Drivetrain Clunking/slack?

[11secondFWD]

Okay, I have read a few threads way back but never paid attention since I have always been a FWD. Now I have a VR4, and every time I let out clutch at a normal pace there is a cluck in the rear you can feel throughout car. Not too bad but annoying. ALso, if I am cruising say 40mph in 4th gear, and when I am cruising if I blip the throttle and let off right away I get a clunk.

Its like there is slack and then it catches up and clunks.

My first guess is a bad u joint but I havent looked yet. WHat could it be. It drives great, shifts geat, and there are no bad vibrations at any speed and everything accelerates smooth.

I guess it could be anywhere from tranny, to tcase to any where on driveshaft to rear end.

I will prolly just have to go step by step but I was wondering if anyone had a similar experience and what there problem was.

Thanks

[DocWalt]

Check the diff bushings. Check the rotational play in all of the driveline components, according to the manual's specs. New motor mounts could help too, if you're on the old factory ones.

[brutten]

I had a similar issue once and it was only the carrier bearings for me. You may want to check them and see if they have excessive slack. It could also be a worn output shaft but let's hope it does not come to that.

http://www.3sx.com/store/catalog/stock-carrier-bearing-hardware-diagram-600.gif

[x2xtreme360]

I get some "gear" noises right under my feet as well. I'm assuming it's the driveshaft joints but I'm not sure.

[R/T93]

Probably carrier bearings, mine does the same thing

[11secondFWD]

The noise comes from the very rear of car. It feels like near the rear end. So I think the last carrier, last u joint or rear end itself.

[pantherchams]

I need to do carrier bearings also, are they a pretty straight forward job?

Climbed under there last week to wiggle and found tons of play, but didn't see a clear way of getting them off/on.

Ben

[Chris GTO TT]

you have to drop the drive shaft and then disassemble it. IIRC the U-Joints aren't serviceable so you will probably want to throw some new ones on too.

[blindmist]

And can I just say check your motor mounts? 3SX has poloy inserts. I got my old ones out and the inserts in with 0 issue using a sledge hammer and chisel. Cheap bad ass mounts for 150 bucks.

[DocWalt]

The u-joints are definitely not serviceable with any home tools, correct. I was easily able to swap the carrier bearings using a gear puller, a vise, and some wrenches. I followed this guide: http://www.penguinhosting.net/~bigmac/homepage/cars/faqs/driveshaft/driveshaft.html

[pantherchams]

The u-joints are definitely not serviceable with any home tools, correct. I was easily able to swap the carrier bearings using a gear puller, a vise, and some wrenches. I followed this guide: http://www.penguinhosting.net/~bigmac/homepage/cars/faqs/driveshaft/driveshaft.html

BAM, exactly what I was looking for. Thank you sir!!

[Syn]

+1 on carrier bearings. I had the issue with my VR4 and ended up buying a driveshaft with 75k miles from another member for $150 or so. Once replaced it was perfect again. Sure beat the headache of trying to service it or paying upwards of $1k for a new replacement.

[tachyon]

Okay, I have read a few threads way back but never paid attention since I have always been a FWD. Now I have a VR4, and every time I let out clutch at a normal pace there is a cluck in the rear you can feel throughout car. Not too bad but annoying. ALso, if I am cruising say 40mph in 4th gear, and when I am cruising if I blip the throttle and let off right away I get a clunk.

Its like there is slack and then it catches up and clunks.

My first guess is a bad u joint but I havent looked yet. WHat could it be. It drives great, shifts geat, and there are no bad vibrations at any speed and everything accelerates smooth.

I guess it could be anywhere from tranny, to tcase to any where on driveshaft to rear end.

I will prolly just have to go step by step but I was wondering if anyone had a similar experience and what there problem was.

Thanks

My car was exactly the same - every time I let off the gas, I got a "CLUNK!" from the rear end. I got pretty good at feathering the throttle, lol!

When I replaced the carrier bearings and the rear diff mount bushings, it was like magic. No more clunk! I think that the diff mount bushings had more to do with it, although since I did both at the same time it's hard to say for sure.

Anyway, just get a set of replacement bushings from Mitsu - they're not that expensive. Then, when you have the drive shaft off anyway, support the rear diff with a jack, take off the mounting brackets, and take them to a shop. Have the old bushings pressed out and the new ones in. I can't remember if they have to go in with a particular orientation, they might which is why you don't want to take the old ones out before you're ready to put the new in.

The bushings are pretty easy to have done, much more so than the carrier bearings. If you're going to do the one, definitely do the other at the same time.

[TT Eric]

I had that too, me it was the slack in the tranny, but before it was rebuilded, I change the DS for a CFDS, and replaced the rear diff (mine had some slack) for an almost new one. It helped a bit, but the new tranny got rid of the slack.

Eric