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Noise In My Rear Axle

D

Dave L.

Guest
I HAVE AN 81 WITH 106000 MILES ON IT.IT HAS A NOISE EMANATING FROM THE RIGHT REAR WHEEL THAT SOUNDS LIKE A SPOKE ON A BICYCLE BEING PLINKED.I RECENTLY HAD THE REAR WHEEL BEARINGS REBUILT ON BOTH SIDES AND THE FLUID CHANGED IN THE REAR.THE NOISE ONLY OCCURS WHEN TORQUE IS BEING APPLIED TO THE REAR WHEELS.IT WILL NOT MAKE THE SOUND WHEN THE CAR IS ON JACK STANDS.THE WHEEL HAS BEEN CHECKED FOR CRACKS AND THE WHEEL BEARINGS TAKEN APART AND REINSTALLED.THE U-JOINTS ALL CHECKED OUT FINE.
THE NOISE ALSO APPEARS TO OCCUR DURING A CERTAIN POINT IN THE REVOLUTION OF THE REAR.MY MECHANIC IS AN EXPERT ON CORVETTES AND HE IS SCRATCHING HIS HEAD! WE ARE LEANING TOWARDS A DIFFERENTIAL TEARDOWN EVEN THOUGH THE NOISE DOES NOT APPEAR TO BECOMING FROM THERE.DOES ANY ONE HAVE ANY THOUGHTS?
 
Welcome To The Corvette Action Center BURGLAR!

:upthumbs We're glad to have you, but if you don't mind, please use "sentence case" or lower case for your text. When you use "upper case" letters, or all caps, it appears as though you are shouting. ;)
 
Thought's

When did you replace all 6 U joints?
or did you just inspect them. It could be the E brake hardware is messed up behind the rotor

Mike
 
BURGLAR said:
SOUNDS LIKE A SPOKE ON A BICYCLE BEING PLINKED...
THE NOISE ALSO APPEARS TO OCCUR DURING A CERTAIN POINT IN THE REVOLUTION OF THE REAR....DOES ANY ONE HAVE ANY THOUGHTS?

Welcome to the CAC!

Your description of the sound is dead on to the sound mine was making when the parking brake was rubbing. Mine also was not doing it when I raised it up, I guess the added pressure was just enough to cause the binding. I backed it off a click or two with the adjuster wheel through the rotor and the noise stopped. My problem was actually that the parking brake was failing to release properly. Your comment about the rear throws me a little though. I'm sure it will ring a bell in someone's ear though. Good luck!
 
BURGLAR ~ Welcome to the Corvette Action Center Community ~

BURGLER,

I had a noise in the rear end of Rare and chased it all over the place, everything new from trailing arms to u-joints even replaced the half shafts.. I read in the GM Shop Manual that "Clunking on acceleration or deceleration" could be caused by a worn differential cross shift in the rear end

Well it sounded like u-joints going out, but after two sets in less than 6 months then having the spindles, half shafts, bearings replaced I finally had the rear end replaced.. and NOISE is gone and that three inch shaft is pretty worn... But it took me three mechanics before anyone would believe it could be the cross shaft.. EVERY one of them said "That could not happen to your car, I only had 63,000 miles on it"

By the way the noise started after I took Rare in for rear end fluid change.. at around 62,000 miles.. even after adding the GM posi fluid and all. I now do most the work on her myself..

By the way... by using cap locks when you reply it appears that you are shouting.. just food for thought..

Welcome aboard and enjoy the ride.
 
Welcome Burglar!

I'm sure you'll enjoy it here at CACC, friendliest vette site on the 'net!...great people and loads of information.
I'm sure you'll get that noise chased down and solved. My 78 has never experienced what yours is going through, so no information here, just a welcome.
Silver
 
thanks for the help.i am going to relay this info on to my mechanic.sorry i was shouting,i will whisper from now on.
 
:L Don't take it personally, a lot of people have to be reminded about the upper case thing. ;)

_ken :w
 
One other thing for you to check. There is a mickey mouse clip holding you emergency brake cable to the trailing arm, sometimes these will turn and hit on something causing a clicking noise. You can't miss the mickey mouse clip because it looks just like the shape of mickeys ears. See if there is a wear mark where this clip might contact the inner wheel area.
 
Mickey Clip

When you look at that Mickey Mouse clip, also take a look at the weights on the wheel. I had the same problem, except it came & went. I found it to be one of the wheel weights was loose, and occasionally it would twist the right way and hit the mickey mouse clip. All I had to do was secure the weight, and turn the clip 90 degrees. (This thing drove me nuts for a couple of weeks before I found it!)

Good luck & save the wave!

Steve
 
thanks for the tip,steve. i will defintely check that out.
 
