Vibration-motor mounts or CV joints?
I am having vibration problems with my 88 lxi w/automatic and 68,000 miles. Soon after purchasing it last year, it developed a vibration when accelerating above 25 mph. After scouring you site, I decided that it was probably the driver side inner cv joint so I replaced the half shaft (along with the passenger side while I had the car up). Almost immediately, the outer joint on the drivers side started clunking though it didn't seem to vibrate. I drove it that way for a couple of months until the clunking got too bad when I replaced it again a couple of weeks ago. Now I’m getting a similar vibration that I had with the original one but with no clunking.
The counter person at Checker told me that I must have a bad motor mount and that is what is causing the vibration and extreme wear of the cv joints. I did a visual inspection and found that the transmission mount bracket was broken which I replaced yesterday. The car still vibrates!
My first question is, what is the normal amount of engine movement? While revving the engine against the brakes while in gear, the front mount deforms enough to allow the front of the motor to lift over a ½ inch. Is this amount of play normal for this type of mount? Also, when the engine is not running, the torque bar (dog bone) has a lot of side to side play on the engine end . How tight is that bushing supposed to be?
The other option is that the motor mounts are fine and I have just been unlucky in getting two defective rebuilt half shafts from Checker/Kragen. Has anyone else had problems with Checkers half shafts?
I would appreciate any ideas or opinions on this problem. Thanks!