LestatC4

Fellas,

I'm in the process of trying to tackle my first problem with my 85 Vette. Ever since i bought it, it has had 2 really noticeable problems:

1. From the drivers side rear wheel, there comes a "clicking / knocking noise, kinda like rusted metal rubbing against rusted metal. (real darn aweful noise.) It happens on average accellerations, hard accellerations, and even sometimes right when you take your foot off the gas. While driving straight and on turns. I have been reading my Haynes manual and I believe it could possibly be the wheel hub/bearing assy. I have tried to shake the axle shaft on the side in question but I feel no signs of looseness out of the u-joints. If it is this hub/bearing assy, how much of a pain is it to change out?

2. The suspension in the back end of the car feels REALLY loose. Now When you are rolling down the street, 45+mph, and you give a little gas from having your foot off the pedal and then on, the back end of the car feels like it swings out to the right a little, and then swings back to the left when you let off the gas. I looked at all my lugnuts and they seemed fine and tight, so i'm thinking that it's either bad bushings, some loose nuts or bolts, or it may also be related to my issue with the rear wheel hub. By the way, how durable is that leaf spring under there? Has anyone ever experienced one of those breaking? The car has 83k original miles and is a manual.

PLEASE tell me I don't sound crazy!

Thanks

Dave

Demonic85

1. Your right, sounds like a bad bearing to me too.

2. The leafspring is very durable and i've never heard of one breaking on these cars. They're not made of steel like the old ones so its not going to rust and break. I'm honestly not sure why your back end would swing around like that, could be bushings I suppose.

94ZR1

90% of the time the click is a bad wheel spindle washer
Do a search with the archived threads enabled and you will find it or you could just read my brilliant letter in the June issue of Corvette Magazine

badabing9

based on the mileage and if it is known that the u-joints have been replaced or the bearings, i would do ALL the bearings and u-joints at one time in 1 day and be done with it.

Chatman

Take a look at your motor mounts. Maybe the sensation of movement right and left is coming from the front of the drivetrain.

jan-erik

Hi 94ZR1 and you all.
I have also an 85 z51
I have clicks definately coming from both outer parts of the suspension and the clicks have nothing to do with the u-joints as they are all new .

You mention the spindle washer. Is that the inner one slightly formed as a trumpet front piece or the outer one where the main nut is. How can the outer make those noise when I have a torque of 166footpounds.

Could the bearings make the noise too? Its annoying to listen to when I start even with very slow acceleration it sometimes clicks with decelerating and accelerating straight forward.

The washer theory is interesting. How often is it with the washers compared to wheelbearings. Gues the bearings have about 20k miles.

Hope for comments.
Jan-Erik

badabing9

elevate each wheel and grab at 3+9 and 12+6 and see if you have any bearing "play".

LestatC4

Will do. Thanks for the info.

94ZR1

It is the inner washer inside the bearing
That is the clicking problem about 95% of the time
GM still has them or did when I replaced mine

Brimis

Bearings and U-Joints.

islandman89

bearings

davemack

Curious if the clicking sounds like it comes from the tranny or from the rear? Can you feel anything thru the shifter? I have an intermitent problem like this. The "tranny experts" at Kennedy Transmission can't figure it out (they guessed U-joints - replaced them - no difference). Ideas? I swear it feels like something that rotates is contacting something else, but I feel it through the shifter. It happens when moving, even if out of gear and clutch depressed. Ideas??

Klaus-96

Clicking when you put the car in gear could be the axle splines. This happened to my 1 year old 1996. The axle splines get rusty. The dealer pulled the hubs, cleaned the axle splines and coated them with anti-seize compound. I was skeptical, but it worked!

AGENT 86

If you don't have excessive play at 12 and 6 o'clock and your U joints are good, it's a good chance the click is from dry, rusty, worn splines. Anti seize and 180-200 lbs on the axle nuts will help. Re-torquing alone, may rid you of the click.

quickcat

For item #1 see the following first:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...post1562436677

Combine this with good inspection of your bearings and u-joints. Most likely they are ok but I have no way of knowing that.

For item #2...

Remove your rear wheels and check the bolts that attach the training arms to the spindle and chassis. I found mine LOOSE the last time I worked on the rear end! Needless to say tightening them up made the car quit thumping when I braked hard and tightened up the ride. If you have bushings that are worn that should be obvious to see and feel.

Matt

davemack

[QUOTE=quickcat;1562436803]For item #1 see the following first:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...post1562436677

Combine this with good inspection of your bearings and u-joints. Most likely they are ok but I have no way of knowing that.

For item #2...

Remove your rear wheels and check the bolts that attach the training arms to the spindle and chassis. I found mine LOOSE the last time I worked on the rear end! Needless to say tightening them up made the car quit thumping when I braked hard and tightened up the ride. If you have bushings that are worn that should be obvious to see and feel.


Quickcat,

Thanks for the thread link. Very helpful.

The idea of it being a wheel spindle washer issue makes a lot of sense, since it happens when in gear or out, clutch in or out, only when moving (forward for me, never heard it in reverse, but I do hear a tinny pinging from the rear wheel area in reverse). I like the sound of this fix much better than a tranny swap, clutch/bearing replacement, etc. A couple of hours and $20 bucks is my kinda problem...