[Bonzai]

So I just finished putting new u -joints in my driveshaft, even got a new CV Head assembly put on: http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-32484-cv-head-3-7-8-.html

When i put it back on everything was awesome, except a wire was hanging out of my right rear brake drum unrelated to the work i did so im pretty sure somethings wrong there... but i drove it anyways and it drove great up until a few days ago when i got a continuous violent clunking while im driving. It doesnt just happen when i stop or speed up, its always there. From my searching i saw it could be the slip yoke near the rear part may need greasing, but I just wanted to see if there were any other possibilities. Other things might be that brake, rear diff busted, etc??

 

[KJL4432]

your u joints settled into place, my guess would be that they need to be tightened again.

 

[miesk5]

yo,
Think that wire is the parking brake cable?

 

[Mikey350]

When i put it back on everything was awesome, except a wire was hanging out of my right rear brake drum unrelated to the work i did so im pretty sure somethings wrong there... and it drove great up until a few days ago

A WIRE hanging out of the brake drum? - and you didn't pull the drum and look?

Anyway, the brake self adjuster cable could have been what you saw. Chance are by now with it rattling around in the drum, it's eaten the brake shoe and scored the drum. I had one break and the little hook raised all kind of havoc inside there.

Good Luck

 

[JKossarides]

I'm inclined to agree with the self adjuster brake cable, they fray after awhile so you need to pull off the drum and see what's going on, it's usually on the inside of the shoe coming off the top stud and wraps around to the adjuster below but I'm not sure what kind of damage it might have done so don't drive or wait any longer or it'll cost $$$$$ you money so get to work and find out, cables are inexpensive so NBD.

In July I rebuilt my rear double u-joint cv centering ball slip joint Cardan...."a lovely piece of work....PITA...lol lol... and last week I rebuilt the front......IIRC the torque spec for u-clip nuts is 67-74lbs and make sure you have thread locker on them or they might begin to back off under load.....

I used Mobil 1 synthetic grease for the slip joints and I really like the way it drives when I pull away from a traffic light, nice and strong with no lag but it's always a good idea to "revisit" work recently done so you know everything is AOK......

Let us know what you find out....:doh0715:


Good Luck ~ :thumbup

 

[Bonzai]

So here's my brake problem:

That wire snapped into 2 pieces, that would be the adjuster cable, correct? Also noticed the shoes need replacing, so gonna get both of those taken care of.

I dont believe this is the source of the clunking, though, unless someone thinks that should be it.
-I made sure to retighten both sides of the driveshaft where they meet up with the diff and where it meets with the tcase.
-I tightened down the U bolts which were pretty loose since i recently put blocks back there.
- I checked to see if the slip yoke was greased and it appears it is:

 

[A1Fiddler]

Jack the rear axle up and put it in gear. Might help you locate it.

 

[CWbronco]

i had clunking at one time too. had to get out while i had it idling in drive to figure out where it was coming from. pulled the diff cover and found my top spider gear was moving up and down. might have something to do with them if you cant find it.

 

[JKossarides]

Post number 6, second pictures looks like when the adjuster cable broke it slipped out of that curved "retainer clip" so an new cable should fix that and run some lubricant on the new cable to slow down corrosion..

Good Luck ~ :thumbup

 

[Bonzai]

Yeah, Im going to get a new cable, i hope thats all. Do you think that could be causing the clunking? Im gonna get it put back together tomorrow, but I got a feeling the rear end is busted.

 

[jopes]

-I made sure to retighten both sides of the driveshaft where they meet up with the diff and where it meets with the tcase.
-I tightened down the U bolts which were pretty loose since i recently put blocks back there.
- I checked to see if the slip yoke was greased and it appears it is:

loose u bolts on your axle was most likely the cause of the clunking unless it is internal to your axle.

Yeah, Im going to get a new cable, i hope thats all. Do you think that could be causing the clunking? Im gonna get it put back together tomorrow, but I got a feeling the rear end is busted.

the cable was not your clunking.

