Clicking/creaking noise from rear
07-16-2003, 03:29 AM
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Clicking/creaking noise from rear
I've narowed it down to the rear passenger side. It's definately suspension related; I rocked the car up and down and that's how I knew where it was coming from. But other than the genearl location, I"m not sure what would be causing it and I'm open to suggestion as to what to start with. This is the side where my spring broke recently and unfortunately for a while I had to drive around like that. However, it didn't start making the noise until recently.
07-16-2003, 11:26 AM
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St. Jude Donor '05-'06
Re: Clicking/creaking noise from rear (Enkil)
Enkil,
Talk about a can of worms......
I just (well almost OK!!) finished a frame on restoration. During the process I hopefull got rid of all my creaks/sqeaks/rattles and clicks. Here are possible sources:
Steel Spring - The old VIP article talked about pulling it apart and greasing it. I am not sure about what grease but it should be compatible with the liners. I replaced my spring with a fibreglass one from Van Steel (TRW brand).
Strut Rods - You need to understand the geometry of the Strut Rods to realise the stress and strain they are really under. Only way to do this is to put the car on jackstands / lift and move the trailing arm through its range of movement. Tte strut rod bushings take a hiding. The strud rods also have to twist to allow for angular movement of the T-Arm. how does it do that? Well by making the strut rod bushing larger (approx20-40 thousands) larger then the shock mount bolt that goes tot the spindle, it gives it the ability to pivot on that bolt, but also allows for movement in the vertical. If it cannot pivot it will bind and possibly click as it moves out of bind...Consider if you hit a pothole what happens. T-Arm moves up (with shockmount bolt) vertically 20 thousands, then engages the strud rod (with a click!) which then restrains the trailing arm from moving IN/OUT but allows it to travel up and down. If you pop the shcok mount bolt out (get the special removal tool) you will see wear on that bolt and it may even be eliptical. You will also notice the bushings on the outboard side of the rods are worn at an angle. Chevrolette seemed to pick the simple solution for the independent suspension. Make the tolerances large and the linkages won't bind. You could argue for my 33 year old car it worked fine but it is noisy and inefficient.
Solution - This is where I finally got to use that engineering degree...(well week one anyway). Replace the strut rods with Hiem Joint Strut rods. Van Steel has them and they are works of art. Supposed the ride will be "stiffer" with them but I would argue that because you are actually "freeing" up the movement of the strut rod. Next you need to get a good fit for the inner diameter of the heim joints (outer side) with your shcok mount bolts. You should get a bunch of them and go for best fit. I ordered 3 of each side from a large Corvette retailer and measured the outside Diameter on all of them. I chose the ones that were closest fit to the Inside Diameter of the Hiem joint. The end result was I have the bolts and hiem joints matched down to abaout 1 thousands of an inch, as opposed to the original values of 20-40 thousands of and inch on new strut rods (original style bushings) and unmatched shcok mount bolts. The ones in my car before teh rebuild were closer to 60 thousands due to wear.
Rear Bearings - Don't even go inside there. Find a vendor/mechanic you can trust to rebuild it. Spindle can torque and bearings wear, after that it if the fail the rear end of you car gets a free invite to uglyville. I used Van Steel again to rebuild the trailing arms - 5 year warranty, unlimited mileage.
Rear T-Arm Shims - Are they lose? Split pin missing. If they can move around in the housing they may hit the T-Arm when it moves up and down
Park Brake - Aother ugly area. It is inside the rear spindle area and can be checked by the average joe but I would reccomend gettting it rebuilt if you do the bearing/T-Arms.
Shocks - In good repair? I don't know if they can "click" but some people say they should be changed at every 25-40,000 miles.
Good luck. Just find before you replace it gets pretty expensive back there!
Regards,
:cheers:
Pete
AKA STINGRY
[Modified by stingry, 4:27 PM 7/16/2003]
Talk about a can of worms......
I just (well almost OK!!) finished a frame on restoration. During the process I hopefull got rid of all my creaks/sqeaks/rattles and clicks. Here are possible sources:
Steel Spring - The old VIP article talked about pulling it apart and greasing it. I am not sure about what grease but it should be compatible with the liners. I replaced my spring with a fibreglass one from Van Steel (TRW brand).
