My woodie broke down in So Cal a few weeks back. I was down there for the big Wavecrest Woodie meet and this clanking developed somewhere in the drivetrain -- it sounded like it was coming from the rear of the car. It had the same tone as the drive shaft makes when you tap it with a wrench. It's a random clangety-clang-clang and occurrs under acceleration. Then, once up to speed, there was a noticeable harmonic vibration in the car. I discovered a motor mount had snapped. I was able to replace it -- but the problems didn't go away. Any ideas? I got her home from So Cal this week. The U-joints all look good, there's no slop in 'em. The flex plate looks good, no crack, bad teeth or anything, and the torque converter is on tight. The drive train is a 350/350 with an 8 inch rear end -- not exactly hot rod trad, but trad for a long-distance woodie. I've put about 40K on the car since I got it on the road ten years ago. This is the first time she's stranded me.
It's possible for only one side of a U-joint to go bad, and the other 3 sides to hold it so that it appears solid, but the problems only show up under load or RPM's. U-joints are cheap, and @ 40k miles, it might be time to consider servicing/replacing them anyway... I replaced a U-joint years ago, and a couple thousand miles later it went out again... Turned out the factory had not drilled the oil hole all the way thru to all 4 caps, and one of them was dry. Not that my story is relavent to your situation, but it shows that you just never know. Something that looks perfectly good on the surface could have hidden problems.
what caused the motor mount to break? not sure what the clanging could be.. if not u joint my only other thoughts would be some sort of brake issue??? (a real wild guess)
I've had weird noises with a loose engine-trans, flex plate bolts loose, or possibly engine fan. Cosmo
Sounds similar to the rear end going bad in my 28 Chrysler roadster with an 85 New Yorker rear end. When you jack up the whole back axle and rotate the rear tires does it catch or snag a little after 3 or 4 rotations?
Beautiful car dude! Trad. Schmad. It's sweet!! Oh, maybe your driveshaft got wet and warped, causing the racket......
Nice car, think it sounds like the driveshaft nails have come loose. I would take the shaft to a driveshaft shop and have em check it for straightness. This way you also remove the U joints from the car, and can give em a proper inspection, unloaded, in good light. Driveshafts are easier to bend than one might think. Also look real hard at the trans mount, to the point of removing it for thorough, unloaded, inspection. good luck
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