Driveline Noise, Part 3

[Tony Canike <canike@xxxxxxxxx>]

Part 1 summary:   Noise and shift lever vibration on acceleration in 1st 
gear.   Driveshaft and center bearing are still factory at 208K.   Guibo 
has 30K on it.    Many excellent suggestions from the list on possible causes.

Part 2 summary:   Shift lever vibration noted in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 
5th.  Hope it's not the transmission....did I order the right parts?   One 
of you reminded me that the driveshaft, etc. are well-due anyway - and that 
turned out to be true.

Here's Part 3:

Well, the old girl is back together and is very happy.   Everything between 
the transmission output and diff input is new.  The guibo was extremely 
frag'd - almost three separate pieces.   The shift lever vibration was 
caused, among other things, the pieces of the guibo expanding and pounding 
the shift linkage.   The rear U-joint was bad (felt like there were detents 
on the bearing - and there probably were.)   The center bearing was noisy 
when rotated by hand.   Just a whole mess.

Prior to replacement I did eventually notice the problem in 4th also - so 
my "Part 2" message described a red herring.

The info that the shaft can be removed without removing the whole exhaust 
system (I just pulled the rear half) was very helpful.  Pulling the rear 
transmission support was the key (yes, got new trans mounts too.)  Some 
suggested to replace the shift linkage bushings while everything was 
apart  and I did it too.  She shifts like new now!   At the suggestion of 
the person who sold me the shift selector bushing, I put a little silicon 
goop where the felt usually goes and squished it on the selector 
shaft.  We'll see how that holds up.

High speed road hum is also greatly reduced now.   No sign of trans or diff 
problems.

Now, hope this guibo lasts longer then 30K.   I'm presuming the bad center 
bearing and U joint contributed to failure.   Or perhaps the part was 
defective.   The trans seals were not leaking, they are relatively new.

Thanks again for the help,

Tony.

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