Shudder after front suspension rebuild?

[Kitheme]

I've lurked in the forum here for a long time now and posted once in blue moon, always trying to read through others' posts for solutions first. However, I'm not sure that what I've read regarding my current situation applies.

I recently replaced my front brakes, rotors, lower control arms, ball joints, and end links. The car drove fine afterward, but I parked it for two weeks as I had to order new struts and they were backordered at the time. I've just finished replacing the struts this evening and took the car on a test drive, which at first went fine. There is a windy stretch just down the street from my house, which the car went through well, and I was feeling pretty good about the work that I had done.

However, after stopping at a light and making a right turn, all of a sudden I felt a shudder from the front right upon acceleration. I took the on-ramp to the highway as planned, thinking that the shudder was a random occurrence. Yet, the shudder persisted during acceleration through the rest of the drive home. When coasting there was no problem, and the engine accelerated smoothly in neutral while I was stopped.

Reading through the forum, I see that many people have had issues with ignition coils misfiring or front axles failing. But I have replaced all of my ignition coils over the last two years, and I don't see how the first part of my drive could have gone so well if the passenger side front axle was bad. There was no shudder from the car whatsoever as I accelerated out of my neighborhood and along the windy patch, and it didn't begin until after I made that right turn after coming to a complete stop at the light.

So, what could it be? I'm going to take the wheel off in the morning to check for looseness in any of the fasteners. The only item I haven't replaced on the passenger front that I know I need to is the inner tie rod (and I already fixed the driver's side), but how could that have so suddenly affected the ride? Could one of the CV joints have failed that quickly, during a drive? Any assistance would be appreciated!

- Kitheme

[GearheadNY.com]

Kind of funny that your experience is sounding a little like mine. I wound up experiencing this after replacing the lower control arms, breaking an axle boots on both sides, replacing the passenger axle and repairing the boot on the driver axle before I had this issue. I get the feeling that it has to do with the axle, but then again it could be something as simple as mounts for the engine/drivetrain. I'll be replacing the passenger axle a third time (because it had a defective boot on it this last time and is pissing grease everywhere) and then repairing the engine/transmission mounts. I'll let you know what I find.

[The Landshark]

It sounds like an inner cv problem, if so shudder should be markedly worse when at full power.

[GearheadNY.com]

It sounds like an inner cv problem, if so shudder should be markedly worse when at full power.

That's what I was thinking, but the $10,000 question is what side. I thought mine was related to the passenger axle, but after 3 replacement axles (Not OEM) I have to wonder if my drivers side one is the problem child now.

[The Landshark]

I had a problem with an inner joint binding on a vw 1.9tdi, i used aftermarket driveshafts(all four joints were gone), the shafts were about 2mm too long and caused the inner joints to run against the back of their sockets when suspension was running with the shafts level, load up the car and the vibration went away as the shafts lengthened when the suspension sagged. it was easy to feel it turning the shaft by hand with the car on axle stands. installed oe, proper length(I swapped the joints to the old shaft) shafts and the fault was sorted. Maybe this is what has happened to yours.

[ocean 506]

Kitheme,
Did you pull the wheels and recheck for proper torque on all fasteners? I did a halfshaft swap prior to a trip and had a similar experience. I found a loose ball joint nut. Could have sworn I checked it...

[Kitheme]

After replacing the lower control arms, ball joints, and end links, I had to drive the XC about 35mi on the highway back to my house. Probably not the smartest thing to do without an alignment first, but at the time the car ran smoothly and without this shuddering. Only after replacing the struts has this problem occurred. To me this excludes these original items, as they haven't been touched since the original replacement.

I opened up the front passenger wheel and checked all fasteners. Slightly tweaked the angle of camber via the upper bolt at the strut tower, as before replacing anything I was getting a lot of wear on the outside of my tires. As a result the shuddering has lessened, but is still noticeable.

I wonder if the stiffness of the new struts has put more stress on the front axles, putting more pressure on them and making any misalignment/prior problem worse? After taking them out, I was able to move the old strut pistons by hand without resistance.

One thing I did notice is that I definitely have to replace the inner tie rod. However, unlike the driver's side, for some reason I can't get the passenger's outer tie rod off. Although I loosened the retaining nut, my wrench has rounded off the hold point of the inner rod as I attempted to turn the outer rod via the flats built-in. Vise-grip chews through and spins as well. Tried PB Blast and a rubber mallet, but no luck. Any ideas or tricks on how to get it off?

- Kitheme

[kevin740]

I am having the same shudder problem after replacing my front end coil springs, spring seats, struts, strut mounts, and inner and outer tie rods. I thought it might have been way out of alignment, but after taking it to the alignment shop, the problem persisted, though it was not as bad. I plan to check all of the fasteners tonight, but I have a feeling they aren't the problem.

What's stumped me is why the shudder only developed after doing all this work. I will be checking the control arm bushings, but my CV joints are relatively new - they shouldn't have worn that much yet, and the shuddering is not worse at full power. I find it worst when accelerating right from stopped. I will check the engine mounts and axle tonight as well, but I was wondering if anyone thinks it could be a tire balancing issue?

Kitheme, if you haven't already got the tie rod off, I used a pipe wrench and it seemed to grip better than the vice-grips.

[Kitheme]

Finally got back under the XC this weekend. As I need to get an alignment done anyway after replacing so many suspension bits and found a remanufactured passenger front axle locally for $55, I decided to go ahead and swap it out. To make a long story short, after replacing the axle and making sure every fastener was tightened to spec the car is now running smoothly down the road.

Not sure how the axle could've failed so suddenly while driving, other than the stress of the new components pushing on it differently. However, having it laid out in my driveway, there was a decent amount of play in the inner CV joint and the grease was pretty much gone. I don't think I would've known for sure without completely removing the axle. Wasn't too difficult, either. kevin740, when and where did you get yours from? I've read that the new Chinese axles crap out on people pretty quickly, while the remans do well.

Thanks to everyone for the assistance! I still never got that tie rod out, but will have to look at getting a smaller pipe wrench to fit between the inner and outer and get back at it.

- Kitheme

[2002V70XC]

remanufactured for $55? thats cheap! mine was rebuilt for $250AUD/side including labour for removal and installation.
I used this tie rod tool: http://www.amazon.com/CTA-Tools-4014-Inner-Tool/dp/B005OH0JHI
And I think it does the job fine no problem.