Front end shakes between 25 and 45 mph.

[jspisz1]

Hello all,

The vehicle is a 1996 Voyager Rallye with a 3.3L and FWD. I have been having an ongoing problem with this shake and I am about at my wits end. It only occurs while I am accelerating, when I take my foot of the gas it stops. I have basically replaced everything in the front end except for the struts and the transmission. The half shafts are both brand new as well as the wheel bearings, inner and outer tie rod attachments, trans and motor mounts, brakes pads and rotors. Yet the shake still persists. I can really feel it under my feet in the floor. Please help so I can get this car back on the road, my wife is sucking up the gas in the suburban and it's killin me.

thanks

John

[ByronP]

My 97 was doing the same thing. Just before the transmission grenaded. I also had checked everything on the front end and could not find the problem. In hindsight I think it was the transmission getting ready to go. You might want a transmission shop or dealer have a look at it. If you find the problem do let us know.
ByronP
p.s. transmissions are expensive

[jspisz1]

I've also noticed that both of my sway bar endlinks have a bend to them, I can't imagine that this is normal. Would this happen because of the struts and springs being worn? I would hope the transmission is okay. It only has about 60k on it. I have a feeling it's going to end up going to a dealer and you know what they are gonna try and get out of me.

[jspisz1]

bump

[hecksterz]

Stupid question John-did you check to see if your wheels are balanced? Sorry but sounds like that to me from what you mentioned. Of course as we all know the dodge trannys suck and they often do weird things with all kinds of vibrations when going bad.
Good Luck! Hecksterz

[jspisz1]

All of the wheels are basically brand new and have been balance since I started feeling the shake with no change unfortunately in the vehicle. I actually made the stupid mistake of taking the van into the dealer on Monday and after charging be 2 hours of labor ($156.00 rediculous) There conclusion was that the passenger side half shaft looks to be the wrong one. I personally know it is the correct one as I took the old one out and compared the two before I bought the new one and even called and verified with the parts store after being told this. Besides, the shake was happening when the old one was in the vehicle too. What a huge waste of time. I will never take my vehicle to a dealer for a repair again. Anyways, anybody possibly have anymore input on this.

Thanks

[hecksterz]

I would suggest you find a good reasonable mechanic -that has seen a lot of dodges-lord knows they are a mechanics dream. Nodoubt about it dealers suck when it comes to mechanics/body work/and most importantly price.

[lakeman]

What size wheels are you running? What brand of tire? My 96 3.0 Sport has the same shake only mine is at 50 - 53 mph. I had the tire rebalanced and it had no effect. I'm thinking the tires have to much runout or are out of round. I haven't done much to it as I'm wanting to change to 15 or 16 inch wheels.

[jspisz1]

I'm running BFG's on 15 inch rims. I've had them balance and rotated since having the issues and still no changes though. I'm starting to wonder if I got a bum halfshaft from the parts store.

[Lui340]

Originally Posted by jspisz1

I'm running BFG's on 15 inch rims. I've had them balance and rotated since having the issues and still no changes though. I'm starting to wonder if I got a bum halfshaft from the parts store.

Listen I `ve got a 96 with 3.3L, it does the same thing ,but if you really accelerate fast it won`t vibrate, try that. I know I have one or maybe both C.V. joints worn out,this could be the reason, or its the T.C. locking mechanism. My advice is to drive it untill it gets worse, though i think we`r gonna have tolive with it,

[scuba4321]

I had an older one 1993, did the same replaced tires and it stopped.

[Cobra_Sam]

Originally Posted by scuba4321

I had an older one 1993, did the same replaced tires and it stopped.

It is difficult to jack a car up and crawl underneath to check if anything is worn or comming loose because it is all spring loaded to take the weight of the car, don't rule out a bad strut/shock and to check the rest of the suspention you could put the front of the car on stands, have someone start the car, put it in gear and let it run. Then you look under the car to see if you can see what gives when the car vibrates.

[jspisz1]

Is it actually possible that a strut could cause such a drastic side to side shake to the front of the van? I know they need to be replaced, I just don't want to put the money into it until i know what the shake is for sure.

[chigger_ns]

I read some where else that tis is aa known thing that happens before the tranny Gives out! Be Aware!!!!

[jspisz1]

Well,

After some heavy complaining from the wife(she's really good at that). the dealer knocked the price down and promised to take a closer look the following day. Oh ya but they forgot to do that, when I called to see what they thought. So what would any man with a wife like mine do. I sent her to pick it up. When she arrived back at the house without the van and told me they were keeping it over the weekend to really dig into it, to figure out the problem, I couldn't believe it. Anyways, from what they tell me after the weekend is that it has a blown out motor mount and trans mount which is causing the engine to tilt to one side, which is putting a large amount of load on the CV joint of the halfshaft causing the bad shake. I was also told they would repair it without charging me for the labor of looking for the problems, which I would assume to be about 4 to 6 hours of time, including all the other issues I had them looking into. So, I should find out today how everything goes with the mount changout. I sure hope it works out. Thanks for all your help.