlips and I’m afraid I don’t fully understand the tripod ring loose check.
My guess is they the issue is still
the CV cups and /or bearings. I’ll check the driveshaft and output bearings, but if they are good I’ll swap my axles and cups for low mile units. If this is the problem there should be at least some tangible change.

 

Loose tripod: