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Re: Intermittant rear driveline grinding -- but it's almost

To: John Weale <tyre@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Intermittant rear driveline grinding -- but it's almost
From: Atwell Haines <carbuff@nac.net>
Date: Sat, 03 Apr 1999 10:13:39 -0500
At 03:39 PM 4/2/99 -0800, John Weale wrote:
>My problem is the classic rumbling/grinding sound from the driver's side
>rear drivetrain.  

Snippage

>
>U-joints: check for play, rebuild

Good one. The soda-can shim thing might help here.

You didn't indicate how much time elapsed since your repair, but have you
been faithfully greasing the UJs?   If not, first inject them with the 90w
oil (using a  grease gun, like you use on the front trunnions).  Then drive
10-15 miles. Re-lubricate using the proper grease...watch that the grease
comes out of EACH yoke.

>Bearings: replace, have fun getting the @#$! hub off...

More greasing for the bearings...

You may want to check both your rear axles for worn splines also (I had one
of these). If they are, you would see movement between the yoke and axle
(jiggle in two directions 90 degrees apart).

>Loose bolts: especially check the spring bolts via the access behind the
>       seats (not likely since the noise went away after the car sat overnight
>       and isn't effected by turning)

Better check anyway.


<more snippage>
>
>Anyhow, my questions are: Is there any particularily likely, easy to miss
>(hopefully easy to check :) thing that the folks at Grand Auto may have
>screwed up or overlooked?  They replaced the outer bearing, reassembled...
>and the problem (that time the rear brake shoes were dragging every half
>turn or so because the hub/shaft was wobbling so badly) was still there.
>So they discovered an inboard bearing and replaced that too, and that
>solved the problem until yesterday.

Trouble is, if those bearings were wobbling on the axle, the axle needed to
be replaced, as that acts as the inner race for the bearings and gets
damaged if the bearings fail.

As an incidental check, I would suggest you retorque the four bolts
attaching the brake backing plate to the hub assembly.  These needed
attention on my car after I replaced my axle, and caused a brake
pulsation/vibration.

<final snippage>

>(my wife will only
>let me strew axels around the living/dining room of our apartment for 7
>days --)

Sounds much more tolerant than Fred Thomas' wife...   :-)


Good luck,

Atwell Haines
'79 Spitfire
Succasunna, NJ USA
"I intend to live forever - so far, so good."




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