2000 Maxima SE automatic

i just replaced both the driver side and Passenger side CV Axle Shaft Assemblies, and now i'm getting wheel shimmy on the passenger side. i put the car up with jack stands on the control arms, then put it in drive. The Driver side wheel spun freely, but the Passenger side just sat there. When i pushed the gas peddle down the passenger side engaged and started to spin. when the car is being driven, i start to get the shimmy around 20mph and continues throughout all speeds. when i had the car up on stands it sharted to shimmy at 60mph.

i've got 2 NEW(not referbished) EMPI complete CV axles(installed 1 week ago)new hub and bearing in passenger sidenew isolator caps on both sidesnew tokico struts on both sidesrew STILLEN 13" slotted and drilled rotors and pads on both sideswith 6 years on 4 piston AP Racing calipersnew strut boots on both sidesnew control arm on passenger side(installed around 6 months ago)

i'm not too familiar with TRANNY'S but, i'm praying that its not the Tranny. It feels as tho the wheel sticks a little, almost like the bearing is too tight. I don't know much about FWD limited slip Diff's either.

could it be one of the new axles i just installed??

i just uploaded the video onto YOUTUBE for this problem, and will link the video once it gets approved. until then(a few hours maybe) any help??

driver side EMPI axle installed:

passengerside EMPI axle installed:
Modified by lightsout at 12:16 AM 10/2/2008

U have lsd?

Sounds like a pretty decent upgrade. I have a few questions if you are the one who installed it.

Did you match the old and new driveshafts?

Are either of the new rotors blue or have signs of heat checking?

When the wheels are lifted do both wheels spin freely? Or at least in comparison to each other.

Do you notice a pull when braking?

Have you checked the tie rod ends of general play in the wheels, when they are raised?

kzoosho wrote:U have lsd?

^^^+1, that's what they're supposed to do. you'll see if you ever get stuck in snow...come up north for that i guess

kzoosho wrote:U have lsd?

I wish! lol

SteveTheTech wrote:Sounds like a pretty decent upgrade. I have a few questions if you are the one who installed it.

1 Did you match the old and new driveshafts?

2 Are either of the new rotors blue or have signs of heat checking?

3 When the wheels are lifted do both wheels spin freely? Or at least in comparison to each other.

4 Do you notice a pull when braking?

5 Have you checked the tie rod ends of general play in the wheels, when they are raised?

1 yes i did match the new drivshafts and they matched perfectly. the Manual tranny driver side axle has a longer input shaft by .25" than the auto. the passenger side axles are the same for the auto and manual.

2 no signs of heat cracking or overheating(blue) they are nearly new. i purchased them on 5/17/08 up at the STILLEN!

3 when the wheels are lifted and the car is in drive, only the driver side wheel spins freely. I put my hand on the passenger wheel, and it felt as though it wanted to spin, but something was keeping it back. this is demonstrated in the below YOUTUBE.COM link.

4 when braking the car pulls to the right a little

5 yes, but i will check again first thing in the morning b/c if that's the problem i'll have time to fix it before i'm off to school in the afternoon.

this is the clip of the problem on youtube. you cant actually see the SHIMMY, but i hope the clip helps

the abs light going on is normal when doing what i did b/c the rear tires were stationary...so i'm not worried about that b/c it already went off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7OLxF-PsyY

i edited the 1st post, so read it again if you already have.

thanks everyone

allensteiner wrote:
^^^+1, that's what they're supposed to do. you'll see if you ever get stuck in snow...come up north for that i guess

haha...i know that is what LSD is supposed to do, i built my own Dune Truck with richmond gears and PG LSD(check my profile for a pic of my truck if you wish), but the shimmy and shake is NOT normal for ANY LSD.

do max's have LSD? i called my parts guru, Warren, over an Mossy Nissan and asked him to run my VIN to see if my car came with LSD, he said that nothing was said in the computer about LSD, so he would assume not. but i don't know.
Modified by lightsout at 12:55 AM 10/2/2008

If u dont have lsd then wats going on is normal for an open diff setup. I suspect that your tires are just out of balance and you really didnt pay attention to them. Also check for play in your wheel bearings also. FYI the 2001 AE edition does have lsd but the rest of us us people with max's have the good ole peg leg.

