Loud Clunking Noise
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Loud Clunking Noise
So after a day of abuse on my poor old transaxle (swingaxle), i had decided to dump the clutch (stupid, i know) and there was a bang. After the bang there was just a repeditive clunking noise from the gearbox as i rolled down the road. I was even able to drive it all the way home, it goes into every gear without grinding and drives just fine, But clunks away as the wheels start turning, even in neutral. Once i got home i jacked up each side individually and turned the wheel to see if it could be just one of the axle shafts but both sides make the same clunking. I havent been able to tear it apart yet mostly becuase i dont really know where to start. Any ideas?
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Re: Loud Clunking Noise
An uneducated guess would be spider gears might be a place to start looking. VW comes with two of them so it is a weak place to start "whanging" things at. The same with reverse.
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Re: Loud Clunking Noise
Ditto. Spider gears are busted
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Re: Loud Clunking Noise
Okay, Looks like a cheap fix, Do you have any recommendations as far as spider gear teeth and strength? And Any link on how exactly to change these out would be very helpful. Cause right now the plan is to just take it apart and see what happens. I'd like to have an idea of what im doing.
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Re: Loud Clunking Noise
Get a Bentley or Haynes repair manual as you may need it now or later on.
I don't know if there are better spiders than others but the spiders are located in the ring gear carrier assembly. You will have to pull that to get to them; I would also pull both side covers and clean the area out real good. It will also allow you to check the ring and pinion gears to see if any damage was done during the drive with the broken spiders as well as the cross shaft and other components of the carrier housing.
http://chircoestore.com/tech_articles/?p=228 2-joint IRS usually referred to as Swing axle. In the exploded view you can see the spider gears in the carrier housing.
http://www.longenterprises.com/diagram_ ... ential.htm Look at 12 which is called the side gear set and includes the spiders.
http://www.longenterprises.com/diagram_ ... ential.htm this is the diagram for a 4-join IRS usually referred to as just IRS.
Sorry, the best I can do. I usually try not to break things!
Lee
my opinion is worth slightly less than you paid for it.
I don't know if there are better spiders than others but the spiders are located in the ring gear carrier assembly. You will have to pull that to get to them; I would also pull both side covers and clean the area out real good. It will also allow you to check the ring and pinion gears to see if any damage was done during the drive with the broken spiders as well as the cross shaft and other components of the carrier housing.
http://chircoestore.com/tech_articles/?p=228 2-joint IRS usually referred to as Swing axle. In the exploded view you can see the spider gears in the carrier housing.
http://www.longenterprises.com/diagram_ ... ential.htm Look at 12 which is called the side gear set and includes the spiders.
http://www.longenterprises.com/diagram_ ... ential.htm this is the diagram for a 4-join IRS usually referred to as just IRS.
Sorry, the best I can do. I usually try not to break things!
Lee
my opinion is worth slightly less than you paid for it.
- Marc
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Re: Loud Clunking Noise
The differential carrier housing is a cast piece and subject to breakage under duress. Stock ring gears and carriers come with either 6 bolts or 8 (8-bolt is markedly more stout) - if your trans is old enough to be 6-bolt, it cannot be updated without a complete rebuild to replace the ring & pinion so it's rather pointless to be concerned about the finer points - if the carrier's OK, replace the pinion gears (and shaft if it's broken) with stock parts and quit hammering on this trans while you look for a stronger one. If the carrier's broken, things become more complicated since replacing it requires setting up the backlash and bearing preload for a first-cabin repair.
Aftermarket "superdiffs" come with a dual bolt pattern so they can be used with either style ring gear, but there are even more caveats should you choose to go that route - I've never met one that didn't need to be trued on a lathe before the backlash could be set properly.
Aftermarket "superdiffs" come with a dual bolt pattern so they can be used with either style ring gear, but there are even more caveats should you choose to go that route - I've never met one that didn't need to be trued on a lathe before the backlash could be set properly.
- Henryhoehandle
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Re: Loud Clunking Noise
Indeed, the last one I did was a nightmare..Marc wrote:The differential carrier housing is a cast piece and subject to breakage under duress. Stock ring gears and carriers come with either 6 bolts or 8 (8-bolt is markedly more stout) - if your trans is old enough to be 6-bolt, it cannot be updated without a complete rebuild to replace the ring & pinion so it's rather pointless to be concerned about the finer points - if the carrier's OK, replace the pinion gears (and shaft if it's broken) with stock parts and quit hammering on this trans while you look for a stronger one. If the carrier's broken, things become more complicated since replacing it requires setting up the backlash and bearing preload for a first-cabin repair.
Aftermarket "superdiffs" come with a dual bolt pattern so they can be used with either style ring gear, but there are even more caveats should you choose to go that route - I've never met one that didn't need to be trued on a lathe before the backlash could be set properly.
I have seen people drill an 8-bolt stock diff so they could bolt a 6 bolt ring gear to it..not sure how that worked out.
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Re: Loud Clunking Noise
http://www.shoptalkforums.com/search.ph ... mit=Search
This is a search I did on superdiff and Bruce2 There is a lot of good information just cruising through it not getting into the nitty-gritty.
Bruce2 once posted to me that the super diff is out of tolerance at several decimal places (I couldn't find it to be sure) which sounds like what Henryhoehandle alluded to. I guess it is more than a little thing so be aware.
This is a search I did on superdiff and Bruce2 There is a lot of good information just cruising through it not getting into the nitty-gritty.
Bruce2 once posted to me that the super diff is out of tolerance at several decimal places (I couldn't find it to be sure) which sounds like what Henryhoehandle alluded to. I guess it is more than a little thing so be aware.
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Re: Loud Clunking Noise
I hate Superdiffs. The diameters for the bearings are TOO BIG! The dia for the ring gear is TOO BIG!Henryhoehandle wrote:Indeed, the last one I did was a nightmare..Marc wrote: Aftermarket "superdiffs" ............. - I've never met one that didn't need to be trued on a lathe before the backlash could be set properly.
I think the manufacturers do this on purpose. If you beat on a diff long enough, side bearings might pound out. So by making them bigger than what VW did, they might think they get longer life. In reality, it distorts the bearing so the bearing dies an early death. Same thing goes for aftermarket side covers. The bore for the bearings are always too small.
All aftermarket diffs and side covers I get go straight onto the lathe to be FIXED!