Re: clunk and freeplay in driveline..Scout II

[Howard R Pletcher <n9ads@domain.elided>]

On Wed, 03 Mar 99 15:25:19 PST tonygull@domain.elided writes:
>There is a loud clunk in the driveline of my 78 Traveller. This occurs 
>upon engagement of the driveline and is most obvious
>when engaging reverse. It can also be heard to a lesser extent when
engaging >forward, also, say on a high speed downhill
>with no throttle, slamming pedal to floor will elicit the same sound.
>
> It does not clunk or vibrate at all under normal conitions.
>
>It is a definite sound of metal banging into metal. To my ear it sounds
=
>like it might even be emanating form the wheel end of the rear axles!!
>under the car i found that i can rotate the driveshaft by hand by about
=
>3/8 inch. this causes the sound in a very muted way
>
>I greased the splined section of the shaft which slightly muted the
sound=
> but not a lot
>uni jounts are fairly new according to PO he replaced them as part of 
the=
> overhaul he did, also rebuilt the transfer case
>took vehicle to a dif specialist and also a very experience fwd mechanic
>neither of them felt my dif was about to blow up which was what was
worry=
>ing me, both said that it was within normal for an old fwd
>to bang around like that
>the dif man said the slop was in the transfer case but he was puzzled as
=
>to why the drivshaft would "spring back" if rotated by hand
>ie u rotate it by hand 3/8 ' and let it go it will spring back to its 
>previous position as if preloaded.
>he did say there did not appear to be excessive freeplay in the pinion
bearing
>anyway they both agreed it was probably not worth trying anything more 
>at this stage
>
>IS THIS NORMAL?      none of my other cars will allow me to rotate their
=
>driveshafts like that, there is no freeplay.
>
>I would appreciate some scout expert opinions on this?  how much 
>freeplay is 'normal"
>are there any furhet diagnostics suggested?    does the dana 44 dif give
=
>any teltale signs of imminent failure?
>according to our Scout club newsletter rear difs have been failing
recent=
>ly apparently due to age related wear
>just read the posts on diff cover gaskets which answerd some questions 
>but i dont really want to remove cover just for a look
>my vehicle has the stock 345/auto/dana driveline
>
>
The noise and freeplay are not normal.  The clunk sounds like a bad
U-joint, even though they may have been replaced.  I'm surprised your
mechanics didn't find something when they looked at it.

I would remove the driveline and check to see if you can see the freeplay
in either the diff input shaft or the transfercase output shaft.  You
should see something in one of them, or else it about has to be the
U-joints.

Good luck.

Howard Pletcher
Howteron Products Scout Parts

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