Tim Wilkinson wrote:
> Over the past week I noticed that loud grating sound coming from what I
> thought was the rear axle. The grating only occurred above 2500rpm, was
> quiet when free-wheeling and made no difference when cornering. This
> morning driving to work the grating suddenly turned to a loud clunking
> noise. Feeling like an idiot for not paying enough attention to the
> warning signs, I crawled home at about 15mph, clunking all the way
> trying to figure what was wrong.
>
> I've just inspected the underside and found that there is a fair amount
> of play in the rear axle when rotating the propshaft back and forth
> although I seem to remember many years ago having an MG which had the
> same amount of play, so I suspect this is not the root cause. With only
> turning the wheels or propshaft by hand it's difficult to fully
> reproduce the loud clunking however one thing I did notice was one of
> the bearings on the rear universal joint was slightly exposed even
> although the joint as a whole felt tight. From what I can tell it's
> either the universal joint or the rear axle. Anyone with any bright
> ideas??
>
> Many thanks
>
> Tim
> SIV Singapore
Tim:
This may not be a "bright idea" (in fact, it's depressing!) but it really
sounds as though you may have one or more loose or broken bolts holding
the crown gear to the differential housing. This is quite common and
everyone who rebuilds rear axle assemblies usually reports that it was
necessary to replace these bolts and/or find better locking for them.
If a bolt has come loose or is broken, has worked its way partly out, and
is now hitting the axle housing as the crown gear rotates, this would
produce the clunking you describe. I hope this isn't it but I think you
should not drive any more. (A broken axle is possible,
but less likely).
Ron Tebo
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