74Coupe

Over the past couple of days I removed my half shafts and drive shaft, took them down to the local machine shop and had them press in new universal joints that I got from Autozone. Put everything back in along with a new snubber on the diff and adjustable strut rods I got from Zip Restorartion Store. Before putting tires back on I started the engine and put in gear (its an auto). I then noticed the drivers side rear hub bouncing up and down and the half shaft itself wobbling, along with a noticable squeak at each rotation. The passenger side was rock steady and NO wobble. Does this sound like a bad u-joint, bent half shaft, yoke from diff gone..???? HELP
PS.... last year I had the brakes and rear bearings replaced by a local Corvette shop, they never mentioned that there may have been a problem with the haft shaft.

mrvette

that clunking can vary with the individual Ujoint installed, it's beyond it's flex points...jack up the rear by the shock mounts...supports...and load the spring....it should disappear I hear you right....

GENE

Steve Straus

If you ran the car with the rear on jackstands you probably just ruined your yokes and halfshafts. The car was not designed for them to be run at that angle. The yokes will bind. I would take them off and have them carefully inspected. It may be ok since you didn't have the weight of the wheels there, but you really shouldn't do that.

Flareside

They will definitely wobble and bind when they are free hanging, although I doubt there is any damage (unless you left it running!) because they go into that position whenever the car goes over a very large bump on the road.

74Coupe

Thanks for the help guys, BUT, I just raised the hubs up to approx ride height, and tried again. Let engine idle up to operating temp, kicked down the choke and put car in gear. The noise and wobble were considerably less but were still there. :cry Have i done damage to the yoke? The half shaft and u-joints relly don't bother me (it's only money :cry :cry :cry). really am concerned about the yoke, I am not confident about taking the diff apart. Anybody have any suggestions? Thanks

WATTAC

I hate to have to agree with all the above "bad news", but there is a good chance you damaged both your rear half shafts. And in response to the statement that these normally drop down to this level when you "fly the car" that's only true if your shocks are allowing over extension. When I replaced my shocks I made sure they stopped the T-arm travel before the shafts would bind. Some after-market shocks extend further than the originals. Check before buying/installing. Hope for the best, but check it all out before you take it for a strong high speed run. These things are not nice when they break under the car.

Andy

Woodstoc

Just another addition....Did you put the halfshaft back into the same position as you took them off? Drivers side, pass side as well as direction? They may be balanced for a particular position.

GTR1999

Another thought and I hope it's not this. Do you know how they installed the new u-joints? If they used a press and didn't support the joint flange that bolts to the spindle flange it could have been bent by the press. Usually this flange is bolted to an old spindle flange or steel plate to prevent it from bending under pressure.
Gary

74Coupe

Woodstoc, I was very carefut to mark the shafts as to the correct side and orientation thanks

BUT

Gary, I think you have hit the nail on the head. When I picked up the shafts at the machine shop the guy told me that they had a bi*ch of a time getting the new universal into the flange. So much so that they tried 2 other universal of different makes and had the same problem, but after a few more tries they finally managed to get my u-joint into the flange. I just went out an climbed under the car and took a close look at both flanges, and YES there are many more NEW scratches and one good size gouge in the flange on the drivers side (this is the side with the wobble). :smash: :smash:

Thanks for all the help and ideas

Stewart's74

Same thing happened to me.....no, I didnt run the car while it was on the jackstands...After I finished the rebuild I turned the spindle by hand and noticed that they were not spinning freely as they were before the rebuild. I camee to the conclusion that the adjustable strut rods I installed were not the same length as the old ones. Once I measured them and adjusted them to the proper length the problem with the shafts binding went away.
Hope this helps

Stew