Thourbow Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I shopped a little and found one online rebuilt $375 plus shipping, plus $60 core charge. I personally didn't want to bother sending my core in the mail and the cost diff from rebuilt to new with the core was nominal. I also wanted to keep old one to look into making a stronger set up. So $375 + 60(core) + 60(shipping) = $495. Dealer here wants $530 new! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thourbow Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 inspect the shaft before buying one! Inspecting the drive-shaft is pretty easy you can check the rear u-joint without removing anything accept the four bolts holding it to the yoke of the diff. While on jack stands , remove those (extremely tight) four bolts and push the shaft towards the front of the car. Once off the diff, feel if the u-joint has any play or is binding. If you see the grease stripes like in my picture its pretty much blown too! I hope this helps.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rapture Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 thanks man really appreciate it. im doing my timing belt change next week at my buddys shop where i do all my work to my baby, i'll def. check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSaladino Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 i've been having this for a while now as well... pretty sad that 4 yrs later and we still don't have a good way to stop it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thourbow Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 A good way to stop it? Yeah we do, inspect your rear u-joint! If its bad replace the shaft. If its not that, it's something else! Your car should not make that noise, lowered, modded or stock for that matter! I wish the drive shaft had serviceable u-joints! Any noise your car is making with the stock bushings (unless they are blown) will only get louder with stiffer urethane bushings! I assume the only reason people have had varied success with bushing mods, is because the u-joint at the beginning stages of failure will be inconsistent. Inspect your u-joint! If its good take your drive shaft down to a drive line shop to see if its balanced. Next inspect your differential, rear axle shafts and wheel bearings. Rotate your tires too, to see if the noise moves. Every time I replaced soft bushing with harder one, I increased the NVH heard through the cabin! Hey, I guess if this is not a good way to stop it for you! I have another suggestion, buy a louder stereo, it worked for my fan relay problem!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wpgspecb Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 I've had this noise ever since I got the car used in 2008. It had 60,000 light miles on it. The original owner was in his late 60's and never reset the trip odometer since new, and still read 26mpg average! I wish I could say the same for my driving, my average is in the teens!  The noise was most notable in 1st and 2nd when I first got it, and now does it in hard acceleration in third and fourth I have 89k on it now. I'm now going to tare my car down and replace the clutch because of a bad throw-out bearing and at the same time I'll inspect the drive-line.  This sound, you guys are describing and that I have been experiencing are reminiscent of a blown u-joint. I had a 72 240z with a supercharged LT1 (I blew tones of u-joints!). This will also come and go with temperature changes, since the grease gets displaced or burned and or dries out. The warmer the weather gets the grease will become viscous thus causing the problem to go away, the colder the harder the grease becomes and binding starts all over again.  I'll post here in a moment my conclusion after inspecting the drive-shaft.  the trip odometer only goes up to 10000 then resets. So your viewing 26mpg for the last (at most) 10000miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blongo804 Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 I've read a lot of earlier pages but there did not seem to be an answer.. Was this clunking noise ever resolved? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccorry Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 A good way to stop it? Yeah we do, inspect your rear u-joint! If its bad replace the shaft. If its not that, it's something else! Your car should not make that noise, lowered, modded or stock for that matter! I wish the drive shaft had serviceable u-joints! Any noise your car is making with the stock bushings (unless they are blown) will only get louder with stiffer urethane bushings! I assume the only reason people have had varied success with bushing mods, is because the u-joint at the beginning stages of failure will be inconsistent. Inspect your u-joint! If its good take your drive shaft down to a drive line shop to see if its balanced. Next inspect your differential, rear axle shafts and wheel bearings. Rotate your tires too, to see if the noise moves. Every time I replaced soft bushing with harder one, I increased the NVH heard through the cabin!  Um... with Independent Rear suspension, like our LGT's have, the rear housing will not move with squat (suspension compression or rebound). It is fixed to the unibody via the rear subframe. There is no "pinion angle" change with our cars, like solid rear axle cars, so the rear U-joint isn't really involved from the "suspension" point of view. More likely, it is there to compensate for torsional flex of the chassis and movement in the driveline from the engine / transmission mounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccorry Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 I'll add.... I've rotated my tires, changed wheels and tires, inspected my joints and bushings, looked for interference between the driveline and the body, checked my rear end seals and bearings.... all fine and I still have the issue. The only thing that helped it was putting some 1/4" shims in to raise the rear end up a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thourbow Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Cool.  