It's been over a month... but we've been in and out of hurricane Ike, and now
have just about cleaned up our neck of the woods. I also finished a nice 9-day
vacation and then got under the 6 to address this problem.
The good news is that I was able to get most of this clunk issue figured
out... and it's not what you thought!
Another nice result is that I found out a lot about what's needed:
a. At least one axle U-joint probably needs replacing
b. The splines on one axle are worn enough that there's a bit of rotational
play
c. I went through my stash in the attic and found at least two axles in very
good condition, so (c.) is easy to fix.
d. Diff. mounts are in good shape; no cracks, etc. I do have the TRF gussets
that I was planning to use on the other frame - they could end up on this
one.
e. None of these issues was the major problem!
Here's the answer:
While unbuttoning the axles, etc., I found the answer almost immediately. The
four bolts on the right-side axle-to-diff flanges WERE LOOSE. They had been
spun down most of the way, but none of the four had been torqued down at all!
Tightened them back up after checking all the other above issues, and 90% of
the "clunk" is gone.
I'm pretty sure I know why. I bought this '74 about 16 months ago. The week
before I went to check it out, the PO had the rear hub bearings replaced. The
flange that didn't get tightened is the one mostly obscured by the exhaust
pipes, and the shop just forgot to go back and get to those.
I drove the car 180 miles home and didn't get it licensed, etc. until about 6
months ago. Had some more serious issues to fix (bushings on the right-front
A-arms were shot - one of the pivots had *no* bushing at all). This took care
of the most major of the "clunks", but the rear clunk got worse as the bolts
loosened a bit.
Many thanks for all the help offered at the time - all of it was good and I'll
end up doing most of the other fixes anyway.
Thanks,
Lee
'74 Maple TR6 (never-ending restoration)
'74 Pimento TR6 - daily driver
The Woodlands, TX
> I'm not an expert, but from my experience:
>
> 1. Backlash doesn't sound like an issue.
> 2. If you have any play in your u-joints, you need to replace them.
> 3. Play in the axle splines is not good, but you could be mistakeing u-joint
> play for it - test it again after replacing u-joints.
> 4. From your description, it doesn't sound like diff mounts should be an
> issue.
>
> If I were to diagnose from your description, it sounds like your u-joints are
> badly worn, and the clunk you hear is caused by the amount of play in the
> u-joint.
>
> Raymond L. Hatfield
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