I have this weird clicking coming from the driver side axle area and can not seem to figure out what it is. I made a post a while ago(http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...ear-wheel.html) but after that i went out of town and didnt drive the car for a month and kinda forgot about it but the problem is still there and it has become louder. I have checked all the bolts I could think of it being, including the axle nut, coilovers, both A arms, the cradle bolts everything and its still there. It clicks 1-3 times when engaging the drivetrain, and will also click if i let off the gas and the drivetrain is still engaged so it has to do with the drivetrain not the suspension as I had though before.

There is also some oil/residue under the inside CV boot/diff area but both the inner and outer boot are in perfect condition. As i've never replaced an axle in a corvette im wondering, is there a seal/bearing that seals the axle to the diff that could be going out and causing a slow leak or is this somewhat normal? There is no debris or oil residue on the passenger side so im thinking its not normal. At this point I dont really know what else to do or check, and i really dont want to take it to a shop if I can avoid it so any ideas on what this could be or what I should do would be greatly appreciated!

BTW, The car does has a Pfadt diff brace if that has anything to do with it.

 

My car had a similar noise and this worked for me to get rid of it (I found this in another post, I am not that smart). Also, I went to Brake Master and had them do it, took 5 minutes and I gave them 10 bucks.

Clicking means its probably an easy fix. Go buy yourself a 33mm wheel nut socket and some grease. Remove each rear wheel, remove the large wheel nut. You find that the half-shafts will slide in and out about an inch. Grease the splines on the shaft without over-doing it. Put it back together then do the other wheel. I don't know the torque value at this second so someone please correct me...think its 120ft lbs but truly don't remember.

Hope this helps.

David in AZ

 

I had this same problem... ended up being the splines get some rust in them and that causes the popping. I had the shop remove the axle shafts, clean the splines, re-grease them and put them back... solved the problem.

 

Sounds like a simple solution I really hope that does the trick and it isn't related tithe actual diff. I'll give the grease a try, thanks for the info guys!

 

I used a motorcycle chain lube on mine and it instantly solved the issue. As warned though, don't over-do it.

 

I had the same problem and it seemed to go away completely when I changed the diff fluid.

Hope it isn't anything major!

 

Just finished putting some greece in the hub, and man was it rusty! The noise is gone now, thanks guys for the help it sure sounded like it was a bigger issue, thank god it wasnt!

 

I had a clicking noise on the drivers side, too. I thought it was the rusty axle splines so I greased them but still had the noise. After searching more I found that the clip on the CV boot, where it is folded back, was sticking up and hitting the brake line. I was lucky that it didn't severe the line. Strange stuff, sometimes.

 

Why would greasing the splines make any difference?? Assuming that the nut is tight, theres NO relative motion between the splined CV joint and the bearing/hub. There's no sliding going on. All the splines do is transfer torque.

 

As your wheel travels up and down, wouldn't that cause your splines to move in and out a little bit?

 

No...the in/out is taken care of by the inner CV joints. The outer CV joints are screwed down tight to the hubs and don't move.