My car has been sqeaking from the left side for about a month. I just figured that one of the brakes was rubbing and didn't think much about it. A couple days ago a click started and I began to wonder what was up. Now it's much louder. It's coming from the left rear. Sound like a U-joint I think. Kind of like the pins are popping and grinding under light load (ie. acceleration). Is it probably a U-joint, and how much to get a shop to just replace the bad one. I'll replace all of the other's by myself when I have time but this one needs to be fixed now.
Thanks,
-Matt

 

Well my buddy is going to let me borrow his jack, so I can get the halfshaft out of the car. Any idea how much to take the halfshaft in and get the shop to press out the old u-joint and put in a new one? Thanks.

 

you can get it with a hammer quicker than taking it to a shop.

 

That works for me. Can you do it with a hammer? I thought you needed a vice?

 

I was reading on this site
http://personal.tmlp.com/scorp/vette/images/ujoints/

It says that the spring and tie rod should be unbolted so the halfshaft could come out. It looks to me like I could get the shaft out without unbolting either. Anyone removed it without unbolting the spring or the tie rod? Thanks, Matt.

 

If I remember right when I did mine I just unbolted the spindle support rod and the connection at the u joint then got under the car and put my foot on the back of the spindle and pressed outward really hard and the halfshaft came out.

 

No to using a hammer

Yes to using/needing a vice !!!!

(I'm pretty sure the guy was joking when he said that)

 

Let us know if U-joints fix it...I have been battling a clicking for a couple of years. I did u-joints, wheel bearing (the clicking goes away for a while when replacing them), greasing the spindle, rear end (D44 swap), suspension bushings.

 

I can't get the tie rod end out. The nut is off, but it's stuck in there really tight. I bought a pickle fork, but to no avail. Any helpful hints or suggestions?

 

Nevermind I got it out. I just needed a bigger hammer. I ripped the bushing though. Anyone know if a local part place would carry these? Thanks. -Matt

 

...story of my shadetree mechanic life.

anyway i'm subscribed because I have the same squeak in the rear passenger wheel, even after replacing the hub and brakes. i don't have a clicking. the squeak itself is only at low speeds and intermittent at that, but it drives me nuts. i'd sure like to be able to drop the halfshaft as mentioned earlier, by disconnecting at the spindle support and pushing it outward. gee, cant wait.

 

I hightly doubt the knuckle will pull away enough without undoing the tie rod. When I wrote those I used the GM manual. There are other ways of doing it, but thats how the book wants it done.

 

Well I got it out. Took several hours, but it was because it kept raining and I was working in my carport so when the wind would blow I would get wet and have to stop. The instructions I had said to take the spring bolt out, take the tie rod bolt out, and take the camber bolt out. I got the first two, but I could not get the camber bolt to move for the life of me. I tried dousing it in WD40, kicking the wrench, and everything else I could think of but it wouldn't budge. I think the only way it would come off would be with a big cheater bar and the car on a lift. Anyway I gave up on it and just started trying to work the halfshaft to get to an angle it would slide out. Lukily, it eventually did, I hope it will go back in.

The u-joints were definitely the problem. They were terrible, no grease in any of them, and some were rusty. Also some are impossible to turn by hand. I must have been losing quite a bit of horsepower. I did notice that my car wouldn't roll if it was in neutral on a slight incline, which I thought was strange. When I have time I am definately doing the other side and the main drive shaft joints also, because damn...

Anyway, I recommend that anyone who doesn't know when their u-joints were replaced... replace them immediately.

 

This is what mine was doing. It would squeak at low speeds once everytime the wheel turned over. Replace em, you're probably losing hp due to all that friction like I was. It is utterly amazing how hard it is to move the old u-joints on my halfshaft.

 

sounds like they are the original U-joints in your '95? How many miles on odo. ??
I just turned 90K miles on my '93, and I think I should inspect my U-joints.... I don't have any noises though

 

Mine were original, 70k miles.