Driveshaft bearing gone bad .......

[PQ]

Ok folks. I'm going to do something out of the ordinary and post up another broke piece of my car.

So my noise turned out to be the drive shaft holder bearing/carrier bearing/cradle bearing/hanger bearing whatever you want to call it. it's going out and the clunk noise is from the play in the driveshaft.

So I will send the assembly to have a new bearing pressed on.

The shop tells me that all my extra power has little to do with the bearing going out but the extreme drop on my car has the shaft too angled. He says the angle is meant for acceleration flex and not constant bend. He says I should shim the motor mounts to straighten the line up.

My question is this ........
Has anyone else had any problems in this area on a stock lineback?

I know I've seen it before, but this U Joint looks pretty stout and solid and I can see where it could put pressure on the hanger as it turns but I don't know if I want to angle the engine. It already lays back a bit anyway.

What are your thoughts.

I did find the other thread, but it's been another year since then and the cars have had more time to break.

[DietCoke]

The diff/engine are stationary. You could sit the frame on the ground and the ds angle would not change. Find a shop with a clue

[PQ]

Originally Posted by DietCoke

The diff/engine are stationary. You could sit the frame on the ground and the ds angle would not change. Find a shop with a clue

In fairness, he only had the car on a drive on lift. So he may not know that. You have to remember, good shops in this area are hard to find. It's easy to say 'Find a shop with a clue' than to actually know wether a shop has a clue or not.

Either way, something caused my bearing to fail. And that was the best theory I had heard so far. I'm not a chasis/frame/body expert but I know it's possible. Maybe not on this car, but on some.

Can you explain why it wouldn't change the angle on our cars? I'm not sure how the driveshaft is supposed to sit but it is certainly angled right now.

[garcmol]

The half shaft out of the diff will change angles. The diff will stay constant. It has bushings but that's only to compensate for the torque produced. That's the wonder of the half shaft. Think when you jack the car up and the control arms drop but the diff doesn't. Then you put it on jackstands and release the jack. The diff does not change it's position.

But I guess a lot too.....

[PQ]

Well, I know the cradle seperates from the rest. And the diff is on the cradle. So I am unsure about the whole thing. I understand that it's all bolted together. But I know that raising and lowering on some other cars and trucks can cause a driveshaft angle. But I'm guessing that this is what they mean by unibody?

[mikepage0007]

right or wrong, what you gonna do??..mine has been dropped 1 1/2 inch for 6500 miles , 25 track runs , some hard running and no problems, actually all my problems started when i beefed up my shaft to a 1 piece to have one seperate and another twist and crack..in 700 miles and 2 runs..working on number 3 and if this 1 fails, heads will roll..

[PQ]

Again, in fairness, I told the shop that I was going to do the work myself so he just lifted the car and we walked under it and looked at the driveshaft only. He didn't really look at much else. He adimtedly doesn't know a lot about the knew Camaro. He did know it was a similar set-up to the GTO. But wasn't all that familiar with that either.

It's a transmission shop that I went to.

[PQ]

Originally Posted by mikepage0007

right or wrong, what you gonna do??..mine has been dropped 1 1/2 inch for 6500 miles , 25 track runs , some hard running and no problems, actually all my problems started when i beefed up my shaft to a 1 piece to have one seperate and another twist and crack..in 700 miles and 2 runs..working on number 3 and if this 1 fails, heads will roll..

So you're saying you seemed better off with the two piece?

At any rate, I'm goint to remove the X pipe and heat sheild, take the bearing off and send it to be done. Then I'll put it back together and chalk it up to another weird problem with my car.

[garcmol]

Well, if I remember correctly, unibody has your subframe like our cars do. You'll see driveshaft angle changes with your solid axle vehicles because the rear differential is in the axle housing. Half shafts rely on your control arm setups to work. The suspension travel is separate of the differential in our setup, where as a truck with a solid rear axle is constantly changing angles

[mikepage0007]

Originally Posted by PQ

So you're saying you seemed better off with the two piece?

At any rate, I'm goint to remove the X pipe and heat sheild, take the bearing off and send it to be done. Then I'll put it back together and chalk it up to another weird problem with my car.

unforunately i have the 9inch rear so my stock 2 piece is useless, but as aggravated as i am right now, i would def put it back in till it breaks,,,

[garcmol]

You're right the diff is attached to the cradle, but the cradle bushings are supposed to be sucking up the slop and the differential bushings move very little. They mainly suck up the torque curve produced by the driveshaft.

[DietCoke]

If its angled at all, your center support got bolted in upside down. Flip it and rebolt it, and watch the shaft straighten itself out.

[DietCoke]

Cars with straight axles, have the entire axle assy move up/down with suspension height of car (diff free floating in axle). With irs (diff bolted to chassis) this isn't the case. Your centerpiece is prob upside down, like I said earlier. Thats the only way to angle the driveshaft

[bob vogel]

Originally Posted by PQ

In fairness, he only had the car on a drive on lift. So he may not know that. You have to remember, good shops in this area are hard to find. It's easy to say 'Find a shop with a clue' than to actually know wether a shop has a clue or not.

Either way, something caused my bearing to fail. And that was the best theory I had heard so far. I'm not a chasis/frame/body expert but I know it's possible. Maybe not on this car, but on some.

Can you explain why it wouldn't change the angle on our cars? I'm not sure how the driveshaft is supposed to sit but it is certainly angled right now.

did your car make this noise all the time or just when it goes to a lower gear?