Welcome Dave

The people here are very helpful and supportive. They will surely figure out your noise problem. Hope to run into you someday(not vette to vette of course). I am right down the road in Lewisberry, again good luck and welcome!

Steve
 
thanks Derster.I cruise down your way quite often.Space highway is always a good place to "kick it down"
burglar
 
Hi Rare 81,


I'm expering the same problems. I've reworked all of the rear end of my '78.
Since the summer of 2003 i have a clicking sound in the rear. It doesn't matter if it's on stands or on the ground. If I put on the breaks and give a little gas, then I a sound like click (sound if there's play on the u-joints or the u-joints in the half shaft).
If I keep on the gas it gives a couple of clicks after eachother.
If I'm cruising like 35 mph and give a little gas I hear the click again. Also if I let go of the gas I hear a click. When I put the car on a bridge (i don't know if that's the right word) and stand under the car and feel the half shaft (when somebody else puts on a litlle gas and keeps the car on the brakes) it feels like something twists in the halfshaft.
I also changed the u-joints three times.
What is the differential crossshift in te rear end? Is it the shaft the differential between the yokes? What is exactly worn then?

Bye,

Rene
 
make sure the ebrake return springs are not out of place.

mine was making alot of noise out the back end too, but i know my u joints were bad. Its in the shop as we speak getting them replaced along with getting the diff. rebuilt. If I have a noise after its done, i'll be ticked
 
Hi Pace78,

I don't know enough about the rear-end gearing to give you a good answer, but I know someone that does ;) I'll tag this thread and see if my ole pal Stingray6974 will chime in..

He can explain it and provide a whole lot more detail and trouble shooting help too ;)

Bud


Pace78 said:
Hi Rare 81,


I'm expering the same problems. I've reworked all of the rear end of my '78.
Since the summer of 2003 i have a clicking sound in the rear. It doesn't matter if it's on stands or on the ground. If I put on the breaks and give a little gas, then I a sound like click (sound if there's play on the u-joints or the u-joints in the half shaft).
If I keep on the gas it gives a couple of clicks after eachother.
If I'm cruising like 35 mph and give a little gas I hear the click again. Also if I let go of the gas I hear a click. When I put the car on a bridge (i don't know if that's the right word) and stand under the car and feel the half shaft (when somebody else puts on a litlle gas and keeps the car on the brakes) it feels like something twists in the halfshaft.
I also changed the u-joints three times.
What is the differential crossshift in te rear end? Is it the shaft the differential between the yokes? What is exactly worn then?

Bye,

Rene
 
With the 100K+ miles on the car and that the noise's source has been pretty much pinpointed and that the wheel is in good condition has me agreeing with several, here, ie: it could be a parking brake problem.

With that kind of mileage, I'd get the rear brake discs off and carefully inspect the p-brake parts and replace parts as necessary.

Then, I'd adjust the p-brake per the manual. It's a two-step process. 1) adjust the shoe clearance then 2) the p-brake cable adjustment.
 
Hi Rene,
Here's a few things I have encountered.
The backside of the wheel studs hitting the e brake shoe spring cups. One brand of e brake ss springs use a rounded cup that sticks out further and hits the studs.
Worn stub axles. The ends of the stub axles (inside the differential) wear down to the point that the u-bolts on the inner u-joints hit the diff. case. There are two ears on the sides of the case. Check to see if the end of the u-bolt is hitting.
Ring gear bolts. In '78 GM changed from the bolt and lock washer set-up to a ribbed ring gear bolt. It's common for these bolts to back out and hit the case inside. This only gets worse until the rear end grenades. Use a probe or a long screwdriver as a probe and listen at the driver's side of the case near the halfshaft.
I doubt if it is the cross-shaft. Yours is an Eaton rear with the shaft held in with a bolt. Bud's is a Dana with the shaft held in by two c-clips.

Hi Burglar,
It sounds like the e-brake springs are hitting the studs. I would pull off the rotor,disconnect the halfshaft and spin the spindle by hand listening for the noise. Also check the play in the spindle bearings.

Mike
 
Dave, I just went thru the same thing, tore everything apart 4 or 5 times! I also had a E-brake clip come loose inside the rotor making a clicking noise, fixed that, but under load I still had the noise. I finally tore the rear apart, and the posi unit case where the clutch packs seat into the case wore the edges allowing the clutch plates to unseat and make the clicking noise under load. The guys at UCF in Carlisle said they never seen that happen to a posi case before, and they couldn't even rebuild it with new clutches, so I bought a new posi unit and made a gear change while I was in there. I went to 3.54's made a huge improvement! If ya need an extra ear, give me a buzz I'll run down!

Ron
 

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