I just wanted to give another angle to look at, if you physically inspected everything like I did then it must be something else. Or we are describing two diff. things here. I inspected everything and my initial inspection of my drive shaft while it was in the car was good, no issues! It wasn't until I removed it when I noticed the binding and grease marks. Nothing was noticeably loose while in the car. Mccorry is you car lowered? why shim it? My car made the noise before lowering, after lowering with Tien Flex Coilovers which it made the noise at all height's I've adjusted them too. Or did you shim the sub-frame? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccorry Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 Yep... the noise started when I put my lowering springs in... during cold weather and heavy acceleration. I added 1/4" shims to the rear to counteract rear sag (springs settling) and try and remedy the growling issue. It helped a bit... but I still have it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thourbow Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I highly doubt its a lowering issue. I had the noise when my car had the stock springs in it. Same with others that have replied to this post. I think you have fed yourself a placebo like some that have put in bushings.  Have you "REMOVED" your drive-shaft and check the u-joints physically? You said, inspected my joints and bushings this is kinda vague! As you put it, "inspected" doesn't necessarily mean taring a-part and physically checking the parts! It usually means taking a flash light and a piece of cardboard to lay on and looking at stuff.  I can lead you to water, but its your choice to drink it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccorry Posted January 26, 2011 Author Share Posted January 26, 2011 I've had the shaft out... but it was at least a year ago.... Didn't notice any issues with the pivot (U-Joint) at that time. I've got to do a clutch soon, so I might be pulling it out again. This problem has been around for several years (I've had it since '06 or so) with no issues. You're in San Diego? How in the hell could you possibly be having the same issue as us (COLD weather NVH under accel)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonardo Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 I get it in Orlando as well so not prone to cold tepms only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rimfaxe Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Glad to find this thread. I've also been having this issue for several years. I'm running stage II with header, up, down and mid pipe and stock cans. Suspension is Bilstein HD with STI Pinks and butt shims. I also have cusco bracing front and rear and Cobb sways. It seems to be worse in cold weather. I've done a lot of reading but do not see a clear answer. Could this sound be observed when the car is on a dyno? The first issue is to determine WHAT is making the noise. The second is to figure out WHY and then prevent it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccorry Posted January 26, 2011 Author Share Posted January 26, 2011 Exactly. Never had mine on a dyno... but it should show up there, I'd think. Mine never does it unless it's below ~ 35 F or so.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blongo804 Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 This is so weird and the whole thread is a let down. Â I also never noticed mine until temps as mccorry mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBT Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Mine will do it whatever the temps. Most prominent on 90* turns from stop, but can also be induced by launching quickly from a dead stop - Pro amore Dei et patriam et populum - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonardo Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 mine will do it whatever the temps. Most prominent on 90* turns from stop, but can also be induced by launching quickly from a dead stop this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thourbow Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 You're in San Diego? How in the hell could you possibly be having the same issue as us (COLD weather NVH under accel)?  Well it gets down to the 20's at night here some winters and this winter it did just that! But I used to get the noise at any temp, it was just more noticeable on cold mornings. Hey wait a minute, the title of this post says nothing about cold weather!  PS. I don't get this noise anymore! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thourbow Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 not even a little bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thourbow Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 (edited) also my new drive shaft that I ordered from the dealer, had a slightly different carrier bearing and mount for it. The carrier sat lower making a straighter approach to the rear differential. The rear u-joint mount was slightly different too. The rear u-joint had longer and heavier ears on the side that mounts to the yoke of the diff. Looks like they redesigned it slightly strengthen things up and reduce flex that caused the rear joints to loos their grease! Substantial change! I even had to bend my heat shield ever so slightly to make room for the new carrier bearing location and keep it from contacting it. Edited January 28, 2011 by Thourbow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rapture Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 thourbow, awesome man any pics of the new one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thourbow Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 I put it in the car before taking pictures. I'll have to jack up the car this next weekend and do some comparero shots. I was in a hurry to get my car back up and running. I did some more aggressive launches today and it was smooth as silk! I also did a 180 while launching sending the rear end out into a four wheel drift, this too was smooth as silk! The 180 would always produce the sound and this time nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonardo Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 my driveshaft was replaced some time ago (rear grease leak too) but the problem persist. When was yours replaced? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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