Dave H.

sure sounds like the bearing. do the other side too, it's just as old.

Daniel Dudley

That is one clean looking car you have there! You can do both bearings, I elected to do only the noisy, passenger side bearing on my 89 at 60K. If it ain't broke, why fix it. It is easy enough to do it when and if needed, and you won,t save any money, as it is two independant jobs. Inspect the CV boots carefully and consider servicing the joints, as you will have the shaft out, and that is the hard part. New boots and grease is about 30.00 and once done, you should have a long life on the shaft. Of course, if there are no telltale flex cracks on the boot joints or base, you may choose to leave well enough alone. New grease is nice though for the cost.

Chuck Z

Update:

After replacing the bearing, putting the car back together (without torquing anything) it STILL made the same gravely clicking sound! Damnit! Replaced bearing for nothing!

Only one other thing it could be at this point, the outer CV joint! Correctamundo(sp? ) Bought a used axle shaft (with ~60k miles) from Jim Burton at Eurowerks for $30, 1-1/2 hours for them to install it on the carrier ($112.50), two hours of my time to put it back together and torque everything down and no more noise. Spins freely and without any binding!

Aside from wasting $150 on a bearing (installed), I'd say I got off pretty cheap!

Thanks to everyone who offered advice, diagnosis and technical assistance throughout this ordeal.

Final update will be posted once the battery fully charges (I left the key in the "on" position - and yes, the battery is OUT of the car to charge it) and I can get it off the lift for a test drive.

Thanks again everyone! You guys are the best!

mark kibort

tell me how that bearing replacement went. care to share any details . I think im looking at a similar job!

MK

JPTL

Chuck,
Congrats on getting the job done!
You give your cars & their components such respect. Anybody fortunate to ever get a car that's been in your care has run into a stroke of luck.
(Is that Cashmere or Angora that you set your parts on?)

m21sniper

I wish i'd seen this thread earlier.

Wheel bearings almost always 'growl' or 'whine' when they're bad, and do not normally 'click' or 'tick'.

If it's a steady 'clicking' at low speeds it's almost definitely the CV joint.(and as it turns out- it was)

There's an easy test for bad CVs for future reference. Run the car on the road at low speed so that it makes the sound. Then pop the car into neutral while moving(thus unloading the CV joint). If the ticking stops, it's the CV joint.

If it's not, you probably have issues inside the diff.

m21sniper

Mark- "tell me how that bearing replacement went. care to share any details . I think im looking at a similar job!"

Child's play for someone with your mechanical abilities Mark. I did mine, no problems at all.(in fact by 928 standards it was very easy, lol). The only annoying part is securing a 3/4" drive Torque wrench(the nut is on at 322ft-lbs IIRC).

Chuck Z

JP,
Thanks, I try. BTW, its cashmere. (I didn't want to scratch the lift )

Chuck Z

Mark,

I didn't do the bearing myself. I had a mechanic do the work. Was misdiagnosed by all including him when he looked at it and as stated turned out to be the outer CV joint. What gets me, when the cv joint had been replaced it was so obvious that was the problem all along. If I ever see/hear the same thing I will know not to replace the bearing. The joint was binding and when replaced, it rotated freely before I even put it back on the car. Spent $150 I on this part of the lesson. I speculate that the cv joint was damaged when the car was shipped to me. The shipping company tied the car down by putting a strap over the rear axles!

Chuck Z

Sure could have used this a little earlier.....

Garth S

....ah, that is why I offered the comments in post #35 - and have made a similar comment to Mark: when the potential noise sources can be decoupled/separated/etc, diagnosis can become a little more accurate.
Glad it worked out!

hupp

Another quick CV check....based on what I've read in the past:

With wheels on ground, reach under and grab the axel. Try to rotate the shaft by hand -- there should be very little to no play.