Rear wheel play in and out - source of clunk?

[treehan77]

Well replaced the cross pin, c clips, cross pin bolt, both wheel bearings and seals. Fresh fluid etc. still clunks lol

 

[SnowDrifter]

Let's go back to square 0. Re check everything. We missed something

Is there any way you can replicate the issue with the vehicle on the ground? Rocking it side to side, jumping on the thing, etc?

Check track bar, control arm bushings. Sway bar bushings.

Chdck body mounts, exhaust hangars, fuel tank straps, shock bushings

Check interior seat, floor jack, any loose items. Folk your seats down, take the jack out, etc

Drop your spare tire down and inspect the winch. Insure the hook is seaten properly then roll it up until the spring is nice and compressed

Also verify the issue with a passenger in the car sitting in the back to rule out echoes / phantom sounds. Sometimes sound cna bounce off interior surfaces and lie to you regarding its location

Brake hardware is all torqued right?

 

[treehan77]

I’m gonna have to get a helper to drive while I listen or something. Can’t reproduce when not driving it, at least by myself. Spare tire and brakes eleiminated, as I removed and reinstalled them to do all this

 

[Erickk120]

And this clunk happens when turning to either direction correct?

 

[treehan77]

Seems like it. I normally notice it when I turn one way, then the other at moderate speed and relatively sharp turn

 

[retiredsparky]

This is a fairly common complaint about the tahoes. A couple of comments:

Your rear axle does have excess end play (from watching your first video).

Unlike the engine, there is no oil filter in the differential. As the metal parts wear, those little particles that you see attached to the magnet do a pretty good job of grinding on every thing that moves in there before getting stuck to the magnet. That is why so many Tahoes etc with lots of miles have these clunks.

The c-clips are not the only wear point on your axle. The axle also wears just as much as the c-clips. So replacing the c-clips can only reduce some of the wear.

To eliminate the rest of the axle wear, you can buy new axles for about $150 for each 6 lug axle (rock auto.com).

There is a fair amount of metal at the end of the axle, so you could probably continue to drive it like it is for some time. One disadvantage to that is that the excess axle end play that you have can be ******* the brake system. Each time you go around a corner, the axle moves in or out and forces the brake caliper to compensate by pushing on the brake pads increasing wear on the pads and wear in the brake caliper bores.

Also the banging noise is an indicator of forces on the axle and c-clip. As the wear continues, those forces increase and can cause the axle and c-clip to develop microscopic cracks from metal fatigue much like if you would take a hammer and pound on a piece of metal. So this can increase the rate of wear as small pieces of metal slowly break out of the axle groove that the clip rides in. Towing or hauling heavy loads can increase the rate of wear. My Tahoe was used to tow a skiboat for a lot of years so I believe that is why my axles sound like yours. I should probably change out my axles.

Bottom line-your call!

 

[treehan77]

I replaced the c clips and center pin (which I believe also could cause end play) because they were cheap. Elected to not spend $300 for new axles, I wasnt positive that would stop the clunk either.

 

[Erickk120]

Since we are still beating the horse let me ask a few questions, did you install the copper colored c clip or the stainless one? If I remember correctly I had excessive end play in one of my axles and installed the stainless colored one since that is the thickest one sold at the store and it was perfect for my application. Is this a 2wd or a 4wd model? How did the c clip fit on the axle? Was it a tight fit with no noticeable slack or in other words they shouldnt just fall in, there should be some resistance. Lastly was the end play of the axle tighten or did it remain the same? If you have a g80 does it still work? This is assuming the axle is clunking at this stage.

 

[treehan77]

I think I used the copper colored ones, they measured slightly thicker. Yeah they seemed to just fall in. 2Wd. Seems like there is a tiny bit less endplay. The g80 works. If you spin one wheel slowly, the other spins the other way. Sped up the spin, and it kicks back

 

[treehan77]

I also couldn’t find specs for the width of the groove on the end of the axle anywhere.