undercairage noise - broken/loose?

Torinalth

Founding Member
Jul 16, 2002
952
0
16
Clayton NC
hey guys,

i started noticing this maybe a week ago and thought i fixed it by actually tightening down my spare tire so the bolt was not hitting the rim of the spare. well that took care of 80% of the noise. there is something else i cant track down. i know its in the vacinity of the differential/driveshaft/exhaust. i cant figure out where it is exactly or what to look for. the sound is like a piece of metal aginst hollow metal (thought my exhaust hanger came loose but its all tight) exhaust is tight, driveshaft seems to be ok... i can replicate the sound by pushing on the car from the side. when the car is shaking left and right it hits, but not when it goes from front to back, or up and down (pushing up and down on the trunk) now it may be a slightly wider area then just the differential/exhaust, but its in the rear and "around" that area.

anything you can think of to look for or try to diagnose this?

Torinalth
 
well i got under it again just now and had someone push on the side while i looked around, and after burning my hand on the exhaust and differential i think i have found it.

its definatly in/on the differential. the issue is its one of two things. the only thing i can VISUALLY see is that there are two arms connected to the differential and the frame. the one on the drivers side seems to have a little play in it where it connects to the differential. does anyone know what these arms are? they move up and down as the differential moves.

second thing is if not that its in the same general area of the differential, but it sounds like its comming from on top of the differential. is there anything that can come loose/break on "topish" of the differential? not being able to see makes it kinda hard to know :P and i really dont wanna drop the differential to see absolutley nothing. i dont think it has anything to do with the driveshaft/U joint as its not that far forward.

ANY help would be appreciated.

Torinalth