Terrible noise coming from (rear diff?/rear left wheel?)

Stella87 · Post by **Stella87** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 11:11 am

My Delica has developed a horrible metallic grinding clunking noise when making a left hand turn from a standstill i e pulling away from a curb or a hard left while in motion IE making a U-turn to the left. I have not had any time to dig into it to check the diff fluids or wheel bearing but any pointers in what steps I should take first is much appreciated, or if anyone has had this issue... What did you find / fix? I find it strange that it's only on left hand turns so it would seem to rule out the diff...

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Stella87 · Post by **Stella87** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 11:16 am

Stella87 wrote:My Delica has developed a horrible metallic grinding clunking noise when making a left hand turn from a standstill i e pulling away from a curb or a hard left while in motion IE making a U-turn to the left. I have not had any time to dig into it to check the diff fluids or wheel bearing but any pointers in what steps I should take first is much appreciated, or if anyone has had this issue... What did you find / fix? I find it strange that it's only on left hand turns so it would seem to rule out the diff...

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A while back I had the U joints replaced on the rear drive shaft and always wondered if the mechanic aligned it properly or if it's out of balance because the rear end always seem to have a slight hum to it at speeds or when accelerating hard I don't know if this could be related at all

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Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 4:59 pm

First things first: check your wheel nuts are tight.

The U-joints are easy to check, just grab the driveshaft and try to shake it. The U-joints should not move. Also check the bearing caps in the U-joints, it's possible a retaining clip has come out- some aftermarket U-joint kits are slightly oversized and you have to grind the clips down a little to get them to seat in their grooves.

Incorrect phasing shouldn't cause clunks, but it will cause vibration which can destroy U-joints very quickly. The driveshaft on an automatic has a splined centre section, it's possible to reassemble it with the U-joints out of phase. Check that the U-joints at each end are aligned like so:

: correct-and-incorrect-phasing-diagram.jpg (130.77 KiB) Viewed 2053 times

Because there's an odd number of splines, it's possible to assemble the driveshaft *almost* 180 degrees out, which to the casual glance looks like they're in phase, but if you hold a straightedge up to the caps you'll find one is about 4 degrees out.

If the driveshaft is ok, the next step would be to chock the front wheels, jack the rear axle up, release the handbrake and put the van in Neutral, and then turn each wheel, listening for clunks. Try pushing and pulling on the wheels to make sure they're not moving in and out. Try it with both wheels in the air, and then with one wheel touching the ground.