There is a weird clunk coming from the rear of my 56 beetle. Standard motor and box fitted.
It started on the passenger side of the car when turning. But in the last day or two it now sounds like it comes from both sides of the vehicle and is quite a bit louder. It happens whilst cornering. Once you start to straighten up the sound stops. Its a consistent clunk-clunk-clunk that sounds like its matching wheel speed.
From this I'm gathering something to do with the transaxle? Could it be a low oil level? Any ideas. I am going to try and investigate but don't have that much time so if you could throw any ideas out there it would be great.
This noise happens, when the car is in gear or out of gear, engine running or not, on smooth or rough roads.
Wheel bearings and engine mounts are all new as of a couple months ago. Castle nuts are done up tight.
Joel ·
torsion bar or shock rubbers disintergrating??
hellbugged ·
big axle nuts that hold the drums tight?
lownslo ·
dumone wrote:big axle nuts that hold the drums tight?
I just tightened the bejeezes outta them, noise is still there, would have been good if that was the problem 🙁
Shock bushes, torsion bushes wouldn't make a sound that matches wheel speed, that'd be a clunk/thump when going over bumps.
if I drive along in a straight line and just veer left and right slightly the clunking happens at even intervals presuming about wheel speed.
There was more backlash in the trans than was there a couple months back... so i'm guessing my trans is feeling abit sad and tired.
vw54 ·
about one of 50 things see if you can take to someones who knows VWS
Where r you at ???
hellbugged ·
low gear oil has done that to me before as well...............
lownslo ·
vw54 wrote:about one of 50 things see if you can take to someones who knows VWS
Where r you at ???
the car will not be taken to anyone, lets put it this way, I'd rather wait till it completely breaks so I know waht it is that was buggered and have to pay 10 x for a completely new trans or whatever it is than trust it to any workshop. That or you can start listing the 50 things it could be, but I can hardly see how it could be that many things that could cause it.
hellbugged ·
what's your method of tightening the beejeezus outa the nuts?
lownslo ·
dumone wrote:what's your method of tightening the beejeezus outa the nuts?
socket with breaker bar with my scrawny arse hanging off the end of it?
bond ·
is the car lowered? fkd bearings?
nick
hellbugged ·
hmmmmm, imagine swinging the wheel one way then, reversing the weights on the end of this Tbar to "BANG" the nut tight............that's the kind of force required to toghten the axle nuts!
it sounds like youve been working there already?
like Dave said, we'll be stabbing in the dark here........
lownslo ·
Ahh well bugger it. Don't have time for it. I'll just sell it then
lownslo ·
dumone wrote:hmmmmm, imagine swinging the wheel one way then, reversing the weights on the end of this Tbar to "BANG" the nut tight............that's the kind of force required
like Dave said, we'll be stabbing in the dark here........
Its only in say a day or two that this sound has gotten really bad. the nuts are tighter than they ever were as I had a good 6 foot handle on the breaker bar. Even though they are tighter than they ever where the sound is still there so I can't see how it can be them
lownslo ·
bond wrote:is the car lowered? fkd bearings?
nick
cars not lowered the the bearings on the axles are new as of a couple months ago.
bajachris88 ·
they didn't have Cv's on 56ies back then did they?
I only eva had grinding noises with bad bearings....
and my clunks on the rear only happen when i put the brakes (drums playing up)
lownslo ·
Yeah this happens if the car is in gear or out of gear, just free coasting, no brakes applied.
aussiebaja ·
could it be the front gearbox mount is shot ?
lownslo ·
all 3 trans mounts are brand new.
This noise happens as a cyclic sound with wheel speed remember, can be on perfectly smooth road no bumps with no load on the car/trans whilst free coasting just slowly veering side to side, doesn't have to be violently at all.
aussiebaja ·
the only other thing i can think of is to take of each rear brake hub and check the brakes make sure there aint nothin in there or loose
56astro ·
Drain the oil out of the tranny and see if any ugly bits fall out.
Does it happen when its in any gear, out of gear?
lownslo ·
noise happens
in gear
out of gear
engine running
engine switch off
under brakes
not under brakes
on smooth ground
on rough ground
lownslo ·
aussiebaja wrote:the only other thing i can think of is to take of each rear brake hub and check the brakes make sure there aint nothin in there or loose
only happens under turning, there is noting loose floating around in the brakes.
68AutoBug ·
It May be your the Large Nuts on the axles...
If Not tightened to 217 ft lbs they will came loose..
so it could be the axle moving on the splines...
You need a 3/4 Drive socket and bar plus 5 ft of pipe on
the breaker bar and you tighten it by putting all your weight on it..
You should NOT be able to undo the NUT with a 1/2 inch drive breaker bar.... it should shear off...
put some grease or never seize on the thread before doing it up...
I hope this is all the problem is...
Best of luck
Lee
bajachris88 ·
Make sure u also check for simple loose things too ay... like even panels or what not...
Might sound stupid,
But on my toyota last yr, i took it to a suspension shop 5 times to work out what the hell this nasty screaching noise was coming from the left front wheel and moreso whilst turning left. None of them new, but 3 wheel alignments later, a 2nd hand hub, new bearing and plenty of $, i took the wheel off myself, to see the sheet metal cover over the top of the disk brake had a slight bend and was just rubbing on the rim of the wheel... Took me only a second to bend it back and it neva did it again.
Have an offsider with ya and take the car to a quiet street, and having him on the outside listening to where abouts in the rear wheels its coming from. EG: quiet coldersack at a slow pace (however u spell coldersack)
68AutoBug ·
When You turn a corner
there is pressure from the differential
for one axle to go slower than the other one..
this is enough to make the brake drums move on the splines...
if it was brake parts, it would make the noise all the time..
there wouldn't be any differnce whether going round a corner etc...
The oval beetles have a very simple rear suspension so there's not much that can go wrong...
but I would check the level of the oil in the gearbox...
Best of luck
Lee
into VWs since 1960....
Anthiron ·
ok heres an idea,
replaced an axle lately? or have you replaced the wheel bearing cover cap inside your rear brakes? you say that you know your brakes are fine does this mean u pulled them apart recently?
some of those caps have different depths in them so even when tightend all the way up there can be play for the axle to slide and therefore you can never get the proper bearing tension by tightening the axle nut.
the axles should have matching colour swabs, if one axle has a blue mark then the other one should as well etc.
Volkswagenboy ·
bajachris88 wrote:Make sure u also check for simple loose things too ay... like even panels or what not...
Might sound stupid,
But on my toyota last yr, i took it to a suspension shop 5 times to work out what the hell this nasty screaching noise was coming from the left front wheel and moreso whilst turning left. None of them new, but 3 wheel alignments later, a 2nd hand hub, new bearing and plenty of $, i took the wheel off myself, to see the sheet metal cover over the top of the disk brake had a slight bend and was just rubbing on the rim of the wheel... Took me only a second to bend it back and it neva did it again.
Have an offsider with ya and take the car to a quiet street, and having him on the outside listening to where abouts in the rear wheels its coming from. EG: quiet coldersack at a slow pace (however u spell coldersack)
Cul-de-sac. That's how you spell it.
-Staggers.
68AutoBug ·
Jack the rear end up and see if You can move the wheel
in and out - at the top -
at the sides - at the bottom...