Well I went half way on a 1000 mile round trip. I had no problems going over a mountain pass in B.C. / Alberta. I did not hear any strange noises. When I came to a small town and had to let off the accelerator from hyway speeds to town speed I heard a loud thumping in the rear of the veh.. When I stopped for a red light and then started in traffuc again I heard the continuous noise and I went to a garaage to get it checked out. I had to wait about 20 mins. for the service manager to come out and go for a test drive with me.Lo and behold no more noise. Did I feel stupid. I went onto the next town. Once again the noise started. I went into another garage and this time they put the car up on a lift and this is when we found that the left rear half axle was loose when you push it from right to left. There was about a 1 inch play/movement to the right and left. It was solid when you pulled down on it. There were no leaks or rips in the CV boots. This was a holiday weekend and all stores were closing. I went on to my destination without problems.
The next day I took the car for a test run and once again no noise. The next day there was noise again.
No I am asking if it is safe to continue to drive the veh. I still have a 500 mile hyway trip to get back home and there are not many big towns to stop at along the way. I don't want to brakedown in the middle of nowhere.
I seem to keep up with hyway speeds and the sound comes and goes. I will get the half axle checked/replaced when I get home.
Is it safe/OK to drive for another 500 miles if I take it easy.
I you can, buy some wheel bearing grease, duct tape,
brake cleaner and some rags.
You'll need a sharp knife or rasor blade to.
Cut a small slit in the booth, inch or two long.
Then stuff some grease in the booth.
Clean with the brake cleaner and some rags.
Then tape up the booth with the duct tape.
This should hold you untill you get back home
to get a replacement and do a proper job.
I drove mine longer than 500 mile, not ideal and
certainly not recommended but in an emergency
it works.
if i recall correctly when i had my benz on the lift. a half shaft would have to have in/out movement. if it did not, you would have no suspension effect. on humvees they have alot more than 1" travel.
without taking the boot off, about the only way i would know to check it would be to twist the shaft part while holding the part where the bearings are. any difference in amount of movement would be a dead giveaway the halfshaft is jacked. i have rebuilt several for humvees and it is a no brainer.
I assume you must have checked the bolt that holds the half axles to the wheel. If not look at it for looseness....remove center cap from the wheel and check for tightness. Mine actually came loose but we just added some locktight and tightened it. Hope you make it back safe.
I assume you must have checked the bolt that holds the half axles to the wheel. If not look at it for looseness....remove center cap from the wheel and check for tightness. Mine actually came loose but we just added some locktight and tightened it. Hope you make it back safe.
Well this morning I pulled off the little plastic center cap to the alloy wheel to check on the whell nut as Winston described above. It was not loose to the hand but I put a 13 mm ratchet on it and I could tighten it by at least a 1/2 half to 3/4 turn. I checked the other side and it was tight. I then took the car for a test drive to see if this made any difference and the noise was still there but seemed toned down somewhat.
Tomorrow is the big day and I will take a chance on taking the veh. for it's return trip.I will report back on my adventure.
I drove the 500 miles and did not hear any rear axle noise at all. Car ran very well and I averaged 33.5 mpg on the way back. I will get the car up on a hoist and check things out now that I'm on home turf again. Only thing I found anoying was that there was so much wind noise coming through the old weatherstrip that the stereo and the noise almost gave me a headache.
I drove mine over 700 miles home with a torn outer boot. It would hammer like crazy if I got above 50 mph, but as long as I kept it below this it was fine. That was a LONG drive home. Had the dog with me and I think I actually heard her talking back after a while.
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Well I finally got the car up on the hoist to check out where the noise I had possibly came from. For the past two days I had no noise at all and maybe the problem/noise solved itself. Once on the hoist my mechanic checked every thing over and nothing appeared loose. The right axle half shaft could be moved from side to side by about 1 - 1 1/2 inches. The left side had no play at all whatsoever. There was no movement up or down on both shafts.The mechanic said that this seemed odd but every thing else seemed OK. There were no torn boots or leaks.
At this time the noise has now disappeared but my only question is why one side of the axle shaft moves and the other not ?. Is this normal or will this cause a problem down the road ?. The half axle that does not move was replaced about a year ago.
Check the flex discs on the drive shaft, and also the rubber mount for the carrier bearing on the drive shaft.
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Respectfully,
/s/
Max
Charleston SC
'87 300TD, 294k miles
'73 Balboa 20
MBCA member #D008916
Join the Mercedes-Benz Club of American today, and get discounted parts at your local MB dealership: MBCA
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