tacos

...at least I think it's from the driveline. It seems to be coming from the shifter. It can be felt in the clutch pedal. (but what can't in this car.)

It sounds almost grind-y, but sounds like an exhaust leak when I manage to catch it on video.
(I made the car jerk a little with the clutch on one of these to demonstrate it happens then a little too)

Also, it pulses a couple times a second.
Happens when letting the clutch out to start off, or accelerating gently in any gear, or downshifting without trying to rev match
but not every time I do any of these things.

DOESN'T happen when sitting in neutral, sitting in gear with clutch pedal to the floor, cruising, or coasting, or accelerating hard.

I've owned the car for a year, and I don't think this is the "marbles in a can" sound we've all grown to love (sarcasm.) This is louder and scarier. This noise seems to follow engine speed, not road speed. and happens anywhere on the speedo (as long as I'm accelerating,) it just seems to be louder the slower I'm going. (But it could just seem quieter because there's less road noise.)

I've got a couple other problems I've been noticing, but I don't think they're related. A/C clutch has been making that buzzing noise after revving in neutral like this: and harmonic balancer wobble and squeak like this: (except my wobble is way worse.)

Some possibilities I've thought up:
1) glazed clutch - It doesn't seem like it's slipping though.
2) bearing on the driveshaft - but wouldn't that grind no matter whether I was accelerating or not, as long as the clutch wasn't pushed in?
3) harmonic balancer and A/C clutch combining to cause the belt to slap or stress the A/C clutch under load - seems like a long shot though.
4) bad clutch throw out bearing - except if I understand how those sound when they fail, it would only make noise when the clutch pedal is pressed.

I'm going back to school in three weeks, and I'd REALLY like to have this figured out by then, so any input is greatly appreciated.

AORoads

I haven't heard a vid of HB that made that noise but possibly in combination w. something else it could be. If it's happening when you let out the clutch from stop, sounds more to me like a clutch issue, i.e., throw out, plates being glazed, worn, etc. Could be master cyl. also. Others will chime in. Good luck with it but if you have an HB problem, unfortunately now is the time to get it fixed, too, before you start school again.

tacos

It also happens when the clutch is out though. And it doesn't seem like it's slipping, so I don't know how it would make noise. But I guess anything's possible.

I just replaced the master cylinder a few weeks ago... what a difference that made!
...of course now that I think about it, the extra stress from the master cylinder actually working could have contributed to this in some way...

tacos

Well, the noise is worse now. It happens any time the engine is running with the clutch pedal out. And there's a loud rattle as well.

when I push the clutch in while the car is in neutral it takes a couple of seconds to calm down, which makes me pretty positive it's the driveshaft.

Gonna try and get the car in the air tomorrow. Anybody have any step-by-step how-to guides to dropping the trans and tube or replacing the clutch?

etaylor14

Sounds like torque tube bearings to me.

KOTYKB

Any updates?

tacos

Had to get tools. Went and bought a harbor freight transmission jack. apparently nobody near new orleans sells hockey pucks, so I just used scrap plywood for jacking pucks. it's cheap and plentiful.

I've got the torque tube all but dropped. Just gotta disconnect the wires and the brake line to the right rear, if I can ever find it. Hopefully it won't rain again tomorrow, and I'll be able to tell what's actually going on. But I'm 99% sure it's either the couplings or the bearings. I might just replace them all while i've got the car apart.

side note: I started the car up without the x-pipes in place. damn that sounds good. I need to find a shop to make me up some straight pipes. then I took the cats off. pretty sure everyone within a block shat themselves after I started it up like that! (And there's a pool of oil under every mustang in the city.)

also, I found a 13 mm stubby mac tools ratcheting wrench jammed up between the bell housing and the frame. free tools! it almost makes up for having to fix all the crap the last idiot to work on this car left for me. cross-threaded bolts, non-matching bolts and nuts, and torn up insulation.

I really am amazed how easy this car is to do extensive work on, once you actually manage to get a jack underneath it. I was going to go buy a lower-profile jack until I had an idea, and maybe this will help someone... drive the car up on a couple of pieces of 2x4! I don't know why I didn't think of this before.

