Vibration under deceleration

[Legacy777]

Had something weird happen yesterday. Was on the freeway and had a pretty nasty vibration come on when I left off the accelerator. It almost felt/heard like something was clanking. When I accelerated again, it went away.

It seemed to go away, because it doesn't seem to do it....however I haven't really gone on the freeway again....

Only thing I can think of is cv axle or diff/trans.

The axles were rebuilt in 97......they should've been replaced......they have been making clicking under acceleration......I think they've just come to the point where all the inards are toast.

Any ideas/comments?

[scottzg]

I would toss the axles and get new ones and see if that fixes it. No harm.

I learned to drive (and drive stick) on ma pappy's 84 toyota pickup. Suffice to say, i was a slow learner, and by the time i was smooth 4th gear ground when moving and all gears would make a different grinding noise on decel. He replaced the tranny with a junkyard special and the problem went away.

Good luck.

[vrg3]

I agree that it's likely a drivetrain component of some type... the gear teeth push on each other differently when accelerating than when decelerating. I dunno which component it would be though.

Why do you say the CV axles should have been replaced rather than rebuilt? As far as I know, when you buy a "new" axle you're just buying a rebuilt one anyway.

If they're clicking when you accelerate (particularly when turning at low speed) then you definitely should fix that anyway, like Scott says.

Random question... next time it happens, does the sound go away or change if you coast in neutral rather than in drive?

[entirelyturbo]

vrg3, Josh was telling me that he had the joints repacked with grease when they were rebuilt... He is probably just going to replace the axles anyway with some from www.cvaxles.com. I have pretty much concluded that just buying a rebuilt axle is more economical than rebuilding one yourself. The time-savings of simply replacing parts is worth the miniscule extra price...

My axle never caused that to happen when it was bad, but who knows... If the axle swap doesn't do it, that would pretty much point right to the tranny...

[Legacy777]

I say they should've been replaced because the boots were torn, and I thought i caught it in time, but even after having them repacked they still clicked.

I'll probably be calling cvaxles.com to get new axles.

vrg3, yeah i was going throw the tranny in neutral next time to see if it still made the noise/shake. If it does, then it's either axles/diff. If it goes away.....time for new tranny.

[vrg3]

I say they should've been replaced because the boots were torn, and I thought i caught it in time, but even after having them repacked they still clicked.

Oh, jeez... They clicked immediately again?

I'll probably be calling cvaxles.com to get new axles.

Cool.

vrg3, yeah i was going throw the tranny in neutral next time to see if it still made the noise/shake. If it does, then it's either axles/diff. If it goes away.....time for new tranny.

Not necessarily... Remember that when you put it in neutral you also remove the engine braking effect, so there is much less decelerative force coming through the drivetrain. So it still could be the differential or axles.