'86 GL Wagon

 

Wife says "somethings wrong"....gulp!

 

Wobble at low speeds, goes away at higher speeds. Also a 'ting, ting, ting' from somewhere....sporadic.

 

Put the thing up on 4 jackstands, sounds like right rear. Nothing else noticeable except the engine and tranny are thrashing around. 2wd while on jackstands is fine. 4wd, is bad. 4wd low is worse. Get to looking and found a torn boot up the front. Pretty sure that wasnt it but took it out anyways. Sure enough, it was not the culprit.

I then took the back half of the drive shaft off. 2wd good, 4wd bad still. I then take the front half of the shaft, with the carrier bearing. 2wd good, 4wd good.

 

Whats the verdict?

driveshaft u joint perhaps

Dont believe so. No signs of it. I was thinking carrier bearing, yet I see no evidence of that either.

Bad U joint at the 4wd output shaft is what it sounds like, replace that thing ASAP!

 

-Bill

I yanked on that shaft 8 ways to Sunday and saw no sign of a bad joint.

Maybe one of your tires had developed a bulge on the tread surface. Sometimes almost impossible to see. You kinda have to feel for it.

Nope, it did it with the back tires off too.

Cars always shake about when they are run up on axle stands. The axles are at the wrong angles and the tyres or axles if they are out of balance even slightly really shake things up.

 

I'd jack the wheels and put a piece of wood right up against the wheel and then turn the tyre while I watched the gap between the wood and the tyre. If the gap alters by more than two mils then you have a problem.

 

Other than that, I'd get that axle with the torn boot attended to because that could be the trouble. Once the boot lets the grease out they wear and, even if they don't have much wear, let the bits move around and get out of alignment.

Tap the driveshaft with a wrench, screwdriver, what have you. See if the sound is like the "ting" you hear.

 

Ifso, it is DS related, most likely U-joint.

Grab hold of it on each side of a joint, try to rotate each hand in opposite directions, and at different joint angles. You are feeling for any play, or a tight spot.

 

I found most carrier bearings to cause a "rumble" when they start to go.

If the rubber in the support goes bad, it can throw the DS off center, so to speak. That causes more of a "vibration".

Sounds like something in the drive shaft -- either a u-joint or a carrier bearing. The carrier bearing went out in mine, and it seriously felt like a rear wheel was about to fly off when I was below 10mph. Above that, it was only a little vibration.

I can find no reason to think its a U-joint. When I drive at low speed it feels like I have paddle tire on a washboard road. The faster I go, the better it gets. The 'ting' could be something hitting the shaft. After all, the whole engine is jumping up and down, kinda like its on an eccentric.

I was thinking carrier bearing. Anyone replace one? Seems like you take the nut off and slide it off.

Wobble at low speeds, goes away at higher speeds. Also a 'ting, ting, ting' from somewhere....sporadic.

 

Can you be more specific? Where is the wobble? Front or rear? More wobble while acceleration, or more while braking? Does it matter at all? does it move?

 

A tiny "ting ting ting" sound can come from your keys knocking against your console. I get *ting* sounds from straps laying in the bed of my Brat all the time

 

I have never experienced a U joint on any of my Subarus going bad. And I have only owned a couple with 2pc driveshafts... none of which I ever had a problem with. However, I hear when they do go bad, they go quick and painfully. If you have a local Junkyard, it maybe worth the $50 to snag an extra shaft (with center bearing & carrier as well) just to eliminate the possibility.

 

From there, I would inspect your front CV Joints, as that is the largest culprit for front end "wobble". And the sound they make when they go out is a click, not a ting

Guess I need to clarify more.

 

1:It is not the front shafts.

2:I do not have a junk yard within 120 miles.

3:It happened instantly. There was no pre-warning noise, etc.

4:It does not happen in 2wd

5:It has nothing to do with the rear axles or rear wheels/bearings

6:It has nothing to do with the rear differential

7:It is either a u-joint or carrier bearing.

When you flex the universal joints through their range of motion, is the movement butter smooth or does it hang up anywhere? If it hangs up, then there's your problem. The most common failure for EA82 driveshafts is joint seizure, due to a nearly 0º angle, and the fact that they can't be greased. Chances are it's a seized joint and it's very closely related to the engine jumping all over the place.

 

Full range of motion is metal to metal contact in all four basic directions. If you cannot get the two yokes to touch, the universal is seized.

It is the front u-joint. It only moves one way and is froze the other way.

 

Anyone have a part number? How do these come out? Are they internal clips? I dont see any clips on the outside. Whats the trick?

#430-10 from Rockford-$27

Wife says "somethings wrong"....gulp!

 

4:It does not happen in 2wd

 

Is your wife driving this thing around in 4WD?

No, but the rear shaft still spins in 2WD when driving down the road.

The front U joints are staked in, they aren't really replaceable... Unless you have some special tools. Its not like on a Ford or Chevy where you pull the springclip, there is no clips on theses...

 

-Bill

Whack 'em out. Everything is replaceable when you use a hammer.

No, you'll bend the yokes, they're pretty soft.

Cut the center out, and drive the cups towards the inside. File out the stake marks, and then install the new joint.

Some of the replacements are designed to be staked back in, those I just put three or four tack welds around the outer edge of the cup and have not had a problem with them. The style with the inner snap clips has failed on me before, the clips suck because there is no real surface for them to hold against on the yoke.

I cut it in half and pushed it out after trying to get it out with a press. I did get them moved with the press but there was no room to get them out.

 

I've had more fun doing other things, but it wasnt awful for a first time.

I've got the same issue, ting ting ting, from the u-joint.

 

It's been doing that for 1k miles at least.

 

Is it going to self destruct at some point?

I like my documented destruction:

 

That's what a seized universal does to a 4EAT.