Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2012 13:24:01 -0400
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Rear End Vibrations
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
Defective CV joints usually click and clunk. Vibrations and other noises usually mean bearings.
Dennis
Sent from my Windows Phone
________________________________
From: orin
Sent: 7/12/2012 10:53 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Rear End Vibrations
Hello!
I've been having some pretty loud vibration/noise coming from the read of
my '88 Vanagon GL. I did some research and reading on the list and at the
Samba and it seemed like checking the CV joints was a good place to start.
I also read this article:
http://www.van-cafe.com/home/van/page_16_9/cv_joint_maintenence.html
for more info on checking/replacing CV joints. At this point I feel like I
probably have worn CV joints, but I'm not totally confident and I thought I
would ask here before moving forward with the work.
One thing I'm not totally clear on comes from the above article:
"Another test you can easily perform (thanks to Mark Drillock) is to park
on level ground, tranny in neutral, parking brake off (wheels chocked,
please!) and try to manually move the axle from side to side. When the CVs
are badly worn, the axle will move quite easily, and may even hit the
flange plug/cover on the transmission side (clunk). "
When performing this test I believe the author means to move the axle
toward the wheel/away from the transmission and back, in which case my
axles do move about an inch, fairly easily. The thing that confuses me is
that I imagine the axles have to move in and out to compensate for the
position of the wheel in relation to the transmission. So, is the inch or
so of play normal, or a sign of a bad CV joint? The other test mentioned
in the article, driving in tight circles and listening for clunking/noise,
did not reveal anything.
The one other thing that makes me think it could be the CV joint is this.
When cornering at highway speed, when the vibration/noise is most
noticeable, I found that while turning more sharply the vibration/noise
stops. My theory, based on no real experience with CV joints, is that as
the weight of the van shifts to one side it stabilizes the joint, stopping
the vibration. Is this guess totally out of line? One last diagnostic,
when braking the van I can feel the vibration in the brake pedal. I can't
feel the vibration in any other way, i.e. the steering, and the vibration
while braking seems to be getting worse.
Also, I did check the torque on the retaining bolts for the CV joints on
the tranny side and the wheel side, everything was tight and in place.
While working there I did check around for anything else loose, but didn't
see anything.
I'd appreciate anyone's experience or suggestions as to whether I am on the
right track or not. If not, any other thoughts on what could be causing
the vibration?
Thanks everyone!
--
'88 Vanagon GL w/ Suby 2.2 conversion
* My Blog <http://orinsalah.blogspot.com/>
* My Photos <http://www.flickr.com/photos/orinsalah/>
