Rear end noise, where shall I look?

[281pony]

i went on a 150+ mile drive today in my car. along the way, we went over probably 20 miles each direction of horrible freeway conditions. lots of sections where it really bounced the car with a bunch of little bumps.

after 60 miles one way, we went into city conditions. stop and go, take off's, ect. i noticed when i started moving from a dead stop, probably from 1-3 mph it would squeak. the speed of the squeak increased quickly with minor acceleration. given the fact it stops at like 3 mph im estimating and it getting rapid that fast. im thinking its my driveshaft?

i also had 3 occurances where it felt like drivetrain slack was happening. i'd take off and it would "lock" into place suddenly and start moving. i am no expert at all with suspension. just very observant of my car. its down now for spindles/balljoints im thinking. so im going it all..

can anyone, based off these symptoms give me any suggestions? it is a true ford aluminum driveshaft for a fox. i do get alot of vibration over 80. i guess all signs are pointing to DS balance/u-joint, but ill look at whatever it could be also.

thanks

 

[93 5.0 GT]

sounds like a dry u joint going bad to me

 

[281pony]

ok thanks for the input.

if you can identify a shot balljoint, please look at my other thread just below this one.

 

[IH8BOWTIES]

U-joint could most likely be the cause. Open your door while inside and listen to the underside while going from R to D and listen to it. If a u-joint is bad, you'll hear it or put it on ramps and chock it and crawl under and try to turn your drive shaft by hand. Shouldn't be any excessive play, only slight play. Also, get someone you trust to drive your car while your in the passenger seat. I had a right front wheel bearing go out in mine but being in the driver seat, it sounded like it was coming from the rear end. Once I was on the passenger side, I could hear it coming from the right front plain as day. Something to think about.

 

[281pony]

im putting on new spindles/brakes within the next couple days. so if i had a bad wheel bearing ill know it. the sound is 1000% from the rear though. im going to take it in to get the alignment checked out and also to have them take a look under the car. should be free to look over stuff while its on a hoist.

 

[281pony]

so should i find it is my u-joint, is this the ideal replacement?

Lakewood Performance Universal Joint (96-04, 87-95 5.0L Manual) at AmericanMuscle.com - Free Shipping!

i have an fms aluminum driveshaft. this is all that AM lists for u-joints. this is all new to me.

 

[Repostyle]

That's the u-joint you might need. As long as you need one. I thought my car had a squeek in the rear too for a while until I notice my speedo bouncing to the same squeek. Turned out to be my speedo cable needed lube. To this day I still don't know why it sounded like it was in the rear.

 

[281pony]

there is something needing attention. i heard 2 distinct rear end noises, so ill plan to replace it soon. ill check it out first before i buy it though.

 

[281pony]

thanks man, only about 10 months too late.