Now a shudder?

[lottathought]

OK...I thought that the issue was resolved but I guess not.
My bearings were shot in a front diff and I had to change it out.

This weekend, I replaced the front diff.
In fact, I found that the lower ball joint on the passenger side was bad also and replaced that.

I now seem to have a slight shudder.

To be specific...
I had the front diff, front CV axles and the wheels off.
I had to disc the tie rods and I disc the upper ball joints rather than take apart the A-frame.

Of course I had to disc the front driveshaft but I only disc it from the front diff.
I made sure to put everything back together and I am pretty sure everything is tight.

Now I seem to have a shudder. I have it as soon as I start to accel and I even have it when braking.
It is especially bad when making a hard turn.
Does anybody have an idea as to what I might have done wrong?

BTW..it is a 99 Explorer XLT 4wd

 

[BrooklynBay]

Do you have Mercon V ATF in the transmission?

 

[lottathought]

Do you have Mercon V ATF in the transmission?

Yes, I do have MerconV.
I did go ahead, since I was already under the car, and change the engine oil.
I also checked the tranny fluid but did not change it. It is full.
I did not have the shudder before I changed the front diff. and I did not have to open the transmission in any way.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Maybe you have a bent axle? I had a slightly bent driveshaft which felt like I was going to take off, and fly everytime I started to drive. It made the differential sound very noisy. The U joint, and rear gears broke as a result. I had to replace the gears, U joint, and driveshaft. That solved the problem. I don't know how it got bent other than maybe there was something on the road which hit it (it's aluminum).

 

[lottathought]

Thanks for the idea Brooklyn Bay.

I am thinking that is probably not it though.
In order for that to have been it, the driveshift would have had to of been bent while I had the Explorer jacked up. I suppose it is possible but do not think that it is very likely.

This shudder did not exist before I took the front diff out and started as soon as I was done.

I have been researching and I have come up with some ideas..

1...I am going to re-check the bolts holding the front driveshaft to the front diff when I get home today.
I suppose it is possible I left something loose. I did not think that the U-bolt looked or felt worn when I pulled it out. I am also thinking that the bolts were tight. I suppose if I had left the bolts a little loose, it might feel like the U-Bolt was bad though.

2... I know that since I changed the lower ball joint, I need to get the car re-aligned......I am just wondering if an alignment would account for all of the shudder.

3... Maybe I damaged the ABS sensor? I read that this can cause a shudder. I have no real idea on this one.


These are the best ideas I have had until now. I am really at a loss to explain this one.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Try the U joint first. There are small rollers inside of the caps which either get broken with use or lost when removing them.

 

[lottathought]

Try the U joint first. There are small rollers inside of the caps which either get broken with use or lost when removing them.

I will check for that.
Thanks for the input.