Club 80-90 Forums

Evenin all.......Had a strange knocking noise coming from the offside rear wheel over the last couple of months, I've taken it to a mech and he thought it might be the cv joint failing and put it on the ramp, removed the brake drum(?) and said there was no play in the driveshaft so it wasnt the cv joint. He tightened sum bolts and sent me on me way....a couple of days later it was back...

A brief summary of what happens is:
sometimes it knocks, sometimes it doesnt...
the knocking speeds up as I speed up, then stops when I dip my clutch...
driving to Cumbria in 2 weeks n scared as to whether she'll make it!!

Any advice very much appreciated......happy chugging all

oops forgot to mention the vital details........

1983 watercooled 1900 DF engine

cheers guys i await your genius responses......

It will be a cv joint, you just need to find out which one. Either pull them apart and look for damage or start replacing at random. Greasing them may sort the problem temporary but it will return.

..or something as simple as a brake shoe spring incorrectly fitted?

Knocking Under load Onley ? and with every wheel rotation?and is it a knocking rather than a clicking?
Have you jacked it up yourself and check the wheel rotation and for any play in the wheel bearings? up down side to side and In n out.and any other unwanted noises . and is it a knocking rather than a clicking?

yes monkeynut it knocks under load only...embarrassing when your pulling off in busy areas!

I've not had it jacked up personally but the mech i took it to has done and he said there was no play in the driveshaft and wheel bearings.....just got under there meself and sure enough the driveshaft goes from side to side but not up/down or fore/aft........when pushing up on the suspect one though there is a quiet click whereas all the others are completely silent.....

cumbria approaches and im gettin nervous now.................400 mile round trip.........

I'd put lots of money on one end of the clicking driveshaft.

But the good news is that they just keep wearing out and never fail completely - people have gone many hundreds if not thous of miles on a knocking CV.

Turning it end for end can be a stopgap solution cos the loading changes.
Even just pumping lots of grease into it may quieten it a fair bit - for a while.

If you have the right tools and none of the bolts are stuck or rounded and the CV can be slid off the driveshaft splines easily then it can be an hour or two's job. But if not then.... you can guess the rest!

cheers cumbriankeith.....it sounds pretty much like the cv joint on the clicking shaft eh....i'm no mech so when it comes to pumpin it full of grease what would the easiest way of doing this be? ive been under there and can see both gaiters so would it be to remove and fill them?

so confused......hows cumbria? we're there next week for our first time and can't wait it looks amazing...

Cumbria is sunny and beautiful but with a chilly wind and snow on the tops - very scenic.

It's not the "gaiters" that need the grease - it's the joints. They're the big fat steel discs at each end - about an inch or so thick and 5 inches in diam (I'm guestimating!)

Getting at them is the challenge - to get the gaiter (more often called a boot really) off intact means removing the 6 bolts, which means you can get at the back of the joint anyway. The inboard end going on to the gearbox is much easier to get at so have a go at that one first to get the hang of it. Do a search for CV joints and you'll get some other tips and there's lots of lovely stuff in the Wiki.

i ran mine with a knocking driveshafton and off for 20,000 miles, all i ever did was get under it and slide the shft from left to right a few times and it would go away for a few hundred miles....... and squirted grease in it everynow and again.....( using a cartridge with a silicon tube nozzle on it i didnt even undo the gater!)

macthejaffa, Hi. Exactly the same problem I am in the middle of sorting out (well Beaker is) Had a new drive shaft fitted but not done any milage in it yet. Is it a clonking sound, is it worse under load, does it sound like a rotation noise and when you've been driving for a while is it hard to get in gear, oh yes and does it jump out of 1st gear. If the answer to all the above is yes it may be a gear box problem, not sure exactly what but beaker was speaking to simon at brick werks about mine.

hope this helps

hi beach bum...cheers for the reply....

in answer yes it's a clonking thats worse under load but no the gears are fine and it's never popped out of first gear....i think from what a couple of the guys have said its got all the hallmarks of a dodgy cv joint...don't have the time or the bucks to remedy it now so just gonna clonk me way up to cumbria next week!!

think it might be a bit costly to replace the joint too.....good luck with yours tho

My van was making a noise just like you describe.
Had the CV joints done and it went away.
I reckon it sounds like CV joints.
Don't leave it too long before you get it done because it can eventually damage other parts or cause a breakdown.
Be carefull about paying by the hour to hav it done because it sometimes takes longer than the estimated number of hours and the bill goes up.
I paid for mine on a "job done " basis. Garage reckoned it would take a couple of hours. It took 5 hours !
Was their problem not mine
To be fair, they accepted the situation with good nature, would use them again, if they will take a spanner to the van ever again

I have exactly the same problem. It's gone away at present. The clunking noise goes when I push the clutch in. I had an AA bloke look at the wheel, me thinking it was the bearings. He couldn't find anything wrong and just rotated the wheel a few times. The noise then stopped for a few days. I've just driven 400 miles there and back to York. When I set off there was the clunking noise. It disappeared at speed and hasn't come back. Previous posts have all been very reassuring but I guess I will have to get it sorted eventually.

It's this damn red light on the dash that is bugging me now! Won't go off. The one with the battery symbol.

hi balaclava....your problem sounds identical to mine, it stops when the clutch is pressed etc....got a 200mile trip to cumbria on friday so i guess that'll be a tester.......better remember to take me AA card eh

cheers mate n hope you get it sorted ok