Sporadic gear noise

[twicks69]

That backlash is a bit high for my taste. I like to have around 3 degrees of backlash on my rear diff builds, but that is my personal taste.

 

[JFZERO ECLIPSE]

Wow, last time I checked mine I didnt have that much free play....It also looked like your carrier bearing bracket was twisting when you were pushing it up and down....

 

[turbosax2]

Perhaps it is time for new carrier bearings.

Is changing the backlash a difficult task? It doesn't look too bad in the FSM but that could be misleading. Perhaps that is a task for the near future too. This could definitely explain the little "slop" I always feel when shifting. I just always figured that was the nature of AWD since this is the only m/t AWD car I've ever driven.

 

[turbosax2]

In the interest of good documentation, here is a video of the noise I experienced. I went forward (noise occurred), backwards (no noise), then forwards again (with the noise). This was all done under 10mph. As you can hear, the noise sounds quite bad!

YouTube - ‪GSX Drivetrain Noise.MOV‬‏

That was taken a few months ago. Last month I finally decided to just rip the driveshaft out and tear it down. Nothing really stood out as being obviously damaged or worn. A friend of mine thought he felt a bit of notchiness in the lobro joint, however, I did not. I do trust his judgement though so it's possible the lobro joint is going bad. Now, I'm just trying to decide what the best course of action is to resolve the issue. I'm not opposed to upgrading the driveshaft (I'm even considering a PST cf 2-piece shaft), but I'm still not even positive the driveshaft is the culprit. I really wish I had access to a spare stocker to throw in...

 

[brian9397gsx]

Almost sounds like brake dust sheilds rubbing on the rotor. To me it sounds like in contact with your rotor, I know on my 97 the pad retainer clips kicked out against the rotor causing a noise similar to that.

 

[turbosax2]

It only happens sporadically.

 

[snowborder714]

When I was walking along side the car, it sounds like it came from underneath in the center of the car. I didn't notice it being really prominent near one of the wheels.

 

[turbosax2]

Judging by a short drive yesterday, a new driveshaft appears to have solved this issue (knock on wood).

 

[big_d]

Sounds like Chewbacca taking a $hit.

...I'd post the video but I'd get a warning.

 

[DSMxTSi]

I have a similar issue but mine mostly happens on the highway while getting onto an off ramp, or once when accelerating lightly from low rpm/high gear. I can't ever make the noise happen and it's once in a blue moon when it does.
I noticed over the weekend that I have a lot of slop where the driveshaft mates to rear of transfercase. Do you think the yoke on front of driveshaft could have been your problem and the new one on your new driveshaft resolved it? Did you notice any slop there, or just at carrier bearing?
Any help is appreciated, I'm just hoping it's a simple yoke replacement and not my transfercase.

 

[turbosax2]

My guess (and this is assuming that the issue is indeed solved), is that one of the carrier bearings was going bad. Not the rubber - the bearing itself.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

What did you replace the drive shaft with? It sounds like you also swapped your carrier bearings out for new ones?

If it was the bearing itself, I'd imagine you could rig it up to spin at a speed close to your 10mph requirement and reproduce the sound.

 

[DSMxTSi]

I'm trying to get the local Chrysler dealer to fix the transfer case recall again. If that doesn't happen (likely) then I'm going to get the yoke replacement and swap that myself. If that doesn't fix my problem then I'll look at the driveshaft as well.

 

[turbosax2]

What did you replace the drive shaft with? It sounds like you also swapped your carrier bearings out for new ones?

2-piece CF shaft from PST with a new direct bolt-on OE style carrier with a heavy duty ball bearing.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

2-piece CF shaft from PST with a new direct bolt-on OE style carrier with a heavy duty ball bearing.

pics! Any driveability impressions?

 

[turbosax2]

I have tons of in-progress pictures, but forgot to get pictures after the exhaust was reinstalled. I'll try to get those this weekend, and get a little more seat time in before commenting on impressions. I'm probably going to take it out again to weigh on an accurate scale at work rather than a bathroom scale.

But here's one picture.

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[turbosax2]

Reactions: Not a night-and-day difference from the stock driveshaft. Definitely smoother overall (tested up to 100mph) and especially smoother on shifting now. I used to get a noticeable clunk during shifting, nothing horrible but noticeable. That is gone now for the most part. As far as a power improvement, I have not noticed anything in the butt dyno. But my car is slow anyway.

But most importantly, the crazy noise is gone!

The only installation problem was the fuel tank shield needed to be cut to provide adequate clearance. I had less than 1/8" clearance before, now I have at least a finger's width at all points.

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