Q: I have a third-gen Camaro with a rebuilt 305. I can’t drive over 80 miles-per-hour without the whole car shaking. I have tried different brands and widths of wheels and tires, but nothing has helped. I am stumped at this point—what should I be looking for?
M.K. • Darien, GA
A: We suggest checking the following things:
- Look for dents or missing weights on the driveshaft. Have it checked for straightness and proper balance.
- Check for bent rear axles.
- Check the engine mounts and transmission mounts to see if the rubber parts have cracked or are missing. If they are, replace them with new mounts—Energy Suspension polyurethane mounts are ideal performance replacements.
- If the driveshaft and mounts are OK, look for a damaged flexplate, torque converter, or transmission input and output shafts. Make sure the harmonic damper is the correct one for the engine, too.
Well, while we don’t know where the shaking is coming from, we can suspect the front end alignment. take a close look at your suspension components, like all bushings. Summit Racing offers a full line of suspension and steering performance parts for your Camaro. Bob.
While I personally never had this problem with a car shaking at 80+ mph. Certainly, the answer about the Drive Shaft, Rear Axle & Engine Mounts etc makes sense. As is April Masters comment about checking the Front End Alignment etc is valid. I am reminded of a story from when I was GM of Toscalito Enterprises, we owned & operated 6 Goodyear Tire & Service center’s. Back in the early 1990’s I was road testing a customer’s C4 Corvette, his complaint was that at 70+ mph he experienced some “shake” in the front end. The speed limit at that time on the Freeways was 60 mph. I was pulled over by the CHP for speeding. Ironically, the CHP office was my next door neighbore & customer(s) so I knew the officer. When I explained to him what I was doing driving over the speed limit, he applauded my efforts to pin-point the problem. However, his answer to the customer was this; He shouldn’t be driving over the speed limit anyway! And, with Infineon Raceway just some 20 miles away he might try driving there some weekend for his high speed pleasure. At the time I found this a funny situation to be in.
Driveshaft seems like likeliest culprit–if it has a flange on one end, and was dropped during the rebuild, there might be a booger which prevents it from seating correctly. Used to live in Crescent; didn’t know a 305 could do over 80! Car looks good, though.
simplest thing to do first is replace your U-joints…then look into the above suggestions
70 mph is the high speed lol
Did it shake before, if it didn’t reinstall the driveshaft 180
I had a 69 Charger that had the same issue at 90+ mph. So much so that if you let off the throttle fully, it would break the tail shaft housing on the trans. It turned out to be worn pinion bearings and too much gear slop. replaced all the bearings in the differential and the car ran smooth up beyond 140mph.
mine was pinion bearing
Also check brake drums/disks and suspension mounts and bushings. It could be something simple and easy to fix. I had a car that drove me nuts until I checked the suspension, turned out the bushings on the suspension were dry rotted and under enough stress (re: speeds over 70 mph) would cause heavy vibration.
You might also want to check your underarms make sure it doesn’t move up and down. JK steering linkages to make sure there’s no play. Check your front wheel bearings make sure there’s no play up and down left and right. Check your lower front a arm bushings. Cherokee rear drag link bushings. And check and make sure that your axles aren’t getting a groove worn into them from the rear axle bearings. And check your torque arm bushing it’s big metal plate runs from the rear end to the transmission
Idlerarm not underarm
Son las terminales de la dirección, reemplacelas y verá
Try a different road…
And keep it between the lines..
How about wheel alignment and wheel balance?
Be comprehensive- check all mounts and bushings, wheels rotors drums driveshaft 4 wheel alignment frame for collision damage or corrosion internal transmission differential crankshaft damper
springs and saddles
High speed wheel and tire balancing
i’ve had this problem when braking at speeds greater than 50. check axle mounts
Years ago I had a 70 impala that developed a bad vibration I checked everything tires wheels drive shaft went on for sometime it would buzz all the windows I was still trying to find the problem when the water pump started leaking fixed it and took it for a test ride and at the m magiic RPM guess what it was gone the
Water pump shaft was causing the problem and the pump didn’t leak for a while after it developed the problem
Same thing happened on a trip to AZ ,! Tire company tried to fix it , then took it to another shop , the guy come out about 20 min. later and tells one tire on the front was separated ,moved it to the back ,drove home at normal I90 speeds not a thing wrong ! Went and got 2 new tires , solved !!!