MYSTERY ISSUE. Doing my head in. Please Help!

[BigRAWesty]

Do you have a lift kit fitted?

Also gearbox mounts may be stuffed and allowed the gear box to drop, thus reducing the cross member and shaft gap.

[mudnut]

If it does have a lift done, maybe they didn't fit gearbox spacers.

[Evo]

Westy's, mudnut
Yes, has a lift, but had the lift for a while.
Not sure about gearbox spacers. What do they look like? Washers or a plate? But wouldn't spacers bring the gearbox down, bringing the shaft closer to this crossmember?
Not sure about mounts.
Am going to wait for MOF to get home before I go looking under again.

Cheers,

Evo

[nissannewby]

You could try taking the rear shaft out, lock your hubs and put it 4wd so it basically becomes a front wheel drive. If the noise is gone then great if not then it rules it out.

[Parksy]

Ok, so drove, listened, same thing still there. Was there with motor off, hubs locked in or free.
Gritted my teeth and Bit the bullet (got in trouble when the MOF found me under the car), pulled and pushed shafts while in neutral, got the missus to turn the wheels, play with the clutch, and found 2 things.

The rear shaft has no axial (in/out) play or no up/down/sideways movement at gearbox or diff. It does however have some slight rotational play. Is this normal?

Also, just behind the handbrake drum (on back of transmission) there is a crossmember that runs between the chassis rails, right in front of the sub tank. The tailshaft has some fresh looking rotational marks right in line with the highest point of the crossbeam under it. I tried to put my finger between the shaft and crossbeam, but couldn't squeeze it all the way into the gap. I would say the gap would be between 8-10mm
Does this gap sound too small or would the shaft distort that much to contact here?

Also, would either of these be signs of diff wear?

Evo

So just confirming with this response, with the hubs either locked or not, there was no change in noise? When the front hubs are locked, as previously mentioned, they do make abit of noise. I'm guessing your auto hubs aren't disengaging and your front prop is spinning.

[mudnut]

Westy's, mudnut
Yes, has a lift, but had the lift for a while.
Not sure about gearbox spacers. What do they look like? Washers or a plate? But wouldn't spacers bring the gearbox down, bringing the shaft closer to this crossmember?
Not sure about mounts.
Am going to wait for MOF to get home before I go looking under again.

Cheers,

Evo

Can you get some photos of the set up. As Westy said, the mounts could be stuffed.

[Evo]

Ok, so after a few pain killers, a lot of huffing and puffing, a lot of pretending I was a turtle on my back, and many many obscenities, I have ruled out a few things.

-There are no transmission crossmember spacers
-Tail shaft is not contacting the crossmember (front or rear shafts)
-I found the lock nut on the front panhard was floating along the threads (tightened that which solved my steering click)
-Rear diff seems fine, no play in the yoke
-Noise seems to be forward of the front seats
-When jolting the clutch from standstill in first or reverse, there seems to be a clunk or knock in the front end
-When rocking the front side to side (pushing and pulling top of tyre to make front of car move) there seems to be play somewhere in the front axle/suspension.
-Put in 4H, pulled forward, heard hubs click in. Idled along in 1st gear in 4H, jumped out and walked next to car, everything spinning smoothly, front shaft, rear shaft, nothing touching or grinding
-Put in 2H, reversed, heard hubs click out. Idled along again, jumped out again, front shaft not spinning, everything else fine as before


Does this narrow anything down for anyone?

Cheers,

Evo

[mudnut]

With the nut loose on the panhard, the dished washer should be fitted with the convex side to the rubber (dish to nut), or it will loosen the nut. That clunk, or knock could be a loose front wheel bearing. Jack up the front axle until the front wheels are off the ground. Pack under the axle so it wont move, then check if there is vertical movement of the wheels. Also make sure the handbrake is releasing fully as it can cause strange noises to appear in the drive train.

[Evo]

With the nut loose on the panhard, the dished washer should be fitted with the convex side to the rubber (dish to nut), or it will loosen the nut. That clunk, or knock could be a loose front wheel bearing. Jack up the front axle until the front wheels are off the ground. Pack under the axle so it wont move, then check if there is vertical movement of the wheels. Also make sure the handbrake is releasing fully as it can cause strange noises to appear in the drive train.

Panhard has no rubber or washer on the locking nut.
Handbrake is always fully off (I make sure every time)
As for jacking up the front, I don't have the gear to do that sort of thing.
When you say loose bearing, is there an adjustment on there? And would this possibly explain the rumbling issue?

Cheers

Evo

[threedogs]

You can adjust the front wheel bearings, but when mine were loose I had a
shudder of the steering wheel under brakes, but sounds like you're getting closer