November 17, 200322 yr Each time I come to a stop or drive at low speeds in my 88 GL AWD wagon a thumping noise comes from the right rear. Doesn't matter if I am braking or coasting. As the car slows the noise slows as well. It sounds like it is related to the revolutions of the tire/wheel. I jacked up the car today and spun the tire but no noise came out. Seemed to spin quite freely. One guy guessed a loose strut but I don't know. Any ideas?
November 17, 200322 yr Worn U-joint? Are the lug nuts on tight? Had that happen on my Suby, one was a loose wheel, the other time was a bad u-joint at the rear diff. Just my $.02.
November 17, 200322 yr the one time i thought i had a bad driveshaft, the wheel fell off! was loose lug nuts, i checked the wrong side! anyway, i had to drive 45 miles on the rim, because i had no spare jack the car up again, and try to wiggle the tire side to side, it may be a wheel bearing.
November 17, 200322 yr I had a loose axel nut for a while, that caused the axel to disintegrate the wheel bearing, which eventually ate into the housing tof the bearing/stub axel, in which case i had to replace the entire control arm. So make sure that axel nut is torqued down good, as the cotter pin may be driven into the axel stub at a few turns shy of the desired tightness... good luck
November 17, 200322 yr I had a similar noise too, Took it to the Brake folks and they said the brakes can knock a bit as the wear in and it's not uncomon for a knock. But it should go away when you apply the brakes. Having said that I'm on board with the Lug Nut conspiracy Theory:cool:
November 18, 200322 yr Author The nuts are tighter than...well, I won't go into that. The noise is consistent whether I am braking or just coasting. One thing is that I can get the axle nut off but the brake drum is stuck on and I can't get that off. The opposite (driver) side brake drum comes off easily and the pads are in good shape so I am guessing the pad is similair. There is no droning noise so I don't think it's a wheel bearing. I notice when I pull on the driveshaft it has a little more play than the opposite shaft. Could it be the CV type joint?
November 18, 200322 yr Have you given you inspected your drive shaft?I had a similiar problem which I atributed to axles and found itto be the rear u-joint.
November 19, 200322 yr Exactly what mine did. If the stub axel has play, it is likely that it's not the bearing itself that is worn, but the housing for the bearing which is the control arm itself. The only thing that solved this problem for me was to replace the entire control arm/stub axel unit. The drum was extremely difficult to remove on that side because there's been a lot of pressure on the hub, by having play in the axel. I think this probelm initaially develops from an under torqued castle nut... two pennies in the well...good luck
November 30, 200322 yr Author After a couple of weeks of downtime, finally got a look at it. It was the axle (castle) nut. Wasn't torqued down tight enough. Thanks to posters.
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