Drive shaft lateral movement

[Lewie]

Hi all,

Normally I reside in the VB-VK side of the house but my trusty VT has a bit of an issue. Today I was driving it when began to hear a very faint metallic knocking sound that would change with the speed of the car not the engine. I would come and go but by the end of the day it developed into quite a head turning noise with a slight vibration at certain speeds. I thought it might be the noise of something rotating on the tail shaft hitting the exhaust as it was kind of a hollow metallic sound and it sounded like it was coming from the rear half of the car so when I got home I put it up on the stands to check things out.

Nothing obvious jumped out at me but I did think there was a little too much movement in the tail shaft so I took it our and checked it out. All uni's were fine and the center baring looks fine to. No excessive movement. I gave the axles a bit of a wiggle and to my surprise they moved in and out about 1-2mm each side. There is no noticeable movement up and down just from the diff center to the wheel hub. Should there be any movement there? One of the boots on the diff end has split to

I did notice that I could just feel it through the handbrake lever but nothing on the brake pedal.

Tail shaft is still out and the car is still up on the stands ready for round 2 tomorrow morning. Any areas I could check out would be helpful as I don't have a manual for it. Really this is the first unexpected issue I've had with it.

VT Series 1 Exec V6
300+k kms

Thanks gurus.

 

[Lewie]

Any ideas?????

 

[Clutchy]

they have to have some movement as the car goes up and down the drive shafts will move with the car if they were solid they would bind up.

 

[89vn_Jai]

The rear axles on those IRS commodores are fairly common to wear out in the CV joint parts of the axles. If you are certain all parts of the tailshaft are okay I would say the CV joints. A split boot will only speed up the wear and tear as dust and dirt will get in. Pretty sure you can get them reconditioned (new CV's) otherwise brand new ones. You can get these aftermarket. (Holden want a lot of money for their ones).

 

[89vn_Jai]

Sorry forgot to say; the CV's just shouldn't have any twisting movement. Hold the axle itself and then twist the outer part of the CV joint back and forth for the inner joint. Same for the outer except you can use the wheel while holding the axle.
Hope you can understand what I am saying, I am not the best at explaining something in writing

 

[oska]

i had similar problem a couple of weeks ago the noise would come and go just like you describe

turned out to be one of the pads had worn right down since doing the rear brakes the noise hasn't returned

 

[Lewie]

Thanks for the replies. I replaced the drive shaft anyway but it wasn't the cause of the noise in the OP. It is either the diff or the transmission. I lost all drive coasting down a hill (went to overtake) and got nothing but a grinding clunking noise. I have left it on the side of the road for the moment and haven't gone back to see if I have any other gears as yet but I am pretty sure it'll need a tow home.

Wasted so much time with the tail shaft and drive shafts. Even found I had lost all the bushes, washers and nuts from the bottom of one swaybar link pin and found a bolt missing from the back of the front brake caliper slide pin. Nothing is going right!!! After I fixed all these things I take it for a drive and can't fault it. I thought I had sorted it out and then this happens. Such a shite week so far. And it's not even a pay week!