Player0

Okay, so the past couple of days now I've noticed a clunking noise coming from the back right of my car.

It happens at low speeds, under 30, and when going in a straight line. It seems to happen more under acceleration.

I haven't noticed any differences while turning. The noise clears up entirely over 30. It doesn't seem to make noise under braking. It even seems to clear up a little after breaking a small amount.

It really seems to happen more during acceleration. It certainly happens when the car is very warm, though it may also happen when it's cold too, but I'm not sure yet.

Any ideas before I jack it up this weekend to try and find it?

All the CV bolts are new and tight last I checked. They never made a noise when loose before, just clunk when it snapped off.

I've been meaning to clean and repack the CV joints but they've seemed fine other times.

It's more clunky than warble so I'd be surprised if it was a rear bearing, but maybe they sound like that on this car?

mel_t_vin

There've been a few "clunk in rear" threads posted recently and root cause, in most, points in the direction of loose axle bolts or worn CV joints.

Grab a hold of your axles and check for non-binding lateral play/movement in the joints. I suspect you probably have one or more torn boots and/or dry/contaminated CV joints.

Let us know what you find.

Jamesr6967

Mine did the exact same thing! Grabbed the right rear wheel and tried to move it, nothing. It got worse and had it towed to my shop. Turns out it was a wheel bearing, the other one on same wheel was in poor shape but not as bad. Did both right and left side bearings since the other wheel probably would become an issue too.

Player0

Hmm, thanks for the replies. I'm still working out how I can determine if the CV joints are to blame without disassembling them. I'd be interested to know how to work out a bearing issue as well.

Sounds like I need to jack it up either way and see if I can reproduce it by hand. Sounds like that might be difficult though.

How much live to CV joints usually have if kept well greased? These have 100K on them so I'm not sure if replacing a clunking one is just a good idea versus trying to rebuild and repack.

Player0

Well, the rear wheel feels solid. I don't notice any play in the wheel itself.

I also don't notice any lateral play on the axel. There's a slight popping noise when pulling the axel lengthwise (lengthening the joints) but that noise seems consistent with the other side of the car.

Twisting the axel there's very slight play which is probably just gear lash I guess. It's similar on the other side.

I started to remove the axel anyway but I have a frozen, and now stripped, cheesehead. Ugh.

mel_t_vin

The axles are designed to have non-binding lateral play. The popping [in your CVJs?] could be related to worn bearings/races.

After you pull that stripped cheesehead, take a few pics and let us know what you come across.

LuigiVampa

I had this a million years ago when I worked for Goodyear. Old timer who brought the car in had a lose bowling ball in the trunk. True story.

Player0

We hace candlepin bowling here in MA so I'm not sure a larger bowling ball could be to blame, but I'll be sure to check it out

KuHL 951

Have you tried swapping the axles from side to side so they now load in the opposite direction? If the noise goes away it's the CV's and the swap will buy you some time.

Player0

I'm still trying to get the axle disconnected. I freed the stuck bolt and have the hub side disconnected. But each of the transmission side bolts is completely fused and I'm going to end up stripping the heads. I see some red residue and I'm worried it might be red loctite.

Is there any way to remove a loctite'd bolt without heat? I'm right underneath the fuel line, and the transmission lines are right there as well.

Is there any point to using the impact wrench on the cheeseheads? This might allow me to get more pressure on the bolts, but do impacts strip out 12 points easier?

I'm wondering if I should just move to cutting or drilling the bolt heads off. But maybe I can do something while these buggers still have some head left.

Player0

Oh, not red loctite, but blue. I got all remaining 6 bolts out without stripping a one. PB blaster worked this miracle. I was able to squirt it in from behind right close to the stuck threads.

Axle is loose but damn if I know how to drop it out of the vehicle now. Gotta search for that, but if anyone knows (this is the passenger side) id be much appreciative.

Player0

Okay, took a little hulk rage, but I got the thing out. I'm not sure I can get it back in. The fuel filter seems to be most in the way of me lifting the inner bit upwards past the transmission hub. Removing some of the loosened CV bolts jammed in there helped make just enough room to harshly yank it out. Not a smooth process, but maybe removing the filter would help next time.

Player0

The small spider gear on the outside cv joint has significant wear but no pitting. The spider gear on the inside cv joint has terrible pitting on all splines, but one side only. The cages have some very large divots on the inside edges where the ***** sit. The outer rings have a good bit of wear but no pitting. The ball bearings have just hint traces of a little pitting on one or two, but not enough to worry about I think.

I think I'm replacing the really bad inner spider gear. I could rotate it to wear on the other side but I feel it's in bad enough shape that it ought to just go away.

I might be able to salvage the other CV joint but I need to figure out how much wear on the cage is acceptable. It certainly shows 100K miles though, a bunch of those being on the track.

Player0

One of the worn teeth. This isn't the worst one, but it's the only photo in focus

http://imgur.com/nUKSuB3,sKFvDWj#0

Here's the cage. I'm not sure how much pitting here is acceptable.

http://imgur.com/nUKSuB3,sKFvDWj#1

Player0

Oh, if it matters, some of the bearings just fell out loosely. I only had to pop some out with my fingers.