kzoosho wrote:If u dont have lsd then wats going on is normal for an open diff setup. I suspect that your tires are just out of balance and you really didnt pay attention to them. Also check for play in your wheel bearings also. FYI the 2001 AE edition does have lsd but the rest of us us people with max's have the good ole peg leg.

thanks kzoosho.

i just had the tires balanced about 3 weeks ago, but i am in need of new ones. im suspecting the tie rod ends, b/c the hub and bearing is new.

i'll be back

so i had my GF come over and sit in the car while it was on stands and accelerate the car while i watched the passenger side rim...and HOLY CRAP that tire is OUT OF WACK. the rim and brake rotor run smooth, but the tire seems as tho is has a baaaad bump in the tread. the tie rod ends seem like they have no wear on them at all, so i don't think i'll mess with those.

camber kit install in the morningon to discount tire for new front tiresthen over to TrueLine for the alignment$$$ out the wazoo, o well.

i think that should solve it...if not, i'll be back

lightsout wrote:so i had my GF come over and sit in the car while it was on stands and accelerate the car while i watched the passenger side rim...and HOLY CRAP that tire is OUT OF WACK. the rim and brake rotor run smooth, but the tire seems as tho is has a baaaad bump in the tread. the tie rod ends seem like they have no wear on them at all, so i don't think i'll mess with those.

camber kit install in the morningon to discount tire for new front tiresthen over to TrueLine for the alignment$$$ out the wazoo, o well.

i think that should solve it...if not, i'll be back

There ya go man.

ok....sooooo.....it wasnt the tire 'completely'.

after i installed the EMPI Axle Shafts is when i started getting the bad wobble/shimmy when driving forward. I got new Yokohama YK520's for the front, and love 'em.

BUT i was still getting the shake...SO, i removed the AP RACING 13" rotors and calipers, and went back to stock thinking that maybe i didn't brake in the rotors perfectly. That was not the case AT ALL, because I still have the shimmy.

i've come to the conclusion that it MUST be the EMPI Axle Shaft Assembly, there is no other logical option in my mind, but what is your mind telling you?

i feel like i could explode

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmXbVpPtCT8

this is the link for the VIDEO of the axle. i uploaded it at 3:37 pacific standard time, and it may not be ready for a few minutes or so.

i put the car up on stands with the jack stands on the control arms so it was at ride height. put the car in drive, and had my GF apply a little throttle at the pedal. the axle shaft assembly is warped, it wobbles quite a bit, and it makes a ticking sound as if the joint inside is messed up. I am 100% sure it's warped b/c i put my hand on it(with a mechanic glove on) and felt it wobble...then i felt the area closest to the Speed sensor, and no wobble there.

In conclusion, the axle is defective.

time to call the company i purchased it from and see if an exchange is possible

http://www.drivewire.com is awesome. They are sending out a new axle today, and it will be here tomorrow. I just need to remove the passenger axle and ship it back in the same box, and that should only cost about 15 bucks with USPS!!

they are very customer friendly which helped b/c i had to cool down before i called 'em b/c i was but once everything worked out i was like

you know what they say, "s**t happens"

i HATE it when parts companies make mistakes as big as this one.

i ordered the replacement axle...they charged my card on file...they shipped it out the next day...it arrived the day after that...i opened the undamaged brown box, then opened the mangled and taped up EMPI box to find that the axle they sent me was USED AND BROKEN IN NEARLY 2 PIECES...of course i tried to call my bank to put a stop hold on the payment b/c i am pissed, but it wont work until i contact the Drivewire on Monday morning.

OMFGosh, i am sooooo pissed at Drivewire. Now my car is out of commission until probably tuesday or later.

this is what they sent me....it is obviously NOT NEW, and was in a previously opened box that was slapped back together, then shipped to me. The joint in this pic is about to pop out, the CV boot metal tie is missing, the hub bolt is missing, and the dust shield is very bent out of shape.

