[Heathejj97]

Hey my car is a 1991 soft top carby vitara. I replaced all fluids etc and full service as well as new wheel bearings in the front. She runs 235/75/15 tyres and has 260,000km, its always had a clunk when pulling off in first or reverse and its there when shifting into second (head as clutch grabs) i assumed its diff backlash and is okay? But today while doing 50kph in 4th ( slowest comfortable speed before it lugs the engine) i heard a metal on metal sound, i fast grrrr but not a crunch as such. It's only there under heavy acceleration in 3rd gear and 4th gear, I can carefully accelerate and i cant hear it but its mainly there when around 50-60 kph in 4th then ya put ya foot down a little about to shift and she makes the sound i havnt had it off road and the sound started as i was driving casually. What i have checked: with everything in neutral the rear shaft to the diff can move 1cm either way and if spun fast it makes a clank similar to when i take off. The uni joints i grabbed and snooker and i can wiggle them like 1mm with all my strength on them - tho i havnt unbolted the tail shaft yet, the sound in 4th may be the diff i thought as its in 3rd tho mostly 4th, once over 3k the sound is gone car is fine otherwise, i suspect the gearbox but 4th gear is a straight 1:1 gear hey so that makes no sense, the car was 2.3k and has cost 1.4 already I'm 17 and own a corolla too and work at hungry jacks for $11.10 an our- not after sympathy but i realy dont have much/ any cash if anyone has any ideas i would appreciate any help )) and I'll continue to drive it like this in the mean time as i need her for a lancelin fishing trip. Thank you

[atari4x4]

have a proper suss of the uni joints mate, i've had them appear "fine" while still bolted up to the car.

unbolt the rear shaft from the diff flange & cycle the uni's by hand if they're at all notchy or sloppy replace them... can be done with a hammer, vice & a couple of correctly sized sockets.

if they are cactus, hit up the youtubes for uni replacement or have a search on here as it's been covered a few times over the years & get onto ebay & find 4wd Products & grab a set of uni joints from Greg if they are a bit iffy. they're non greaseable uni's from the factory & being in tassie, there is plenty of moisture/mud around to fruck them.

[Heathejj97]

Okay thanks a heap, thats tomorows job and could that cause the noises while driving i described. Cheers

[atari4x4]

yeah i've had numerous uni's fail in my driving life & i don't reckon 2 have ever made the same noise... but have all given that drive-line noise/vibration that you get.

and don't know why i thought you were in tassie...

welcome to AZ

[Heathejj97]

Haha. Ah perth mate and yeah i unbolted the tailshaft from the diff, yeah the diff has a lot of backlash :/ but the input to the transfer case is sloppy as,meow to i remove the shaft from it and what's causing the slop

[atari4x4]

uni's seemed ok then?

how are you able to check the input to transfer case, vitara's don't run a divorced t/case & it's all contained within the gearbag/tcase housings as one.

[alien]

Check your tcase mounts - if you have a broken mount the case twists around and hits stuff - it also throws shaft angles out etc etc. (I'm speaking from experience on my sierra, i'm sure Vitara are similar).

[Heathejj97]

Output sorry not the input* as in where it meets the tailshaft, bad bearing?? Maybe ill find a used t case? And yeahh I'll look at mounts today

[ozzycouch]

alien wrote:

Check your tcase mounts - if you have a broken mount the case twists around and hits stuff - it also throws shaft angles out etc etc. (I'm speaking from experience on my sierra, i'm sure Vitara are similar).

^^^ This and even engine mounts can cause the same thing.

[Heathejj97]

Just looked and all the mounts seem "ok" tho the little mounts near the t case all have little hairline cracks?

[GeckoXL7]

So can Trailing arm bushes, if cracked causes loud knocking when taking off, feathering the accelerator eg slight acceleration will cause a knock. Can change angle of diff at times when accelerating depending on how bad the bushes are.

I thought it was the transmisoin at first eg clutch knocking or transfer or tail shaft but turned out to be the bushes after the people doing my wheel alignment noticed the Dif moving upwards when moving forward. Different setup on the Vit than mine but i would imagine still would make a thud and transfer that to the transmision.

[ozzycouch]

Try a jack under the gearbox, see if the cracks turn into gaps.

[Heathejj97]

Ahhh the crack are little gaps yeahh :/ well they sorta opened up and I'll check the bushes, there's a tiny bit of play in the uni joints too but all the slack in the output of the transfer where the tail shaft slides in- i dont get it :/ and thanks you guys are great

[alien]

hold your hand on the tcase gearstick while accelerating... if the mounts are broken and the case is twisting around it will be VERY obvious... in my case the transfer stick rotated until it hit the cut-out in the floor!!!

Here's how i temporarily fixed it:

A green stick & some cable ties =P Drove for a few days like this before getting new (second hand) mounts. The stick was nice and flexy, couldn't tell the difference when it came out for a new mount. lol

[atari4x4]

a vitara is vastly different, just saying.

[Heathejj97]

Love your stick and yeahh the softer and transfer stick both jump hard to the right (2cm) but there no obvious twisting, I'm thinking posibilitees are : Unix, diff has slack in it, transfer output bearing is failing, gearbox (somehow) motor mounts/ or a combination of all after the po"s 260,*** km with hard off reading and poor maintanance

[atari4x4]

Heathejj97 wrote:

260,*** km with hard off reading and poor maintanance

start at one end & slowly go through it all... new mounts will got along way to making it put the power to the ground & drive nicer.

maybe bung in some N70 nulon/morey's oil stabiliser into the gearbag & xfer & see if that makes any difference to the noises you hear.

[Heathejj97]

Yeahh i guess so but the mounts are $80 each for motor and $40 for t case etc. seems like a bit just for mounts ? Am i missing a cheaper place to buy them? (Went to my local useless super cheap auto)

[GeckoXL7]

Have a look at auto-parts.com.au if not on there they may be able to get them In. Also can try 4wd products on eBay.

[Heathejj97]

Ohh ok awesome thanks a heap

[whincup]

Heathejj97 wrote:

Yeahh i guess so but the mounts are $80 each for motor and $40 for t case etc. seems like a bit just for mounts ? Am i missing a cheaper place to buy them? (Went to my local useless super cheap auto)

ebay. seller called "4wd_products". cheap and pretty decent quality.

alien wrote:

Here's how i temporarily fixed it

thats a great bush mechanic fix, but seems like a lot of effort. ratchet strap is a much easier idea for a temporary or even semi-permanent fix.

[alien]

Heathejj97 wrote:

Love your stick and yeahh the softer and transfer stick both jump hard to the right (2cm) but there no obvious twisting,(

That's still a lot of movement... it shouldn't move at all, just vibrate a little.

whincup wrote:

thats a great bush mechanic fix, but seems like a lot of effort. ratchet strap is a much easier idea for a temporary or even semi-permanent fix.

The stick wedged in perfectly under the chassis cross members... the cable ties were just for assurance that it wouldn't twist out =P

[Heathejj97]

Yeahh looks like ill do all the mounts then i guess, i have arranged a full driveline for spares that ks to a member here, so once the mounts are sorted I'll go through and see if my transfer case bearing is buggered or not