Rear wheel bearing clunk

[ssdelorean]

Re your last note, you?re right to point that out. Another poster was describing a sound he was getting as someone smacking the firewall with a piece of wood. Very close to what I?m getting but even more accurately, it?s like there?s a heavy object tied with a string to the inside of the pontoon behind my left shoulder flopping around, but not all the time. I get it in turns but I do also get it just going straight from a stop. He said in his case it was fiberglass seam separation at the bottom of the vertical fiberglass. I checked my fiberglass and it looks good. Everything is secure in the pontoon. Shock bushings are old and crusty but they?re holding up. No metal on metal. That?s why the bearing seems likely. The combo of the DGo bearings and the 609 is sounding like a winner. Again, great advice.

Danny,
Did you try tightening the engine compartment crossbrace? Part Number: 108330
What your describing is similar to my experience with a loose brace.

[dmcindiana]

Danny,
Did you try tightening the engine compartment crossbrace? Part Number: 108330
What your describing is similar to my experience with a loose brace.

Hey, Shannon. Several days ago I grabbed the left end of it, attempted to jostle it, thought it was secure, and didn?t give it another thought. I?m going to be very embarrassed if I go home today and take a breaker bar to that bolt and find it backed out. Oof, assuming I have the right socket.

[ssdelorean]

Hey, Shannon. Several days ago I grabbed the left end of it, attempted to jostle it, thought it was secure, and didn?t give it another thought. I?m going to be very embarrassed if I go home today and take a breaker bar to that bolt and find it backed out. Oof, assuming I have the right socket.

If it is loose you will know it by wiggling it. My passenger side was loose and causing a lateral clunk. I tightened it up. Several months after that, I discovered the driver side worked itself loose but there was no clunk on this side. Maybe it wasn't loose enough yet.
If I remember, it might be a 17mm. Not sure.

[dmcindiana]

Yep, 17 mm. There was definitely no wiggle. The driver side crossbar bolt did accept tightening about a half turn with a small cheater bar. I didn't want to go more than that. The torque in the manual is real light. The passenger side took about a full turn with even less effort. I was also surprised at how much I could get out of the body bolt under the charcoal canister, but it was never legit loose, and I stopped before going super tight. I popped the wheel off again and took a wrench to everything at the hub carrier and the top of the shock. Everything was secure with no obvious damage to anything. Everything just looks like a 53,000-mile unrestored California DeLorean in there. I had the TABs replaced over the summer, and the noise definitely does not seem to be coming from there (that would be right under and behind my right hip), although I know the fiberglass can transmit sound real well. It's behind my back and to my left at low speeds and coming from the wheel area. There's no obvious connection to turning left or right, braking, going straight. I'm at the end of my skill level, so the car is going tomorrow to a local shop that I've used before and trust. I'm thinking TAB bushings, CV joints, bearings, or something wrong with the shock itself. Will report back. Thanks, all!!

[todd1561]

If you're able to record the sounds post it up here. Maybe hearing it will give me some ideas.

[dmcindiana]

I would have gladly made a recording if it made the noise again. Nothing on the way to the local guy to get an opinion. Not a hint of a thump. I thought it had something to do with the change of weather. After he got the car up on the lift, he casually mentioned he'd do a better job of securing the parking brake cable, which was in a very bad position. Then it hit me. During my final efforts to check torques and generally poke around the rear left suspension, right before my appointment to drop off the car, I added a bit of hose over the parking brake cable, because its arrangement was slightly horrifying. All kinds of chafing against the frame, axle, and trailing arm shield. I was certain it couldn't have had anything to do with the thump, and it never occurred to me that it could actually be catching in and out of the notch someone cut out of the trailing arm shield at some point, in sync with the entire suspension assembly's movement. That appears to have been it. No noise on the way to the mechanic and no noise on the way home. Just a section of hose added and nowhere for the cable to catch now. Sadly he cut the rear tip off the shield to increase cable clearance. I would never have approved that, but that tip did already have a notch cut out of it by a PO.

Does anyone have an image of the way the parking brake cable is supposed to look on final approach to the caliper?

Final bit of clarity: the PO did replace the cable and it's probably too long. No idea what vendor. Too much cable = touching too many components.

[82DMC12]

I would have gladly made a recording if it made the noise again. Nothing on the way to the local guy to get an opinion. Not a hint of a thump. I thought it had something to do with the change of weather. After he got the car up on the lift, he casually mentioned he'd do a better job of securing the parking brake cable, which was in a very bad position. Then it hit me. During my final efforts to check torques and generally poke around the rear left suspension, right before my appointment to drop off the car, I added a bit of hose over the parking brake cable, because its arrangement was slightly horrifying. All kinds of chafing against the frame, axle, and trailing arm shield. I was certain it couldn't have had anything to do with the thump, and it never occurred to me that it could actually be catching in and out of the notch someone cut out of the trailing arm shield at some point, in sync with the entire suspension assembly's movement. That appears to have been it. No noise on the way to the mechanic and no noise on the way home. Just a section of hose added and nowhere for the cable to catch now. Sadly he cut the rear tip off the shield to increase cable clearance. I would never have approved that, but that tip did already have a notch cut out of it by a PO.

Does anyone have an image of the way the parking brake cable is supposed to look on final approach to the caliper?

Final bit of clarity: the PO did replace the cable and it's probably too long. No idea what vendor. Too much cable = touching too many components.

I don't have a picture of the passenger side handy but I have one of the driver side. See below. The passenger side is supposed to come out of the body behind the driver seat, go through the trailing arm shield, under the frame, clip up to the tail cap of the transmission so it's not hanging down, go under the frame again and through the passenger side TA shield, then along the passenger frame ABOVE the upper link before bending towards the caliper. I've seen people try to run the cable under the upper link and it gets rubbed that way. I can take a picture of the passenger side tonight if needed.

PXL_20221022_015234012.jpg

[dmcindiana]

Andy, this is great, and I do need driver's side. Do you have a photo capturing the entire visible part of the driver's cable? From body exit to caliper?

[82DMC12]

Andy, this is great, and I do need driver's side. Do you have a photo capturing the entire visible part of the driver's cable? From body exit to caliper?

Does this help?

PXL_20231124_200228269.jpg

PXL_20231124_200219254.jpg

[dmcindiana]

Perfect, Andy. Just what I needed. Exits the body next to the passenger cable exit, under trailing arm, swoops way up (partially concealed by the body), then over to the rotor. Stays on the outside of the frame the whole time. I don't remember exactly what mine does, but it ain't that. It's definitely partially routed on the inside of the frame. Haven't had much of a chance to check on things with the weather change and the holidays. Thanks again! --Danny