Oh, and another hint for anyone using this as a reference later on trying to drop their torque tube: for the top two bolts holding the TT to the bell housing-- go through the shifter hole inside the car. I just stuck together all the extensions I owned and it was enough. and the flex from all those joints lets you bend them enough that you can get the one on the passenger side. a universal joint helps immensely as well. I must've laid on my back for 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get at those two bolts with my fat hands before I decided to work on the interior.

ColtaBilly

Just saw this post. I had a similar noise in my 05. Turned out to be a frozen pilot bearing in the flywheel. It ate into the front guide of the spline of the torque tube.
I did the change in my garage also. Good tip about those top bell housing bolts - they were a PITA.
Good luck!

tacos

Thanks!

Just got the tube off. it's the bearings. But I can't get these PITA snap rings off. Anybody know how short of spending $60 on a tool I'll only hopefully use once?

tacos

Also, anybody got the part numbers or a way to get these bearings for a decent price?

RicK T

This is the only documented snap ring mention I've seen. It's from C5 but I'm sure it's the same:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1567912008-post43.html

tacos

Also, I JUST FOUND OUT MY CAR IS A Z51! WOO! BONUS!

AORoads

That may actually be good news since A) OP has tools already fr. Harbor F., and B) usually tools are "cheaper" there in both senses of the word. Hopefully, he gets it all back together. Interesting tip about going from the inside by the shifter hole.

23/C8Z

i purchased a new assembly from GM when mine went. i wanted NOTHING to do with that tube or the inner workings after reading about the horror stories of people reassembling them only to have them fail within a year due to defective shaft and/or other parts.. the labor to replace was worth the expense (imo)..

Best of luck though.. if you're keeping the car for a while? it's something to think about...


PS. mine was rusted badly, just the one bearing in the one spot on the tube.. crazy.. no idea how or why, but i've seen a few the same way (on another forum) no real reason anyone can figure as to what would cause this given it's encased pretty well..

tacos

found the actual sizes of the bearings

35X62X14MM x 1
40X68X15MM x 2

So I could get this done as cheap as $50... but...

Part numbers are:
6007 2RSJEM (SKF part number) or 9107PP (Timken part number) x 1
6008 2RSJEM or 9108PP x 2


looks like I can get SKF bearings for $60 for all 3, shipped, from eBay... if I trust eBay...
SKF seems to be one of the most highly regarded manufacturers on maintenanceforums.com, so it's probably good enough.

edit: found SKF's amazon page.

tacos

Got the torque tube disassembled today. The bearings are actually fine. The bushings are not bad.



Wondering what the terrible noise was from?



Probably had SOMETHING to do with the two bushing bolts that were in no way attached to the driveshaft, and all the resulting aluminum shavings. I wasn't hearing the bearings going out... I was hearing the bolts eat away the torque tube.

Oh, and half of the bolts were allen head, half were torx. There was NO loc-tite on any of them.

AORoads

That's really good pictorial record of what's taking place. I wonder if the engineers specing the torque tube know of this torx/allen head finding? I wonder also if it's intentional---I doubt it, but I have no way of knowing. You may want to send them a short writeup with your pics and findings.

tacos

I'm pretty sure this is from a previous repair. Don't those bolts come from the factory with loc-tite?


Anyway, parts come in later this week, I'm going to go ahead and change all the fluids for the rear end while I've got easy access. At least the diff... not sure if I can get the trans fluid changed correctly with the cooling lines disconnected. It's currently leaking all over my driveway.

tacos

Well crap. The bolts backing out ruined the driveshaft's threading. I've got to replace it. Or try and helicoil the whole mess, but that could mess with balance or weaken the area.
anybody selling a driveshaft?

tacos

Called the driveshaft shops around here, none of them would touch it. aluminum and such.
So I bought a used driveshaft from fellow CF member turbo-guy, hopefully that will be coming in monday.
Tried to change the diff fluid today, the transmission jack was in the way. So that will have to wait.
So, I used today's "car time" to check out some parts while I've got easy access.
The good news, the pilot bearing and throw out bearing are still good, as is the evap solenoid. (I'd been getting the "Check Gas Cap" message intermittently, despite replacing it a few months ago. Guess I had been pushing on the cap too much.)
Two worrying things about the slave cylinder--There's a small rip in the boot. about half an inch. Might try and put some silicone on it or something. probably not a big deal.
also there's a bit of fluid around the fitting... probably from pulling on it during the disassembly. Going to have to check on that. Those quick disconnect fittings are convenient, but they aren't the most secure.