Hey guys,

ive had a banging noise coming from the rear passenger side for a while when going over bumps or side to side, i thought it might of been the spare tyre moving around, but ive had the whole interior out lately and then drove the car and it still done it !

ive just jacked the back of the car up and i can pull the rear wheels in and out a bit, the passenger side one more so than the drivers side, and it makes a clank noise when you do it, so im guessing this is what the noise is when im driving the car.

Also last time i drove it i went down a quiet country road and i steered the car from side to side and it was more apparrant then with a consistant bang bang bang from going side to side.

is this my bearing or something ? and 5 weeks until my main car show of the year every year something happens to the car before this show !!

are my wheels in danger of actually falling off or anything or can i still use the car, if its not a bad job i will tackle it before the show, and would rather sort it before then as its 2 and a half hours drive away from me.

Scott

 

If you have a 10-bolt, the "C" clips allow some side to side movement.
Whatever you have, 9- or 10-bolt, check the panhard and panhard brace.

JamesC

 

It sounds like the Panhard Bar bushings are bad. Your 87 GTA should have the 9-bolt and bad Panhard Bar bushings very easily can cause the rear to shift side to side like what you described.

 

Thanks for the replies guys, my car has a 10 bolt rear end with drum brakes. Its a limited slip diff though. Im not sure what C clips your on about James so i will have to look into that.

I took a video tonight so you can see exactly what i mean. It does the same thing on both sides but when your driving the car the banging noise only comes from the passenger side wheel well ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wxab...ature=youtu.be

So if its the panhard bar bushes thats banging from side to side, whats causing the wheels to do this ?

 

The vid would appear to show "C" clip movement. The clips can be seen in the link below:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tran...ing-axles.html

JamesC

 

ah crap so these clips are behind the diff cover then. I only put new fluid in and a new gasket last year, i wish this had of happened then !

James, when you say movement, does that mean the C clips on mine are worn out and need replaced ? as they just appear to sit in place and nothing more, theres no adjustment or anything

Also one more question. Is this problem something that should be dealt with straight away, am i in any sort of danger of the wheels falling off etc or is the car ok to drive still ? it feels great driving, just when you hit a bump and it clatters.

 

The in/out play is normal enough. The calipers generally hold the axles in place so the movement is unnoticeable. I suggest that the noise is caused by something else. Climb under and do a visual with a bit of yanking on parts, especially the panhard and panhard brace--perhaps the fuel tank shield.

JamesC

 

As mentioned above, c-clip movement in the axle is normal. The center pin in the diff prevents the axles from going in too far and keeps the c-clip from falling out. If you push in the axle then spin it around and can't pull the axle right out of the diff then the c-clip is still doing it's job.

I'd suspect your noise is coming from somewhere else. Check suspension bushings. Check for worn out or broken shocks. Check for a broken torque arm mount. You might even be able to disconnect the shocks to bounce the car easier to pinpoint where the noise is coming from. Just don't drive it with the shocks disconnected.

 

thanks guys, so that seems normal in my video then ? i thought they were worn with banging in and out like that

the rear shocks were new about 4 years ago, the swaybar bushings and end links were new a couple of years ago too so hopefully it might just be the panhard bar ones ?

i'll get underneath it hopefully tomorrow night again and start wiggling things around and see if anything moves.

Thanks again guys, i'll let you know what i find.

Scott

 

well it turned out just to be the panhard bar bolts ! thank god for that.

I dont know if the exhaust place undone them last year to fit the exhaust and forgot to nip them up, or if they have just come loose over time ? but i made sure they were nice and tight then took the car out for a spin and it was all good

Thanks everyone