Section : General

General Vitesse messages

Judder when reversing

Posted By : Andrew Parry, 19-Sep-2006, 03:06pm

Dear all,

My Vitesse has developed an annoying judder when reversing. Everything in the transmission seems to be tight enough. The clutch was new about 4000 miles ago and if it was to blame wouldn't it affect forward gears aswell? Can anyone suggest where to start looking?

Cheers,

Andy.

Followups :

Judder when reversing

Posted By : Peter & Mick (son) Lewis, 19-Sep-2006, 06:19pm

often down to engine and gearbox mounts degraded or rubber is of incorrect specification/hardness
Ive got it on mine even changed the wibbly wobbly rear engine plate which made big improvement
for about 500m then its all back ..pete
- Judder when reversing
  
  Posted By : Andrew Parry, 19-Sep-2006, 09:35pm
  
  Pete,
  
  Thanks for the suggestion - I'm not sure how old the various mounts are - I didn't replace either the gearbox or engine ones when I rebuilt the car as they looked alright. They could well be 37 years old so perhaps it's time to replace them. On the other hand - if the symptoms are only going to go away for 500 miles then I wonder if it's worth it.
  
  Andy.
  - Judder when reversing
    
    Posted By : Peter & Mick Lewis, 19-Sep-2006, 10:22pm
    
    if you do get some front (new old stock) mounts 132669 from mick dolphin as these will be correct OE spec .. peter
Judder when reversing

Posted By : John Davies, 19-Sep-2006, 11:09pm

All the bushes.
The brake shoes.
Brake drums

John
- Judder when reversing
  
  Posted By : Andrew Parry, 21-Sep-2006, 11:05am
  
  John,
  
  All bushes in the suspension were renewed during the rebuild including those awkward steel sleeved ones in the leaf spring and diff. although the gearbox and engine mounts were not.
  
  I'm not quite clear how to investigate problems with the brake shoes/drums. Are you implying that they are dragging when the car is reversing - if so would jacking up the rear and turning the wheels backwards be any sort of test?
  
  Andy.
  - Judder when reversing
    
    Posted By : John Davies, 21-Sep-2006, 06:41pm
    
    Andy,
    Taking the drums off, looking at them and the shoes would be a start.
    Are all those little springs and retainers in place?
    Are the drums/shoes worn, smoothly or abnormally?
    Just looking for something out of place.
    
    Should have asked - is this swing axle,Rotaflex or swing spring?
    Not that that will narrow it dwon, it just helps to have a picture in the mind of what you have.
    
    John
    - Judder when reversing
      
      Posted By : Andrew Parry, 21-Sep-2006, 10:09pm
      
      John,
      
      It's a Rotoflex MKII saloon.
      
      The rear brakes seem to work fine and I think I put them back together properly during the rebuild with a fair number of new components; I will double check the detail when I get a moment. The brakes were in an awful state when I bought the car nearly 3 years ago despite having a very dubious MOT at the time. Seized calipers on the front brakes, missing bits and pieces from the rear ones. I remember that the drums were not seated properly on the hubs and I had to smooth the edges of the hole get them to fit snugly and to take the retaining screws (also missing or having the wrong thread). I did wonder if they were the correct drums. I also had difficulty with rattles and squeals from the front disk brakes and pads despite new calipers, shims and pins. The Vitesse has sailed through the last two MOTs by a very rigorous tester but even he didn't pick up on the reversing judder - evidently not a fail point.
      
      Andy.