noisy 82

[bparsleyfl]

Can someone here tell me what can be causing this?... My 82 has a noise in the rear driver's side wheel area that has progressed over the last several months from a spinning, scraping noise to a loud clunk-clunk-clunk noise. When it first started, it happened only occasionally, and usually went away after a few seconds. Sometimes I could drive the car for days at a time and it wouldn't make the noise, and when it did finally start again, it would only be for a few seconds. Now I hear it every time I drive the car. It mostly occurs when I'm accelerating and when I'm making a left turn. For a while I thought it was my left muffler assembly, which I discovered was loose and making a "whump-whump-whump" noise as it was hitting the nearest body panel. But when I secured the muffler, the "whump" went away but the "clunk" kept happening. I have taken it to a couple of places to have it looked at: the first said it might be a backing plate on the wheel (I checked the backing plate and it is secure) and a couple of days ago I took it to a Firestone shop where I bought my tires, and they said it was beyond the kind of work they did, but it looked to them like someone had taken a hammer to the left driveaxle. When I got home I took the wheel off to see for myself, and sure enough, the half shaft has a lot of dings on it. The other shaft has no marks at all. And I couldn't find any loose parts that might be making those marks or all the racket I hear when I'm driving. So far the operation of the car doesn't seem to be affected, but I'm afraid of something eventually breaking. I'm going to take the car somewhere else this week but I wanted to see if someone here has run into this problem. Thanks!!!

 

[DDLS3]

The noise could be coming from the differential. It almost sounds like clutches binding though it could be much more serious. Have you changed the oil in the differential? Did you add the GM positrac additive? If the fluid has not been changed in awhile it might be worth the effort to start there. You will need to suck out all the old fluid with a hand pump and replace it with one bottle of GM positrac additive, and about 2 bottles of gear lube. Once this is done take your vette to an empty parking lot and cut several figure 8's to properly lube up the clutches. Other possibilities are, a bad u-joint on the half shaft or a failing wheel bearing.

 

[bparsleyfl]

Thanks Dale! I will have this stuff checked out.

 

[JR-80]

I had the clanking, clunking during acceleration and while turning. After removing the half shaft I discovered a cap on the u-joint had broken into several pieces. Check it out. If they are the original u-joints they should be replaced. The grease solidifies after 2 decades.