x5sd e70 Driveline vbration around 20 mph

[Leslie]

Have just had the prop centre bearing changed due to a banging at low speed and its was toast but I still have a drive line vibration that I can now feel that seems worst at 20 mph then disappears or is greatly reduced by 30 ish mph . Its a bit annoying or even worrying what is going to break next Its also had a transfer box brace that holds it in due to rot and a new bush in the casing recently .

I'm trying to thing what it could be , I would hope the mechanic checked the guibo but it is maybe on the way out now too , I will ask him when I next see him. All tyres the same and good and its at quite low speed much lower then wheel imbalance , had a rear diff a couple of years ago and it just whinned depending on roadspeed not vibrated .

Old x5 Ownership becoming a pain! wonder if anybody had a similar issue ?

[X5Sport]

One question. Did the mechanic reconnect the two parts of the driveshaft in exactly the same position as they were? The shaft is balanced as a single assembly with the centre bearing. It has to be split to remove the centre bearing and both halves must be rejoined in exactly the same orientation. If they weren’t then the balance will be off.

[Leslie]

Yea he always makes sure to do that as he had said it to me before , i'm guessing the rumble was there already but masked by the centre bearing knocking quite a bit at the same sort of low speed It does seem to be a prop type problem though the more I think about it so will need inspecting more closely

[marti]

One question. Did the mechanic reconnect the two parts of the driveshaft in exactly the same position as they were? The shaft is balanced as a single assembly with the centre bearing. It has to be split to remove the centre bearing and both halves must be rejoined in exactly the same orientation. If they weren’t then the balance will be off.

Excellent reply....so many workshops get this little thing wrong

[Leslie]

Getting the guibo changed at the end of the month if that's not it not sure where we go then My mechanic did say he noticed a few small cracks but otherwise it looked fine.

[marti]

Leslie, If there's a few cracks its toast basically the rubber has gone hard.

[Leslie]

Leslie, If there's a few cracks its toast basically the rubber has gone hard.

I hope that it as spend out too much in injectors to be scrapping it just yet I did do some slow full lock circles in a carpark to see if it was shunting which you can get if the transfer box is on the way out but it seemed fine. The vibration does sound quite heavy at times though but a diff with shot bearings would be rough all the time , It does appear at higher speeds now too but not consistently but the way vibration transmits through the shell its hard too tell but with your arm on the centre console you can feel it. I want the transfer box oil changed too as its right at the guibo so same work only as I have a transfer box oil wear code for some time.