Spider DS Thumping

[Rodney Tidwell <rodneygt@domain.elided>]

In a spider I used to have, this was caused by disintegration of the
rubber in the housing (hanger) for the center support bearing.  On
another spider I had, the rubber had not disintegrated but had
apparently lost it consistency allowing the DS to sag.  Of course, you
also have the U-joints, transmission mounts and the flex joint (guibo,
donut, etc.) to check.

Before I replaced the hanger and bearing, I would notice the noise upon
take-off or when trying to accelerate in a high gear from low speeds.
The noise seemed like what I imagine a muffled, low toned and slow rated
machine gun might sound like.

R&R of the center support bearing and its hanger is a fairly time
consuming process and a general PITA without a lift.  However, the job
is fairly straight forward and becomes more obvious as pieces are
removed.  At the time I did the repair, I only had the rear of the car
up about one foot.  I opted not to remove both pieces of the DS from the
car so I had to spend more time than necessary getting the old bearing
off.  It seems like I needed a 36mm socket to remove the coupler from
the back of the front section of DS - not sure though, it's been awhile.

BTW, when/if you order the parts, make sure you order a new circlip (it
holds the bearing in the hanger).  I suppose in a true sense of the
word, it is 'possible' to get the old one out and reuse it.  However,
for a couple of dollars, you'll save yourself a lot of
self-deprecation.  Also, order new slingers in case you damage the old
ones.

Rodney
McComb, MS

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