924Board.org

[ted von Kampen]

I have been rebuilding a 1981 924 that has sat for 15 yrs. I have never driven yet except a few feet. I have encountered numerous problems that have indeed seemed strange and always gotten good advice from the forum members. So here I go asking again.

I am redoing the brakes on this car. I removed the rear castle nuts on both sides and have redone and put the left side back together. I did not notice this problem on the left side while doing the left side (driver side) brakes. I am now doing the right side brakes. While getting ready to reassemble I found something that seems strange to me. First, when I went to work on the right side, I notice that splined shaft seemed a bit retarded or moved back toward the transaxle. In addition, there seemed to be a great deal of side play on the bearings, seals etc. If I moved the splined shaft up or down or back and forth, I estimate that the outer tip of the shaft moves a millimeter or two. As I move it back and forth or up and down I can hear a "thunk" at the ends of the movement. The sound seems to be coming from the axle bearing area rather than the CV joint. Since I cannot drive the car I don't know if the normal bearing failure "growling" is exhibiting or not. I can lever the splined shaft back to full extension.

Before I tear into this and check the bearings I am wondering what the forum members thoughts are on this subject. I have searched and read various posts but not note this particular problem. I hate to remove the right rear control arm but I have read that the bearings can be changed in place.

Has anyone else noticed this amount of side play? If I reassemble will it work okay (I think not since I am writing this)?

All and any thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks,
Ted

[Fifty50Plus]

Sounds like the bearings are bad. The good news is that they can be changed out without removing the trailing arm.
A good check that they are bad is to bolt on the wheel and with it off the ground, hold it by the top and bottom of the wheel and try to push/pull the wheel. If it moves, the bearings are bad.
_________________
1979 924 NA race car H-Prod SCCA
1982 924 NA race car - Sold
1981 924 Turbo sold
1982 924 Turbo sold
1972 911 E race car - traded for Cayenne Diesel
1975 914 1.8 Building for H-Prod SCCA

[ted von Kampen]

Thanks for that comment. I will have to put it back together and try that. Just hate to do the castellated nut tightening but I suppose that is necessary. I may go ahead and get a set ordered as they are not too expensive.