Fellow SOL'ers-
Hmmm SOL, in light of the past weeks gluttony, could that be
Same Ole Leftovers?
When last we saw Nick, he was in denial over the "clunk" from his
differential everytime he shifted. In fact, the malevolent noise was becoming
more than his radio could overpower. With heavy heart he decided to remove
the offending unit. We join him now...
I had pretty much decided that the diff had too much "play" and started to
remove it today. I had previously double checked all the U joints and found
them to be tight as well as the shafts to have no play in them, so it had to
be the diff. After I pulled out the first shaft and was just sort of playing
around with it, I happened to push the shaft back together (it had extended
almost all the way when I pulled it out) and give it a "twist". Surprisingly
it went "clunk, well actually more like "click". I then realized that when
the car sat at its normal height, the shaft became a certain length. When the
splines became worn, it was localized to this length of the shaft. When I had
jacked the car up to check the u joints and half shafts, the shafts had
lengthened or compressed, to a different length. The splines now engaged
undamaged splines and no play was felt. But, once back on the ground the
shaft resumed its "normal" stance where the worn splines engaged each other,
and voila..."clunk".
So what I'm sayin here is, if you need to look for a "clunk" back there,
either pull the shaft and check it, or check it at normal ride height.
Just what is the innate repressed biological urge that makes people blow
their horn in a tunnel ?
Nick in Nor Cal
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