Strut Rods - You need to understand the geometry of the Strut Rods to realise the stress and strain they are really under. Only way to do this is to put the car on jackstands / lift and move the trailing arm through its range of movement. Tte strut rod bushings take a hiding. The strud rods also have to twist to allow for angular movement of the T-Arm. how does it do that? Well by making the strut rod bushing larger (approx20-40 thousands) larger then the shock mount bolt that goes tot the spindle, it gives it the ability to pivot on that bolt, but also allows for movement in the vertical. If it cannot pivot it will bind and possibly click as it moves out of bind...Consider if you hit a pothole what happens. T-Arm moves up (with shockmount bolt) vertically 20 thousands, then engages the strud rod (with a click!) which then restrains the trailing arm from moving IN/OUT but allows it to travel up and down. If you pop the shcok mount bolt out (get the special removal tool) you will see wear on that bolt and it may even be eliptical. You will also notice the bushings on the outboard side of the rods are worn at an angle. Chevrolette seemed to pick the simple solution for the independent suspension. Make the tolerances large and the linkages won't bind. You could argue for my 33 year old car it worked fine but it is noisy and inefficient.
Solution - This is where I finally got to use that engineering degree...(well week one anyway). Replace the strut rods with Hiem Joint Strut rods. Van Steel has them and they are works of art. Supposed the ride will be "stiffer" with them but I would argue that because you are actually "freeing" up the movement of the strut rod. Next you need to get a good fit for the inner diameter of the heim joints (outer side) with your shcok mount bolts. You should get a bunch of them and go for best fit. I ordered 3 of each side from a large Corvette retailer and measured the outside Diameter on all of them. I chose the ones that were closest fit to the Inside Diameter of the Hiem joint. The end result was I have the bolts and hiem joints matched down to abaout 1 thousands of an inch, as opposed to the original values of 20-40 thousands of and inch on new strut rods (original style bushings) and unmatched shcok mount bolts. The ones in my car before teh rebuild were closer to 60 thousands due to wear.
Rear Bearings - Don't even go inside there. Find a vendor/mechanic you can trust to rebuild it. Spindle can torque and bearings wear, after that it if the fail the rear end of you car gets a free invite to uglyville. I used Van Steel again to rebuild the trailing arms - 5 year warranty, unlimited mileage.
Rear T-Arm Shims - Are they lose? Split pin missing. If they can move around in the housing they may hit the T-Arm when it moves up and down
Park Brake - Aother ugly area. It is inside the rear spindle area and can be checked by the average joe but I would reccomend gettting it rebuilt if you do the bearing/T-Arms.
Shocks - In good repair? I don't know if they can "click" but some people say they should be changed at every 25-40,000 miles.
Good luck. Just find before you replace it gets pretty expensive back there!
Regards,
:cheers:
Pete
AKA STINGRY
[Modified by stingry, 4:27 PM 7/16/2003]
07-16-2003, 02:56 PM
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Re: Clicking/creaking noise from rear (stingry)
Hmm, well it's a composite spring so I suppose I can rule that out.
While I was drving it around without a spring one night I heard not quite a pop, but tha'ts the best way I could describe it. When I got around to putting the new spring on, the rear passenger side was "stuck" up -- the wheel didn't move down when the car was jacked up like the other side did. It just took a little push and it fell down, but I"m willing to bet it's related to that.
It doesn't seem like it would be the wheel bearings since it does this when the car's not moving -- I would think that if it were the bearings it would need to be in motion to hear it.
It could quite possibly be some bushings as they're all 20 years old.
I'll keep looking and keep posting.
While I was drving it around without a spring one night I heard not quite a pop, but tha'ts the best way I could describe it. When I got around to putting the new spring on, the rear passenger side was "stuck" up -- the wheel didn't move down when the car was jacked up like the other side did. It just took a little push and it fell down, but I"m willing to bet it's related to that.
It doesn't seem like it would be the wheel bearings since it does this when the car's not moving -- I would think that if it were the bearings it would need to be in motion to hear it.
It could quite possibly be some bushings as they're all 20 years old.
I'll keep looking and keep posting.