BUMP...i'm back AGAIN :-(

I was able to get a Cardone Axle Shaft assembly from Kragen Auto Parts, and install it without any problems. However the shimmy is still there when i accelerate, but it shakes a lot less now :-).

i've replaced:

--New Genuine NISMO Rims from Rays Engineering in Japan--New Yokohama 245/40/18--New front passenger side hub and bearing--crank sensor(thinking maybe the crank was warped, but it's not)--cam sensor(thinking that the cams were off causing the engine to run wrong, bu it's not)--both Axle Shaft Assemblies(it helped quite a bit!)--both 13" Stillen Rotors slotted and drilled rotors(this helped too)--all brake pads front and rear(this helped too)front and rear struts upgraded to Tokico blues in front and Illuminas in rear(not much change--both front strut isolator caps(didn't change a thing)--all 4 strut boots and dampers.(didn't change a thing)--i swapped the rotors and calipers back to the original for a little while, but before i installed them i had the rotors turned so they were smooth..this helped for a little while but the shimmy came back after about a week. --lastly i took out the Automatic Transmission and pulled apart the tranny to check the diff bearings, and they look brand new...i didn't go too far into the tranny b/c I'm not a tranny person at all, so i don't know if the shimmy is coming from another component inside the transmission.

i don't drive too hard on my brakes at all, so in my mind they shouldn't be warping...i believe its somthing more serious.

The only thing i can think of is the ABS system is not fully functional, and causes the brakes to shimmy when braking and accelerating.

if you have ANY thoughts PLEASE post them b/c i'm running out of ideas.


Modified by lightsout at 6:33 PM 2/15/2009

Well, you can easily test your ABS theory by pulling your ABS fuse. If the car's behavior doesn't change, it's probably not the ABS.

Often, when ABS misbehaves, you can feel pulsing through the brake pedal and even hear the abs system operating.

Thanks MinisterofDOOM!!

should i pull both fuses b/c there are 2...and i can just run the car in park, or can i drive it too? lastly, will the abs light go off after i put the fuses back in?

You can still drive it, you just won't have ABS (, so just keep that in mind when braking in crappier conditions. And, yeah, the light should go back off after you replace the fuse. You may need to drive around a bit or reset the computer, but you shouldn't have to.

My Q actually has the ABS fuse pulled right now because I prefer not having ABS in ice and snow.

And yes, I'd pull both fuses if there are two.

Oh, and removing the ABS fuse will probably disable TCS, too, just so you're aware.

thanks so much, i'm gonna try it right now

weeeelll, that didn't seem to change anything, which is a good thing i guess now i don't have to fix that :-/

however after all the repairs and upgrades, i don't know what is causing the shimmy problem...

im about ready to strip ALL the performance parts off the car and sell off the car for what i owe on it :-( ....maybe look at a low mileage 2003 Maxima and swap over all the parts, and maybe put my black interior in the new max too...i want a silver, or pearl 6speed manual!!

That sucks, man.

sorry to hear about all your axel problems. i'v had a few myself with rebuilt axels. huge pain in the ***. goto raxels.com and talk to randy. he's a great guy to work with, amazing quality axels and a lifetime warranty. 100% new CVs. i'll never buy another stock replacement axel from anywhere else.

lightsout wrote:2000 Maxima SE automatic

i just replaced both the driver side and Passenger side CV Axle Shaft Assemblies, and now i'm getting wheel shimmy on the passenger side. i put the car up with jack stands on the control arms, then put it in drive. The Driver side wheel spun freely, but the Passenger side just sat there. When i pushed the gas peddle down the passenger side engaged and started to spin. when the car is being driven, i start to get the shimmy around 20mph and continues throughout all speeds. when i had the car up on stands it sharted to shimmy at 60mph.

i've got 2 NEW(not referbished) EMPI complete CV axles(installed 1 week ago)new hub and bearing in passenger sidenew isolator caps on both sidesnew tokico struts on both sidesrew STILLEN 13" slotted and drilled rotors and pads on both sideswith 6 years on 4 piston AP Racing calipersnew strut boots on both sidesnew control arm on passenger side(installed around 6 months ago)

i'm not too familiar with TRANNY'S but, i'm praying that its not the Tranny. It feels as tho the wheel sticks a little, almost like the bearing is too tight. I don't know much about FWD limited slip Diff's either.

could it be one of the new axles i just installed??

i just uploaded the video onto YOUTUBE for this problem, and will link the video once it gets approved. until then(a few hours maybe) any help??

driver side EMPI axle installed:

passengerside EMPI axle installed:

Modified by lightsout at 12:16 AM 10/2/2008

the new axles that i installed aren't rebuilt, they are newly manufactured, but i've stilll got this problem... :-(

Yesterday I swapped out the the brakes back to the stock brakes, but installed brand new Stock Rotors...no change at all.

i found an ORANGE 2004 Maxima that I like...check for new thread about this car and my questions and concerns.