seems odd that it wobbles with no vibration.
I would almost take a step back and look at it from a few possibility's.
1. Wheel appears to wobble, most wheels can be balanced out to take car of vibration from a warped rim. It may have 4 lbs of weight in it but they can be balanced out.
(so, warped wheel is still a contender for the wobble that you see and in an effect...can be rubbing something to make this mysterious chirping sound.
2. Your axles are leaking. This could be the result of a bad install. Bearings could have been damaged when they were pressed on to the shafts. May not be in the right location on the shaft. A lot of things could have happened here to cause that problem.......If, you would have had no previous symptomless before and you had only changed the bearings because of bad bearings and then they started leaking. However, that's not the case...but, I still wouldn't rule it out.
3. twisted shafts or bad shafts. This very well could still be the problem. Good way to find out is to take the shaft out and and use a straight edge to check and see if the axle is bent. I would also remove the wheel, rotors and brake calipers from the axles while the car is on jackstand's and see if you notice "run out" on the hub.
4. Bad axel housing. Only way I know to check this is with a bore gauge. If you don’t know what Micrometers and a bore gauge is…best to skip trying to check it.
5. My next thought...is one I haven't seen in some time but...it is a real contender for what may be the issue.
Your bearings could have been going bad on the axle shaft. Caused wear on the axle shaft bearing surface. That wear (missing material) on the axle shaft allowed the old bearing to get in a "bind". Effectively "cocking" the bearing in the bearing race....not allowing it to leak out of the ends of your axle housing. Would also account for a low speed chirp.
You replaced the old bearings with new ones. Effectively...allowing the bearing to run true again...thus allowing the gear oil to leak out of the ends.
I haven't seen two axles do this at the same time. Usually just one or the other. Also, if the axle shaft had wear on it in the area that the bearing rides....someone should have caught that when the new bearing was pressed on...Unless your dad pressed them on, he may not have known what to look for. Also, did your dad have them pressed on or did he give the "ol' heev ohh on the bench vise"
Everyone that has looked at your car is right. Bent axles will cause a lot of drivetrain vibration because it is causing the wheel to "run out" and no amount of tire balance can compensate for that. Bad axle bearings usually don't cause too much vibration because at a high enough speed where you would feel it....its pretty much just forced to spin and the axel runs true. Same case with an axle that has worn down where the bearing is. At low speed it will skip along and chirp. At high speed its pretty much forced to spin…either in the bearing or its going to spin on the shaft. One of the two will happen. Usually can't tell from vibration alone for either unless it has gotten really sever and your about to have axles shot out the side of your car.
My advice is to back up. Start over and look at everything as being an independent problem. Then put the clues together and see if it adds up to one diagnostic. But first….I would resolve the leak. This may have nothing to do with your previous issue and could be something that you had induced to the problem.
Check run out of the hub without a wheel of rotor and calipers on it. After that, I would pull the axles back out. Take them to a driveline shop. One that may specialize in driveshaft’s balancing and axles to have them checked for run out and let the use Micrometers to check the diameter of the bearing surface.
Have new bearings pressed on. I would not recommend doing this at home!
Or….suck it up and order a set of new axles from strange or moser that already has bearings pressed on them……also can just replace with a set of OEM spec…Junkyard…so forth and so on.
I would almost take a step back and look at it from a few possibility's.
1. Wheel appears to wobble, most wheels can be balanced out to take car of vibration from a warped rim. It may have 4 lbs of weight in it but they can be balanced out.
(so, warped wheel is still a contender for the wobble that you see and in an effect...can be rubbing something to make this mysterious chirping sound.
2. Your axles are leaking. This could be the result of a bad install. Bearings could have been damaged when they were pressed on to the shafts. May not be in the right location on the shaft. A lot of things could have happened here to cause that problem.......If, you would have had no previous symptomless before and you had only changed the bearings because of bad bearings and then they started leaking. However, that's not the case...but, I still wouldn't rule it out.
3. twisted shafts or bad shafts. This very well could still be the problem. Good way to find out is to take the shaft out and and use a straight edge to check and see if the axle is bent. I would also remove the wheel, rotors and brake calipers from the axles while the car is on jackstand's and see if you notice "run out" on the hub.
4. Bad axel housing. Only way I know to check this is with a bore gauge. If you don’t know what Micrometers and a bore gauge is…best to skip trying to check it.
5. My next thought...is one I haven't seen in some time but...it is a real contender for what may be the issue.
Your bearings could have been going bad on the axle shaft. Caused wear on the axle shaft bearing surface. That wear (missing material) on the axle shaft allowed the old bearing to get in a "bind". Effectively "cocking" the bearing in the bearing race....not allowing it to leak out of the ends of your axle housing. Would also account for a low speed chirp.
You replaced the old bearings with new ones. Effectively...allowing the bearing to run true again...thus allowing the gear oil to leak out of the ends.
I haven't seen two axles do this at the same time. Usually just one or the other. Also, if the axle shaft had wear on it in the area that the bearing rides....someone should have caught that when the new bearing was pressed on...Unless your dad pressed them on, he may not have known what to look for. Also, did your dad have them pressed on or did he give the "ol' heev ohh on the bench vise"
Everyone that has looked at your car is right. Bent axles will cause a lot of drivetrain vibration because it is causing the wheel to "run out" and no amount of tire balance can compensate for that. Bad axle bearings usually don't cause too much vibration because at a high enough speed where you would feel it....its pretty much just forced to spin and the axel runs true. Same case with an axle that has worn down where the bearing is. At low speed it will skip along and chirp. At high speed its pretty much forced to spin…either in the bearing or its going to spin on the shaft. One of the two will happen. Usually can't tell from vibration alone for either unless it has gotten really sever and your about to have axles shot out the side of your car.
My advice is to back up. Start over and look at everything as being an independent problem. Then put the clues together and see if it adds up to one diagnostic. But first….I would resolve the leak. This may have nothing to do with your previous issue and could be something that you had induced to the problem.
Check run out of the hub without a wheel of rotor and calipers on it. After that, I would pull the axles back out. Take them to a driveline shop. One that may specialize in driveshaft’s balancing and axles to have them checked for run out and let the use Micrometers to check the diameter of the bearing surface.
Have new bearings pressed on. I would not recommend doing this at home!
Or….suck it up and order a set of new axles from strange or moser that already has bearings pressed on them……also can just replace with a set of OEM spec…Junkyard…so forth and so on.
