For the longest time I had the left rear wheel clicking when stopped or when shifting from R to D or D to R. I did a search on this forum and it was suggested that the bearing assembly and axle be removed, cleaned, and reassembled with anti-sieze. Well I was somewhat skeptical but after doing that and torqeing the axle nut tighter, the clicking noise is now gone. I do have a little clunking which may be typical for an '85 although I have replaced the u-joints, rear-end, transmission and torque convertor in the recent past. Anyway, thought I'd post my results. This forum is great.
:cheers:

 

Hmm.

I'm next. I'll get that clicking noise cured ASAp. Thanks for the tip. :cheers:

 

:iagree: worked for my 91 :cheers:

 

Same here, on my 85 when I pulled the two half shafts off,,, 4 our of the 8 U-joint bearing caps had dust in them,,, no bearings :smash:

 

At what location is the anti-seize applied?

 

The fix I performed was on the wheel bearing assembly and the splined axle/yoke. My half-shafts and u-joints seemed to be ok so I didn't do anything with them except grease the removeable u-joint cups. I removed the rear tire, brake caliper, caliper bracket, parking brake cable to lever attachment, and the rotor. I then removed the cotter pin, indexing ring, large nut and washer from the threaded end of the axle. There's been several suggestions on removing the 3 torx bolts from bearing assembly. Some people said they could reach in alongside the halfshaft and remove the 3 torx bolts that secure the bearing assembly to the hub. It's a tight area, so I went ahead and detached and lowered the camber adjustment rod from the rearend, after marking it's location, and then detached the u-joint on the wheel end from the axle. Once I could move the halfshaft around it was really easy to get to the torx bolts. Once the bolts were removed, the bearing assembly and backing plate slipped off the axle. At this point the axle is really loose in the hub and is just held in place by the hub seal. If you want to remove the axle you'll have to remove the other end of the half-shaft from the rearend to drop the half-shaft out of the car. That's what I did so I was able to remove the axle from the hub. It was suggested to clean the axle spines and the hub splines of the rust that accumulated on them. I did this since there was some on mine. I cleaned mine with some gasoline being careful not to get it into the bearing assembly, in other words, don't soak it. I then cleaned the splines on the axle. Once cleaned and dried, I applied the anti-sieze to the axle splines and to the splines on the inside of the bearing assembly. I re-assembled in reverse order and tightened the nut to the axle with my super large socket set since I didn't have a 36mm (?) socket. This socket set is the 3/4" size so it was no problem getting an SAE socket to fit the nut, and it was no problem for the huge breaker bar that came with it to tighten the nut to who knows what torque it eventually was tightened to. I do know it's tighter that what it was so that was good enough for me. It doesn't click anymore. Now I'll probably need to do the other side. Hope this explanation helps a little.
:cheers:

 

Yep,

that fixed mine too. My heart goes out to anyone who has ever taken it to the dealer with those symptoms.

I can imagine they now have a new rear suspension

 

You went further than you needed, but you did get through it OK.

You can remove the outer axles a MUCH easier way without taking everything apart....

1) Remove U-joint cap bolts on both ends of the half-shaft.

2) Remove camber rod bolt from the spindle carrier (not at the differential)

3) Swing camber rod down.

4) With someone helping you, lift up on the spindle carrier and remove the half-shaft.

5) Remove cotter key and lock-nut from outer-spindle.

6) Here is the trickey part....IF you have access to air tools, a good impact wrench on the spindle nut will break it loose. If not, then you'll need to set the parking brake and use a breaker bar to get the nut loose.

7) Remove axle and clean splines. Use a small brass brush to clean the splines in the bearing as well.

8) Reassemble by reversing the order. Smear a light layer of anti-seize on both surfaces of the axle splines and the bearing splines.

I just did this last week to mine. Have not had a chance to drive it anywhere yet, just to the trailer and back at the alignment shop.

It felt better than it did...how good we'll see when I race it next weekend.


[Modified by Joe90, 1:05 PM 9/20/2003]

 

Hi Joe, I thought disconnecting it at the spindle carrier at first, but just last week I had replaced the entire rearend and batwing so I went with what I knew worked for me. Thinking about it now, you're probably right since the carrier is easier to twist and get the camber rod to go back into the same location. I noticed when I removed it at the differential it required my floor jack under the carrier and some grunting to get the rod back onto the bracket on the rearend. When I do the other side I'll do it your way, sounds easier. Thanks for your reply and suggestion.
:cheers:

 

MrRenoman:

My 96 LT4 was doing the same thing and I (sucessfully) tried the easier approach - just loosen the axle nut and retorque it. (165 lbs for Auto's 200 lbs for ZF6's)

I did that in May and the click is still gone after a 400 mile track event, five AutoX events and several thousand road miles. If it comes back, I'll pull the yoke and regrease. For now, I'd suggest the lazy solution to anyone with the same noise. :smash:
Cire96

 

I got to take mine out last night...

No more clunk, click or pops....

cire96 I don't recommend just torqueing it down....

The rust built up in the splines will give you an incorrect torque spec.

Of course the anti-seize will throw it off a little as well, but at least it won't come back again either.


[Modified by Joe90, 10:16 AM 9/23/2003]