Clunk elimination has begun, with pics

[Duffman]

Zedyone, any update on the clunk?

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Its hard for me to recreate the clunk. I can drive it all day and not hear it. But then every once in a while I hear it again. I am going to do the diseazd suggestion soon.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

UPDATE.. I have begun round II on this.

Yesterday, I jacked up the back of the car and replaced the inner rear control arm bushings (about 2 hours once the car was on jack stands, I work slowly, and carefully). That is a really smooth job once I got the exhaust out of the way. Currently, I have all 4 new bushings in and the for large end cap bolts are hand tight, and the small brackets in the rear are snugged down but not tight, and the diff mount is snugged down but not tight.

I am going to fire up the FSM and see if I can find the right order to torque these bolts.

From what I have read, it would seem I need to tighten all 8 of the mount bolts first, then lower the car, and tighten the 23mm bolts.

I will do a search here and then fire up the FSM. IF this sequence is right, all I need is torques.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

I think I have found the correct torques:

Somebody please check me as the part descriptions give me a headache!

Transverse Link inner bolt (read 23mm end cap bolts) 101 - 116 ft lbs

Rear link mount bracket (I think this the two small caps in the rear) 23.1 - 31.1 ft lbs

Front Diff mount member installation bolt (????) 23.1 - 31.1 ft lbs

Front Diff mount member and diff mount insulator installation nut 23.1 - 31.1 ft lbs

Gear carrier and diff mount front insulator installation nut 43.4 to 57.8 ft lbs

Those last three have me puzzled. If I had to guess.

Torque the big 23mm bolts to 101 - 116

torque the differential cross member bolts (4 of them that hold the bushings) to 23.1 to 31.1

torque the small brackets in the rear that hold the bushing to 23.1 to 31.1

Torque the nut that holds the diff isolator to 43.4 to 57.8

IF thats right, then they really need to work on their wording! hahaha

[gnosez]

To completely eliminate the diff clunk, install the mount that is being made by Roostmonkey over on Hybridz. You no longer need the rubber band strap or the bottom diff mount (you can leave it in if you like). The diff is attached via a GM poly bushing from the top of the diff. The mount itself goes where the band strap was located.

I'm sure there are installation pictures on Hybridz as well.

I installed one last year and it is a simple (1.5hr) job to do. No more clunk.

[Diseazd]

GNOSE......Have you got an e mail or telephone number for that diff mount? Guy

[Zedyone_kenobi]

I just went to hybridz and sent him a PM.

[JonnyRock]

From what I've read, the "Ron Tyler" solid diff mount is primarily for V8 swaps and there's a lot of talk about it overstressing the crossmember leading to epic failure. Just do a search over there for 'Ron Tyler solid differential mount' and you'll find a lot of info. And some nasty pictures.

[Duffman]

I did the simple "L" bracket that attaches to the diff mount insulator and goes under the crossmember to hold the diff/driveshaft down if torque applied to it, seems to work just fine for my purposes. I attached it to the back, but can be atached to the front of the insulator as well. Was a simple install that did not require the removal of anything!

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Do you have any pics of this modification Mr. Duff

[Duffman]

Stephen, will provide one shortly!

[conedodger]

It has been years since I had this problem so my memory is fuzzy. I found that the limiting strap though it looked fine allowed the differential to move too much. At the time, I could and did replace the limiting strap and after doing everything you did and still having a clunk that fixed it. Perhaps, if the limiting strap is NLA you could tighten it up a bit by shortening it somehow? The assembly is intended to move a bit...