drive donk, hard to explain (1 Viewer)

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Nov 16, 2004
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Location
Rochester kent UK
When stationary and you apply the throttle and move off, I sometimes get a sort of donk or kick, it's as if there is some slack being taken up, but it is just after the car is in motion and don't feel like a worn out drive bearing, that would be when you start to drive, this seems to be just after the drive has taken up, I was wondering if it could be the splines on the drive shaft, perhaps they are sticking and not sliding freely, I am sure I get it sometimes when I come to a standstill.
 
AKA "driveline klunk"


Generally a combination of gear backlash, u-joints, slipyokes and drive flanges.

A bit of it is not un-common. A lot can be telling you about problems. Start by checking the front drive flanges and the propeller shaft universal joints.
 
Hi CD.... It's not that sort of clunk, you get that sort of clunk when moving gear lever from nutrual into drive back into nutrual into reverse with ya fot on the brake, it's not like that, it's after the car is in motion, it's then you get a dunk, it's as if a small motor bike has nudged you up the arse slightly, it's so hard to explain, can't you pop over the England and have a feel...LOL
 
You buy, I'll fly.......:D

I still lean toward my version though........:D
 
Explanation, though as clear as I am sure it seems to you, still blurry? :confused: At least IMHO, from what I can discern besides what the master has already suggested :D do a search on flaring and see if it applies? :rolleyes:

Not a sermon, just a thought............. :flipoff2:
 
Cheers Whodat....... I have done the search on the Clunk and reading the threads, it does seem like the noise I have, I did grease up the drive shaft when I got the car 5 weeks ago, I think I will remove the shaft ends asap and have a look at them and clean and grease up properly...Thanks for your help.
 
snowwolfwarrior said:
I think I will remove the shaft ends asap and have a look at them and clean and grease up properly...Thanks for your help.

Please follow-up with this thread and let us know if this helps.

-B-
 
When I used to work at a Chevrolet dealership, we had alot of Suburbans, and Tahoes with "Driveline Clunk." It felt like you describe, just a slight nudge. GM's fix (at that time), was to remove the driveline, and clean the splines inside the end that slides into the t-case. The next step was to apply a liberal amount of special grease back inside. This would help with the slop between the spllines on the output shaft and the driveline. It also smelled good, kinda like caramel :D
 
Good luck with that. I was going to pull mine on Saturday to do the proper cleaning and greasing. The damn bolts wouldn't nudge (yes I was going from the bolt side not the nut side). Sprayed with PB Blaster twice on Saturday and once on Sunday, sitll nothing Sunday eve. Now it's too cold and too much ice etc, to mess with for a few days.
 
Just got back from being under the car all afternoon, yes the bolts were really tight, but it's not just my arm pits that are strong.
The rear shaft was hard to get off the studs, I could not even compress it to clear the studs, thats cos I had pumped it up with grease a month ago, think thats why I was having the donk issue, so removed the grease nipple and was then able to compress the shaft, and all the grease I had pumped in, came out.
The splines were clean very free moving with no hard dry grease to cause any astiction at all, so cleaned off and put new grease in and pushed the UJ end back inside, moved it back and forth a few times and bolted back together, also found the same on the front shaft, and done the same to that too.
I then took the car out for a test drive, I done all the usual thing that could induce the donk, but all was good with no donks at all, I can only assume, I got the trouble after pumping a few shots of grease in the grease nipple, causing it to have pressure and thus no free movement.
 
I think I had the same noise your describing. With the help of Koffer, we (well, he) greased the zirks <sp and steering knuckle and its been fine ever since.
 
s-wolf, regarding the Boink...errrr Donk
On a five :banana: scale, how many :banana: job is it once you get the bolts off?
wd
 
:banana: the hardest part is how much muscle you have in your body, bolts are very tight, just make sure you mark where the flanges align up and also mark up where the splines are, so when you pull apart, they go exactly back as they should, all you need do the job is two 14mm ring spanners, and a magic marker pen, and perhaps a large screw driver to prize the spline back in to get the flange off the studs...
 
FLASH>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


NEW "MUD" TERMINOLOGY DEFINED.............


"Driveline Donk" means over-greased slip yokes........:D



Please make a note of it..........



Your announcer....
 
This task is officially on my todo list

"Donk" is more accurately descriptive than the others. you know...Doink, Boink, Klunk, Clunk.

thx Snowdog errrr snowwolf
 
It's typical English "Donk" :) you could be right on the snowdog name, I am a bit of a dawg, it's a simple job to do, don't even have to jack the car up. If I had the money I would pop over to the Jacksonville and give you a hand, mind you with all the snow they are having in Denver at the moment, I may be going there in a few weeks, love the rockies.
 

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