Long story short my brother hit a pothole at 50 with the brakes locked and now the rear seems to be lopsided (no noise, just rhythmically thuds in sync with speed). Took the whole thing apart and visually looks fine. I would prefer not to swap in another rear because it has 3.4 posi with disc with only 27k on it. More importantly it already has the weight jacks, lowered panhard bar mount, and lowered control arms mounts welded on. A ford guy at work today said he has seen more brent axel housing then axels in his day, but a Chevy guy said he saw tons of 10 bolts with bent axels, but they were all on S10s. How probable is it I bent the housing AND the axel? Do you think replacing the axels will fix the problem? If so where do I buy high performance ones for a 7 5/8 rear 28 spline?

 

Jack up the rear and idle it in drive. Look and see what wobbles. Bad tire and bent wheel could also be the problem.


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350 with stealth intake, holley carb, 470 lift cam. 700r4 with .5 boost valve, vette servo, tci lock-up kit, B&M megashifter. Richmond 3.73 gears, powertrax locker, timkin bearings, synthetic lube. Custom 3 inch single into 2 2.5 pipes. 1 1/2 drop springs, 1 5/16 solid front sway bar, 1 inch rear bar, custom subframe connectors, custom LCA relocation brackets. Kobel ground FX, current red metallic paint. Lots of other stuff...
82camaro

 

That is why I am having such a problem diagnosing this problem. You can feel it vibrating but it is hard to visually see any particular part.

 

Did it blow the tire out? if not then the tire is probably the cause. Put on a spare set of tires and test drive it. If the housing and/or axle are bent the wheel bearings will soon fail.

 

A bent housing won't cause a wobble, a bent rotating part will.

Bent housing willcause noise, depending on how severe (howl, etc)

Since you have it apart, put a straight edge on both flages on the axle's end's,...secure them somehow or have a few friends hold them.

Make sure whatever you use for a straight edge is about 16-18 inches long, minimum, but the longer the better.

Now, with the SE's centered on the flanges, measure the distance of each...you'll be measuring a wide H basically I-----I, get it?

Both measurements should be the same...I think a factory housing should be no more than 1/32 of an inch diff between measurements take at 12inch from the axle tube. But verify the spec.

Check the axle/tire/wheel combo is easy enough, install the axle, spin it...does it wobble? If not, add the tire/wheel on, spin iit again. Use a screwdriver on a solid mount as the axle is spinning, and go to where the screwdriver is jjst barely touching the axle flange..does it touch then not touch as it's rotating? DO the same against the edge of the rim, but use something that won't scracth it.

 

Ok I am back with an update after pretty extensive testing. If i spin up the pinion gear and driveshaft with out the posi unit it it does not vibrate or make any noise at all (Except for a really cool fan noise from the driveshaft at 130mph). However if I put in the posi unit with out axels, it starts to vibrate and make a load bumping, chanky noise above 35 mph. If I put an axel in either or both sides it does not make any change in the sound, still noisey and makes the vibration a little bit more noticable. What the hell could be causing this. My dad is going to stop helping me pay my insurance if I do not fix this soon becuase he is pissed that I am always leaving the garage a mess and my car has not been drivable for a month now(lots of problems). Some dumbass backed into my driver side rear quater panel and tire about a month ago, could this have messed up the carrier unit? Please help, thanks.