 

[9inchfordguy]

Its hard to tell, but it also looks like your adjuster cable guide is bad also, take a good look at it where the spring goes through it into the shoe. also you may want to check your ring and pinion gears for a chunked tooth

 

[Bonzai]

loose u bolts on your axle was most likely the cause of the clunking unless it is internal to your axle.

I tightened them up and it still clunked. The damage may have been done though, if thats possible. I first experienced the clunk driving home from work( 8 mins from my house), and i pushed it all the way home at 35MPH but it felt like something was going to explode every clunk every second.

 

[B-man]

Drop the Diff pan and check out the gears and pinion. My bro's Bronco was clunking a little bit and then the next thing he hears was a BAM! CLUNK! Straight up Batman style. We get out and see diff fluid leaking out of the new hole in his cover. He grenaded his rear diff.

 

[93BlueEddie]

This sort of happened to me. everything was peachy one night driving home, pulled in a dirt parking lot to show off with this girl. rip a donut in there, leave and BOOM hit the gas and just revved, thought i blew the trans. then i get out to see my rear diff blew up. brought it to a shop, mechanic said he had never seen anything like that in his life. i would definitly rip your rear cover off ASAP

 

[jopes]

You could have screwed up a ujoint

 

[reptillikus]

Or the double cardan. When the center ball goes bad it will clunk/vibrate like a mofo. I know its new, but maybe some of the rollers fell over upon assembly?




If you want to know if its your drive shaft, pull it out and go for a drive in 4wd. If it still clunks you know its in the rear axle. if not, its gotta be the drive shaft.

 

[JKossarides]

Double check the 4 bolts on the rear "backing plate" where it mounts to the rear axel flange and see if they're loose, if they are when you brake backwards and forwards the backing plate is going to "ratchet" and the brakes will be very sensitive, grabby which might be causing the "clunk"...check the Haynes for correct torque spec's and make sure the bolts are in good shape not damaged.

I just rebuilt both my slip joint drive shafts this July and Sept. but simple fix might be to drop a Yoke then grease the shafts and yoke using Mobil 1 synthetic and see if that helps otherwise you'll probably need to replace the u-joints and cv centering ball yoke inside the Cardan knuckle......PITA....total cost of parts for both my shafts from O'Reillys was approx. $125.00 doing the labor myself AND you can rent/loan a "ball joint/universal u-joint press tool from O'Reillys for 100% refund if returned in 48 hrs., all you have to do is mount it in a decent vice grip on a work bench and it works like a charm, it's what I just used to to do the front shaft a weeks or so ago.

In some cases depending upon the BKO year you can just re-build/replace the cv centering ball/spring using the original yoke with parts from broncograveyard for around $12.99 plus etc...my cv centering ball/yoke cost $69.99 because my style wasn't rebuildable.

Now ALL my u-joints are greaseable so I'm good to go for a long time...

Check this thread - How often to grease slip joint? by FSB member 94BattleWagon - it has links and great info to rebuild u-joints and grease shafts etc. etc.

Good Luck ~ :thumbup

 

[Bonzai]

Okay. So I jacked the rear up and it might have helped me a little. First, I learned something I didnt know before. Im not sure if its supposed to, but my driveshaft and tires turned slowly when it was in neutral, I thought nothing would move. But this showed me that the driveshaft and rear diff were okay because there was no clunking.

Then I put it into drive and reverse and thats when the clunking came. So the rear diff and driveshaft spun good when out of gear so that must make it the transfer case or transmission. Im pretty sure its something with the transfer case, though. I have never checked/filled/drained any of the fluid in it, so that probably hasnt helped. Im gonna check in the light to see how the level is first. Then I may start breaking it down or I am also thinking about buying a brand new transfer case.

I also havent driven it in 4wd yet, so i think i may pull the driveshaft and run it in 4wd tomorrow to see if that changes or reveals anything.

Does this new info ring any bells for someone? Thanks for the help so far guys.

 

[kf4amu]

My guess was going to be rear diff. Get a helper to be inside while its jacked up and re-create the clunk while you are under it. Put your hand on whatever component you think might be making the clunk. You will feel it when you find it.