loud cracking noise from rear offside

[dayton]

Hi All
I am having problems identifying a loud cracking noise from (it sounds like) the rear offside suspension. It only happens when I am accelerating from a standstill with right lock on (ie first gear accelerating turning right usualy onto a major road) when it happens there is one loud crack but no other problem, it sometimes happens accelerating around roundabouts . Normal driving no problems motorways up to 85mph no problems It first happened after going down a couple of large potholes on one of our runs out. It almost sounds as though something has split and the two metal ends are catching each other. I have checked all body seams no cracks (I didnt expect any) I have had rear wheel off and inspected all bushes and bolts all ok also checked rear spring and shocker no problems. Rear half shaft is datsun and all is smooth and free.
I am getting stuck now I am going to change rear subframe mounts they are the only ones on the rear suspension that are not poly and have never been changed since 1972. Any help would be appreciated could it be a diff problem? there is some backlash but otherwise the diff is quiet but the noise only happens when going right so drive would be mainly to left whheel.
Any help would be appreciated.

[jleyton]

I had a noise that was a little bit like that and, thanks to the Forum, I found a stone (in fact 5) had got caught between the spring and the alloy rear arm.

Unbelievably simple fix where I had been dreading the worst

Cheers

Julian

[dayton]

Thanks Julian When I had the wheel off this morning I checked the spring there were no breaks cracks or stones trapped. I hope it will be just as simple a problem. Thanks....Dave

[martin]

Have you jacked her up so the wheels are hanging ? Shocker bottom mounts are known to pull out of the body, not always obvious. Martin.

[dayton]

Have you jacked her up so the wheels are hanging ? Shocker bottom mounts are known to pull out of the body, not always obvious. Martin.

Hi Martin The shocker top and bottom mounts are both ok thanks for the reply.........Dave

[jleyton]

Hi Dave,

When I had my noise I posted on here and had quite a few suggestions. Unfortunately I can't post a direct link with this damn tablet but if you do a search for "Noise from the rear" you should find my post back in April.

Hope you get sorted soon. Good luck.

Cheers

Julian

[Andrew S]

Hi Dave
I had this once and it was the subframe mount strap bolted to the floor pan was allowing movement. Tightened it up and fine ever since
Andrew

[dayton]

Hi Dave
I had this once and it was the subframe mount strap bolted to the floor pan was allowing movement. Tightened it up and fine ever since
Andrew

Thanks Andrew you have given me hope. Already ordered new subframe rubber bushes I will obviously have to take off the strap but before I do I will check the tightness. I'll let everybody know if that's the fix..........Thanks again.....Dave

[Firept]

Dave. Are you sure its the rear?
I had a similar problem that was caused by the anti roll bar drop links (correctly diagnosed by Russ). if you looked carefully you could see a bright spot just beneath the ball end of the drop link where it mounts on the lower arm, replaced them and all now quiet. may be worth a check.

Paul.

[dayton]

Dave. Are you sure its the rear?
I had a similar problem that was caused by the anti roll bar drop links (correctly diagnosed by Russ). if you looked carefully you could see a bright spot just beneath the ball end of the drop link where it mounts on the lower arm, replaced them and all now quiet. may be worth a check.

Paul.

Thanks Paul. Another thing I will check in the morning. Like all the simple fixes hopefully one of these will be the problem and not the diff that I was beginning to suspect...........RGDS..Dave

[4x4]

Hi Dave,

When I had my noise I posted on here and had quite a few suggestions. Unfortunately I can't post a direct link with this damn tablet but if you do a search for "Noise from the rear" you should find my post back in April.

Hope you get sorted soon. Good luck.

Cheers

Julian

It wasn't just a good curry then?

[jleyton]

It wasn't just a good curry then?

Cheers

Julian

[dayton]

Hi all thanks for your help. I checked the suggestions made in the post and it looks like Andrew wins the coconut. I managed to get between 1/4 and 1/2 a turn without much effort on the bolt fixing the subframe strap to the floor pan. I have not yet tried it on the road as I have the subframe bushes arriving tomorrow and other things are needed before next week when I take the stag and the wife away for a 4 day trip. I will update when the bushes are fitted and road tested. Rgds....Dave

[Matt]

I had a strange knocking noise on my Alfa Romeo 156 after most of the front suspension bushes had been replaced which was eventually tracked down to the front CV joints. When these were repacked with the correct grease the noise went. It may be worth checking the rear drive shaft splines - if the grease in them has dried out or a gaiter is split it could be the problem; however IKBA applies!

[dayton]

Hi all. The bushes I ordered on Monday supposedly arriving today failed to arrive. The parts supplier I ordered from ( no names ) who said they had the parts in stock didn't and had to order new stock from elsewhere. I only discovered this when I checked this morning when the parts would arrive. As I need the stag for our 4day trip next week I had to cancel my order and drive 80 mile round trip to my nearest supplier. Anyway the good news is that I have now roadtested the stag and the fault seems FIXED. I think the bushes were serviceable and the fault was fixed by tightening the locating straps between the subframe bush and the floorpan. Thanks to all who replied Regards......Dave