Diff clonking issues

[RBZ 260]

As most of us at some stage have heard and experienced the clonkin at the back of our Z.

 

usual culprits are front diff mount, stretched diff strap, worn universals etc....

 

since i got my car on the road. on and off i get this clonking at the back when changing gears or accelerating/deaccelerating.

 

i did have an old diff mount and made my custom diff strap. that was fine for few days but unbalanced tailshaft made a bit of a mess. my diff strap wasnt heavy duty enough and slightly stretched the 10mm thick metal strap with nolathane bush.

 

this was revisited and the metal strap was reinforced with 15mm sqare rod and heavily welded. the nolathane bush showed some stress marks so it was replaced with a softer but lot larger rubber item. and it was compressed in.

 

after tailshaft was rebalanced it was good for about a day and than the damn clonking came back. this is with brand new heavy duty diff mount.

 

checking the diff strap it was solidly pressed on to the diff and the diff mount showed no stress marks.

 

it wasnt he universals as they all just been redone with the tailshaft. as i got CVs at the back they didnt clonk either.

 

on the end i come to terms it was the diff and exessive backlash. which again check didnt seem out of ordinary.

 

so i drove the car for next few weeks (prob 2 months or so) and the clonking was still there and very annoying.

 

it was till this weekend when my handbrake failed that ive stumbled accros the clonking culprit.

 

as the car was on the stands getting the handbrake fixed i had a recheck on all the diff components. to my suprise as i lifted back of the diff up it started to make that clonking sound.

 

checked the two main nuts that bolt the diff to mustache bar and they were very loose.

 

after retightening it with bit of loctite and a test drive like expected the clonking was gone.

 

so prob pays to check every nut and bolt before paying good money for parts you probably didnt need in first place.

[620Z]

Ha Ha nice write up. The old Zed diff and mysterious noises around that area are all to common. Glad to hear you got it sorted. Now some happy motoring without some noise to ruin your drive.