Help needed with vibration at 65 mph !!!

[redkat]

Hi All,

Ive joined the Landcruiser club out of desperation as the local garages are just costing me a fortune and no-one can seem to diagnose my problem.

I have a 1998 UK landcruiser 90 3.0 Diesel auto GS 188k. Its been my daily driver for the last 6 years and has always been outstandingly reliable. When the car reaches 65mph the whole car starts to shudder/vibrate. So far I have had the tyres checked and re-balanced, two mechanics have road tested it and they seem to think its coming from an unblanced propshaft but no-one can be sure without throwing lots of money at diagnosis. Ive bought a set of wheel bearings as I thought it might be that but the mechancis say they dont think its that. Any thoughts would be appreciated. I also think the car has a quiet constant whine. The only thing i can liken it to is when i was a boy and my Dads old metro used to make that sound lol

 

[MarkW]

Might be worth removing the prop shaft and taking it for a drive. If vibrations have gone you’ve found your problem.

You’ll need to stick in HL

 

[redkat]

Might be worth removing the prop shaft and taking it for a drive. If vibrations have gone you’ve found your problem.

You’ll need to stick in HL

That makes sense as the garage replaced the Universal joint a few months ago. I didnt have the problem before that

 

[StarCruiser]

Maybe they’ve either misaligned the splines or poorly fitted the UJ (I don’t know if this is even possible).
The UJs HAVE to be ‘in phase’ otherwise vibration and other issues can occur. My guess is they only undid one end and separated the shaft at the splines to replace the UJ on the bench. I believe the 90s have a ‘double cardan’ Joint on the rear prop but not on the front. This takes away the need for the joints to be in phase iirc. So, was it the front shaft, front UJ?

 

[Chris]

That would certainly make sense.

 

[stumog]

Speed limit is 70mph crack on a bit

 

[flint]

Handy video re phasing: