Drive Train Noise On Spf
 

I have SPF 1094 with 900 mi and at the end of a 100 mi ride developed a noise in the right rear. It is noticable at low speed and sounds like chang chang chang. It speeds up with wheel rotation and is not affected by brakes. Exhaust prevents hearing it at speed. There are no vibrations or performance changes noticible. I would appreaciate any suggestions on cause or diagnosis. I have it up on a lift an can find nothing loose or out of sorts.

Thanks in advance
CHARLY

What about the trans mount and dif mounting points? I've have several bb spf and this can be an area to look for issues.
Richard

Check the metal band/clamp thingy ( I'm am not sure what its really called) on the CV boot. Mine came loose and made one hell of a mess. I replaced it with one from NAPA. Get the installation tool if you ever need to change one, it is well worth the $11.50.
Ciao,
Shawn

The noise speeds up with wheel speed; does it occur at the same relative frequency in any gear? Does it start immediately when you start moving or do you have to get up some speed to make it start? Does it continue until you stop? Go faster, then push in the clutch and let the car coast. Still there? Any difference with the driveline under load (acceleration/ deceleration)? While you have it up on the lift, have someone rotate the rear wheels while you look from underneath. Then pull the rear wheels and look at the backs of them for wear/rub marks. Then look in from the sides to see whether you can see something making contact with a half shaft. Sounds like something's either going around with a wheel, halfshaft or driveshaft, or something attached to one of these rotating parts (like a CV boot clamp) is flopping around and hitting something. Also look for the wear mark where the contact is happening when the noise is being made. Could be that something is being pulled out by centrifugal force as it rotates, bringing it into contact with something else. Probably not likely, but check the U-joints: turn the associated shaft back and forth while looking/listening for play.

Hope this helps. Please let us know what you find.

Two things to check:

1. see if inner CV joint is rubbing on frame, most likely on the pass side.

2. Check forward, pass side, diff mount carefully, they have been known to tear on the earlier SPF's with high torque motors. They fixed that problem a few years ago, your's may be the early style

CHARLY,
I have a similar noise in the same place, but mine seems more pronounced when turning a corner at slower speeds. I had a conversation with Mike Stenhouse about this noise and he said something to the effect that the noise was common and not much to worry about. (I don't remember his exact words and don't want to quote him) Then again, he has SPF 218. I would hope they would have cured the problem by now.
I will be extreemly interested in what you find.
I will take take Mr. Fixit's advice and check CV's and diff' mount next time I have the car up on jacks.

TL :MECOOL:

noise
 

Thanks for he suggestions. I will pull the wheels this weekend and let you know what I find.

CHARLY

From the description of the noise it possibly a rattling baffle in the side pipe? Can you get it rolling and making noise and just coast and hear it.. Can you hear it if you coast with the motor off?

Just a thought.

UPDATE ON NOISE
 

I Jacked up the car and rotated the wheels. The right parking brake caliper was loose and hitting the rotor. I applied locktight and retightened the bolts. The noise is gone. Thanks for your help

CHARLY

Well, now that you've fixed the parking brake, are you aware there's a new, major upgrade parking brake? It's a clamp affair which works on a disc sandwiched between the flanges on the driveshaft and the differential. It comes in a kit and costs $425 from your SPF dealer.

Thanks for posting to let us know your findings.

SPF owners- check your rear axle CV joints !!! Jack the rear of the car off the ground, trans in nuetral and park brake off. Rotate the rear wheel(one at a time) forward and rearward while watching the axle shaft end that is stubed into the differential. If you notice any slop you need to carefully peel back the CV boot(s) and take a close look for damaged bearings. SPF had a supply problem and had installed used(rebiult) axles/CV joints. This happend to my car at around 600 miles. I noticed a clunk powering out of a righthand turn and then a slight vibration at higher speeds. Also check for CV joint grease being flung out radially from the boot! This was warrentied for me by Superformance!! The only thing I don't know is if both axles on my car were rebiulds? I was told that there were about 100 rebiult assemblies in ciculation.

tommyboy,
What # is your car; and do you know of the # range of cars that may have the problem you describe?
I do find it hard to believe that SPF would use rebuilt items when advertising that the car is assembled from all new parts; however anything is possible in this day and age. It could be just a bad batch of CV's and someone just misquoted the situation.
Anyhow, we would like to know #'s as mentioned above.

Thanks,
TL :MECOOL:
SPF 1560

Hello Terry lee,
My car happens to be 1593. I was told this information from an inside source at one of the SPF dealers. I do not know the range of vehicles affected but I was told there were approximately 100 of these rebuilt pieces in circulation. I do not know if this means left and right side axles or both inner and outer joints. I would venture a guess that the axles would have been purchased as complete assemblies. What I do know is my right rear axle's inboard CV joint was identical to my left side that broke. The warrantied replacement part I received is physically different and has the Ford logo stamped on the exterior. The inboard CV joint is a Tripod style CV joint. Tripod style CV joints do not use balls but use needle bearing rollers mounted on a three legged spider. The rollers are mounted 120 degrees to one another and slide back and forth in tracks in the outer housing. Supposedly the outer housings, rollers and needle bearings are the items replaced and or reconditioned on these rebuilt axle assemblies. Unfortunately this is exactly whre my CV joint came apart. The rollers(3) all split in half and just ground up the needle bearings and the outer race of the housing. I just got all the new parts in on the left rear axle and took the car for a test drive but now I hear some noise coming from the right side ?????

Terry,

You might have your mechanic inspect the inner CV tripod housings. On both my tripods, there was evidence of the axles bottoming out on the housings. In my case, I had to have the housing machined down to allow for clearance. I was experiencing a rumble on hole shots and acceleration in the turns on any road course with some gusto. The problem seems to have disappeared and any remaining rub hopefully will simply wears its own path, but in my case I had too much contact for comfort. I did manage to completely wear out one of the inner cv joints (not the housing) on the passenger side so it could be that I had a rebuilt CV or something but this was a case of mismatched parts, the camber on the rear wheels of the SPF will not allow for a full bump steer with that rear as it sits. Maybe they changed this on newer cars, but mine is an 1100 series car.

check it out, let us know what you find.