Rear axle whine

hottigr

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My Tiger's rear axle has been getting a little noisier lately. I run with a hard top on and probably hear more noises than those that run without a top- which can be a good thing or a bad thing- but, the gear whine is starting to get pretty loud, mostly at highway speeds. I drained the old gear oil out. It had a slight (about the thickness of a thread) aluminum colored streak, which I'm sure is metal. I replaced the 80-90 weight oil with 85-140. This quieted down the rear end some, but, the whine is still there. I suspect normal gear wear is the culprit. The car has about 135,000 miles on it, has never been apart, has never been low on gear oil and never had any leaks.

Today, I took it our for a spirited run for about an hour at mostly freeway speeds. When I got home, I put a temp gun on the diff and it registered between 185-200 degrees, depending on what part of the pumpkin I pointed to. It was hottest at the front. Just for reference, I pointed the temp gun at the oil pan- 180 degrees.

I know I won't have time to do anything about this before TU. It's about a 2 hour drive to Santa Maria for me.

So, do you guys think I'll make it to Santa Maria and back, or, will I be stranded on the side of the road? All opinions welcomed!

Kirk
 

Warren

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Me too

Mine has receipts for conversion to 3.07 and is a little louder then I'd like so maybe I'll see you or you'll see me on the side of the road. I like to leave early enough to get to your area before traffic stalls me on 405.
All 4 of the other Tigers I've driven have some whine. Most all were higher mileage cars. I asked my other gear head and they told me that its rare that old gears most always seem to whine and buy new ones. I'd turn up the radio :)
 

hottigr

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whoops

I just noticed I posted this in personalized...my car has the stock 2.88 rear end, if somebody wants to relocate this thread.
 

hottigr

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Ends up one of the axle bearings was spinning it's race. Had the entire rear end done- new bearings, seals, u-joints, rear wheel cylinders, brake shoes, driveshaft straightened and balanced. Nice and quiet now.

Here's the interesting part. As I was driving home from the shop, the steering wheel (which was previously straight while driving straight) was now positioned about 10 degrees to the right of center while driving straight. I crawled under the back end of the car and everything appears to located properly. The car was done by a well-known restorer of British cars in Ventura who has worked on Tigers before and has been in the business a long time. The front end of the car was not touched. Is it possible that having the rear end re-done could effect the position of the steering wheel? Kirk.
 

michael-king

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time. The front end of the car was not touched. Is it possible that having the rear end re-done could effect the position of the steering wheel? Kirk.

It depends what moved when the rear end was put back in. I'm assuming it came our of the car springs and all? Perhaps the shackles are slight moved? The axle is sitting slightly offset to where it was previously? Did you put new bushes in ? Do they have the correct offset eye? Just some thoughts...
 

hottigr

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Thanks for the suggestions, Michael. The rear springs were undone only at the rear and dropped down to let the axle slide out. Spring bushings are the same, shackles look visually correct, wheel spacing to inside of fender well is equal on both sides.

The guy who did the work suggested that maybe something was in a bind before, and now that everything is straight I may need to have the front end aligned. I thought about just moving the steering wheel over a spline to get it straight, but, I think I'll go the alignment route- it hasn't been looked at in 25 years.

Kirk
 

hottigr

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Is this correct?

Still trying to determine if the rear suspension was put back in the same way it came out. I'm mad at myself for not taking pictures ahead of time. When I do it myself, I always take pictures. The one time I let a shop work on my car, I didn't take any pictures and wish I had.

In the workshop manual, the clamp plate and retainer plate go under the rear springs in the stock configuration. I have the old weld-on traction masters. The shop that worked on my car has the clamp plate and retainer plate on top of the rear springs, with only the mounting plate for the traction bars underneath the springs. I can't remember if the clamp plate and retainer plate were underneath the springs along with the mounting plate for the traction bars before the shop dropped the rear end out.

In the current configuration, only 3 of the u-bolt nuts go all the way up flush- the 4th just goes part way up and is jammed against the washer- I don't believe this is how it was before, also.

Trying to get this sorted out before Tigers United...

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TAH_Tiger

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Rear axle

Still trying to determine if the rear suspension was put back in the same way it came out. I'm mad at myself for not taking pictures ahead of time. When I do it myself, I always take pictures. The one time I let a shop work on my car, I didn't take any pictures and wish I had.

In the workshop manual, the clamp plate and retainer plate go under the rear springs in the stock configuration. I have the old weld-on traction masters. The shop that worked on my car has the clamp plate and retainer plate on top of the rear springs, with only the mounting plate for the traction bars underneath the springs. I can't remember if the clamp plate and retainer plate were underneath the springs along with the mounting plate for the traction bars before the shop dropped the rear end out.

In the current configuration, only 3 of the u-bolt nuts go all the way up flush- the 4th just goes part way up and is jammed against the washer- I don't believe this is how it was before, also.

Trying to get this sorted out before Tigers United.../QUOTE]

These pictures may help. Looks like yours is put together wrong.
 

hottigr

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TAH Tiger,

Your pictures show what I suspect mine looked like before I had it worked on. I'm wondering if this changed the geometry of the suspension- this could explain why I have to hold the steering wheel a few degrees to the right in order to go straight. I'm going to drop the springs and put it back this way and see what I've got. Thanks for the pictures!

Kirk
 

67 Tiger

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Double check their work.

They put it together wrong. Think about it, if the traction bars weren't there, where would that plate go? On the bottom, holding the springs. It's too bad that there are professionals, that charge money when they don't know what they are doing. If I may make a suggestion, check the other work they did. The shop that did my rear, installed the emergency brake rod upside down, removed all the bearing shims, installed one bearing plate on the wrong side of the backing plate, crossed threaded one brake line, and also galled both axle threads. But they did get rid of the whine. And I didn't get any cheese!!!
 

hottigr

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67 Tiger,

Yes, there is no doubt where the clamp plate and retainer plate go in the stock application. Because the traction bar mounting plate is about the same thickness as the clamp and retainer plate, it could make sense that the traction bar plate substitutes for the stock plates, but, the placement of the stock plates on top of the springs in what I was questioning, not having a picture of how it looked before they worked on it. Doubling the plates under the springs would not change the geometry, but, having that plate on the top between the spring and the chassis does It's become pretty obvious from the replies that the shop got it wrong. I'm taking the rear suspension apart now and checking in for more opinions when I can. Thanks for confirming what I suspected.

Kirk
 

hottigr

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Fixed the sandwich

The retainer plate, clamp plate, and traction bar mount are all back in the correct orientation, and, the car drives straight down the road with the steering wheel once again in the straight position.

Just goes to show, it doesn't take much to change the geometry of the entire car!

Thanks for the suggestions and the pictures- ready for TU!!

Kirk
 
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