My 2008 awd torrent has developed a vibration upon accelerating. If I get up to 20-30mph and coast it still vibrates. I’ve tried to press brake and gas at 40-50mph and it does not change. I inspected rear driveshaft and carrier bearing is tight. No slop to really feel. I’ve put car into neutral at 50mph and tach goes to idle and still it vibrates. Vibration sort of comes and goes. Sometimes I don’t feel it coasting but usually I do. Inner cv joints on axles? Trans mount?
I had vibration 2 months ago and got new tires and vibration is the same. Old tires whined. Seemed smooth on road but noisy. Had nice even wear
I got a 08 equinox recently to fix. Rides perfect. Smooth. Maybe I could swap tires as test? Different wheels. And tires.
First suspect is one or more of the wheels/tires are badly out of round or balance; second suspect, the driveshaft, especially the carrier bearing. If I had this problem and was pretty certain the wheels/tires were ok, and no obvious play in any of the drive shaft u-joints, I’d try diddling the carrier bearing adjustment, see if that makes any difference. If uncertain about wheels/tires, first test is to lift the car & manually turn each wheels, looking for any obvious up/down or side to side tread-area movement. Installing known good tire/wheels makes sense as an experiment, but seems like a lot of work.
Is there a way to easily turn off the lock-mode on the torque converter? If so, seems worth doing the experiment. Do you have a sense where the vibration is coming from, front vs rear, right vs left?
I would start looking at the rear diff assembly mounting bushings, pinion bearing play (or whatever it’s called back there lol) and basically the entire AWD driveline…
At least you eliminated a wheel/tire issue, and a TCC chatter when pressed the gas and brakes at 40-50mph…
The rubber donut was in pieces on a previous equinox I had. This torrent bearing assy is nice and tight. No sloppy motion at all. Or maybe my definition of looseness is too loose?
Not real sure how the AWD works on your vehicle, but if it will still pull/drive with out the rear driveshaft in place (not slipping) then you might try removing the driveshaft to see if the vibration is still there or not… Just a thought… A lot easier to find problems when you can drive and inspect the vehicle yourself… lol
Make sure that the trans/transfer case flange/yoke as well as the rear diff AWD Coupling flange/yoke has no play/bearing movement…
See if you can find a driveshaft shop and have it checked out, could be bent a little or the joint is binding a little, or just out of balance…
Also make sure the engine/trans mounts are all good and not sagging causing any kind of shaft angle issues… Try to rock the rear diff up/down to make sure the pinion angle is not changing causing the vibration…
Check and make sure the rear cv axle joints are not loose/bad…
I replaced a carrier bearing on a previous equinox and it started whining in 6 months. I have gotten used driveshafts and had good luck. Our yard wants $35 for them. Car part has them in the $250 range. And up. I see them for 250, 350, 500. Used.
Rig drove fine this summer with noisy Goodyear tires. 2016 date code. I got 2022 tires in sept and vibration started soon after. I took out driveshaft and I think it rides almost as smooth. But not quite. I’d like awd but don’t really expect to find a used good driveshaft at pic n pull. They always seem to be gone at yard.
Took out driveshaft and vibration is gone. The rear u-joint has a little notchiness when you flex it. Not like it’s seized but I can feel something a bit off. The u-joint is staked. No clips. Been told it is not serviceable.
Remember the old GM U-joints caps were held in place by a plastic injection by the factory that you had to torch to remove the u-joints, may be a way to remove the staked u-joint and replace it… I would (if not already) find a driveshaft shop and ask them… There are even some online, don’t know if any will service it but worth a call…
Or if AWD is not needed, leave the shaft out and don’t worry about it… wouldn’t be the 1st time I have done it or seen it done… lol
