Clunking from transaxle while turning?

[cRaZySHO.]

Ok, I'm posting this for CrizzaSHO. I put in two axles for him today, and his car is still making a clunking sound while turning, at any speeds. It also feels as if his right front tire is losing grip when you have the wheel turned. It feels like to me that the differential side gears are shot. It almost feels as if the side gears have a tooth missing, and when you turn, it slips on that tooth giving the loss of traction.

I'm not sure of the circumstances on how it happened. He had his mechanic look at it while it was at the Toys R Us parking lot, and his mechanic told him it was the axles. So he asked if I could put in two axles for him.

And this only happens when the car is turning, if you go straight, this won't happen at all. No noise, no clunk, nothing. And I can almost feel it coming through the shifter.

Anyone have this happen before? When my diff. blew the pin, the tranny just put a large amount of brake torque on the motor, and stopped the car. This feels as if the gears for the axles are broken. I'm no transmissions specialist, so I'm confused. But I think I'm going to take it down to my tranny guy tomorrow.

 

[Pekin21]

I have a 93' ATX that just started doing the same thing. Anyone have suggestions???

 

[revhardSHO]

Does it make a clicking sound when turning?
It could be warn UV joints, those will cause some clunking/clicking issues when turning, but not when the car is driving stait.

silas

 

[projectSHO89]

Since it just got 2 new driveshafts, it shouldn't be the CV joints.

That leaves wheel bearings, the intermediate halfshaft/bearing, or the differential as possibilities. I haven't come across a differential that did that, though.

Does it do it when turning either left or right? Any difference?

Does the frequency of the clunk increase with vehicle speed? Does the sharpness of the turn have any affect?

Steve

<small>[ December 31, 2002, 02:28 PM: Message edited by: projectSHO89 ]</small>

 

[cRaZySHO.]

smithsil89SHO:
Does it make a clicking sound when turning?
It could be warn UV joints, those will cause some clunking/clicking issues when turning, but not when the car is driving stait.

silas

I just replaced his axles, and those are CV, not UV joints. UV's connect a driveshaft to a yoke on RWD.

Project SHO- It does it when you turn in either direction. As far as increasing the noise with speed, I don't know. I only had it up to about 20mph and drove back to my house. I could see it being the wheel bearings though. But I don't understand how this could happen to both sides at the same time.

 

[cRaZySHO.]

I'm also going to wait for Chris to post and let us know what happened when this all started.

 

[crizzaSHO]

That would be my car...... It happened after I tried to beat a read light. I floored it and it wen't but after I tried to make a right turn It made that noise. Both shafts where replaced and there is the same loud clunking noise when turned in either direction.... So if it is the differential, I found the Quaife for 1100$ and also a Phantom Grip for 300. What is a Phantom Grip?? Is it any good???

 

[jthomas68]

The Phantom Grip isn`t much better than a stock diff because it still uses a stock pin.If you can`t find a decent priced stock unit,it may be a good alternative though.
Clunking on both sides i couldn`t see being much other than tranny internals or a loose subframe.Individual parts (like CV)wouldn`t go bad on both sides as the same moment.

 

[shojuan]

jthomas68:
Individual parts (like CV)wouldn`t go bad on both sides as the same moment.

They would if they were bad to begin with. Some half axle rebuilders won't even regrind the old worn CV joint. They'll just clean them out and repack them with grease and a new boot. And of course the ones that do regrind don't harden the joint afterwards, ie: they grind right through the original case hardening and you're left with a far more failure prone joint. IMHO it's a false economy to go with the standard autoparts store rebuilt half shafts. I know I'm probably alone here because it is certainly easiest to go the autoparts store route for $60. I feel like my words are going to fall on deaf ears once again when I mention that for $80 or perhaps a bit more (yes with shipping it will get to be a bit more expensive and shipping does take time) you can get axles rebuilt with NEW outer joints, packed with synthetic grease and high quality boots, and of course a lifetime warranty like the crap autoparts store axles if you choose to order from Raxles . A bit more hassle and a bit more money, yes, but worth it if you want to do it right the first time by installing something better than OE rather than cheaping out with something that will always be inferior to OE.

My $.02 Feel free to pull the plugs out of your deaf ears now. I'm done talking.

Rick

 

[jthomas68]

I have a rebuilder here locally to do it.

 

[shojuan]

jthomas68:
I have a rebuilder here locally to do it.

Does he use new outer joints?

Rick

Yes,they do all that type of work.They build and repair u-joints,balance drive shafts,etc.

<small>[ January 02, 2003, 10:35 AM: Message edited by: jthomas68 ]</small>

 

[Trojan Man]

Does this clunking have any pattern to it? Like does it's frequency increase with speed? Or does it get louder and more powerful on sharper/faster turns? Sounds like it could be sub frame bushings to me...

My $.02

 

[revhardSHO]

I just replaced his axles, and those are CV, not UV joints. UV's connect a driveshaft to a yoke on RWD.

Sorry, mistake. I meant CV joints....

 

[cRaZySHO.]

HydroStream6:
Does this clunking have any pattern to it? Like does it's frequency increase with speed? Or does it get louder and more powerful on sharper/faster turns? Sounds like it could be sub frame bushings to me...

My $.02

Thats another thing that ran through my head, but I had bad bushings on my car, and it didn't feel like that. And as far as the sharper the turn, the more violent- yes and no.

Yes it does sound louder when turned sharply, but only because if you hold it turned, then the noise won't go away. But the minute you straighten it out, it goes away.

And it definitely has a pattern to it. It clunks a rather consistant pace. If I go out there tonight to check his subframe bushings(car is in my driveway), what do I check for? Worn bushings? Tears in the bushings? Broken bolts? Cracked washers? What would most likely cause this noise to come from the subframe?

 

[munkee]

I am almost positive that it is a wheel bearing problem. I have had the same problem with my 90 and my friends 92. His we were in the process of changing the axle to see if that was what was causing the noise when we noticed that the bearing was bad. Pull the tire and hub nut and see if you can wiggle the hub at all. I have terribly bad sfb's on my 90 right now. It will only clunk when I turn left and it only makes one clunk when you start to turn the wheel. Crazysho, a good way to check your sfb's is to pop the hood, start the car and turn the wheel back and forth and watch the engine to see if it moves. Mine moves about 3 inches eek! back and forth.

 

[Pekin21]

How much of a job is it to install new wheel bearings? Anyone know the price of new ones? I would like to do the work myself if possible.

 

[gdsqdcr]

I had a wheel bearing replaced on my 94. They had to replace the hub as well, said that they came together. As for difficulty, I dont know. I paid ~400 for them doing only the drivers side.

Anthony

 

[pekin212]

I found out my CV boot is ripped, and grease is everywhere. How difficult is it to change a halfshaft? My ford manual says a special CV puller is needed, is it nessecary?

Thanks!!!

 

[cRaZySHO.]

Nope, no need for a CV puller. I use my hands and a big flat blade screw driver.

Can we get back on topic though guys? I would like to help Chris get his car back on the road.

 

[pjtoledo]

Did you have the car on the ground, and move it when there were no outer CV joints in it? The front bearings need the CV joint (or a big bolt) to hold them together. And it must be properly torqued. A brand new bearing will seperate if the cars weight is placed on it with nothing thru the center of it.
Now about re-grinding the joints,,,Did I miss something???? Never heard of it.

Perry Toledo,Ohio