?? for those who have done D35 E-clip elim

[sjranger]

Hey all,

I installed an arb in my D35 last week and did the external e-clip elim using the echo spring in the tech section. I am now getting an occasional metallic bang/thud from the diff area when taking roughish right hand corners only.

I tried all combinations of locked and unlocked hubs and diff as well as dropping the front driveshaft and I get the noise every time. The wheel bearings, ball joints, and wheel joints are newer and tight, as well as all the steering components. The poly bushings on the arms and beams are in good shape as are the springs and shocks.

I have it narrowed down to being the sound of the center axle shaft moving in and out of the pumpkin and I am hearing it 'bouncing' against the cross shaft in the locker. I have tried tightening and loosening the 'preload' on the echo spring using a machine collar on the shaft, and it seems to have gotten much better after tightening it up a bit.

For those of you who have done the clip elim, have you had noises like this?? Do you guys still run the cir-clip and washer in the passenger hub (retaining the stub shaft in the spindle)? I'd really like to get rid of this noise but I don't want to keep tightening up the spring and put the extra wear/strain on the cross shaft and locking hub.

 

[BeaterMan]

When i did mine, i did put the washer and c-clip on the axle back on the pass hub. i personally havn't any problems except my boot over the slip yolk ripped and i didn't catch it which ended up rusting my splines together but even like that i never had any unusual noises. Just to ask, are you sure that maybe your d35 carrier doesn't have excessive side to side play and that it could be your carrier slopping around in the pumpkin? i think your going in the right direction tho, just get underthere and start wiggilng crap around and try to duplicate your noise.

 

[sjranger]

haha, that's about all I can do at the moment. I have the outer clip and washer on mine as well, I just hadn't seen it addressed in anyones write-up. The diff felt good while it was out, backlash was within spec and no excessive play. It just made me suspicious of the center shaft with it only being right hand, bumpy turns, even with all the combos I tried. I am going to back off the wheel bearing nuts tomorrow if the weather holds out and make sure everything is seated properly again.

 

[4x4junkie]

Having the spring tighter doesn't stress or wear the diff or hub, at the very most you might get a tiny bit extra wear on the stub shaft seals & shims.
You want the spring to be under at least 3/8" or so preload when the suspension is level.

I do have the washer & clip in place on mine, although with the spring preloading the shaft, they may not actually be necessary on that side.