I am on the tail end of a gearbox rebuild and clutch replacement. Today was my first drive. Everything seemed great in the driveway and on the road until I noticed a low frequency wobble and clunking/clicking in the right side while the clutch is engaged which becomes more noticeable as RPM increases and goes away when coasting with the clutch in. The clunk/click is also present with abrupt turns right or left whether the transmission is engaged or not. I assume this is classic symptoms of a driveshaft problem, and based on where I am hearing the noise, I am assuming it is the right side. I will probably just replace the entire right side drive shaft, but I would be greatful for any other troubleshooting steps I can accomplish before I replace the part. Thanks for any useful advice, opinions, or witty comments. I could use a laugh right now.

 

Wow. What an overwhelming response. Anyway, if you are reading this, you may have a similar problem. In my case, the wobble was definitely one of the driveshafts. I cant say for sure which one because I replaced them both while I had the gearbox drained. So the wobble and vibration went away with the new driveshafts, but the clunking noise was still there any time I made a turn or hit a bump at low speeds. The source of the clunk ended up being the lower end of the sway bar link. When I dropped the axle supports, I forgot that when I tried to disconnect the right side of the swaybar, the ball joint nut only came a few turns loose before the hex head of the bolt stripped, so it was only turned about 4 flats loose. This was not very obvious, because when the strut has weight on it, the swaybar link is under tension, so grabbing it and trying to move it by hand wont make it obvious that it is loose. You have to compress the strut enough to take tension off the sway bar link to see that it is loose. Cut the old one off, installed a new one ($20 on ebay) and the problem was solved. Good luck with your search if you are researching a similar problem.

 

I did a transmission replacement on my '04 MC, and have a similar symptom with a vibration/wobble under load that goes away when coasting. I am thinking it is my left drive shaft. I had a time getting it back in the tranny during rassembly. Where did you buy your driveshafts?

 

Yep, its a bummer to finish all that work and then hear that noise. I had more trouble getting the left driveshaft in as well. The good news is that you are probably on the right track. If I remember correctly, the left driveshaft has a retaining ring on the end of the splines that takes a good push to pop into place, and a good pull to take it out. Be very careful to protect your input seal. I was not so careful and mine seeps now. I got my driveshaft set off ebay from theimportexperts in Washington state. I don't know if they are better than any others, but the driveshafts I got from them are still working fine over a year and 15k miles later. Good luck with the final stages of your rebuild.

 

I got on a Ford Focus forum and read a post that said gently tapping the shaft stub in works best. I tried it with letting the strut swing like a pendulum and tap the shaft slid the stub in like going into butter. I am still searching for shafts though. I have read some bad reviews on other forums about local autoparts store axles not lasting, and some other internet store axles not holding up. I am currently looking at axles from the DriveShaftShop.com. Other than that it may be factory rebuilds at $475-$500 a side. What replacements did you put in?

 

I am not sure what brand the driveshafts I got were. I am out of town right now, but I still have the boxes at the house. Won't be able to check until tuesday. No idea about the reviews for theimportexperts parts, but all I can say is that I haven't had any problems so far. The shipping was about 5 days from Washington to Tennessee.

 

Oh yea, I think I paid about $230 for both.