Occasional cunking from the back!

[Russ]

Hi all,

Hopefully someone on here could shed a little light on a problem that I have.

A couple months back I noticed a clunking/crack from the back end of my bx and it's getting a bit more frequent.

It seems to be when I travel over humpy road and when there's a lot of travel in the rear radius arms.

I've had it up on ramps and can't see or hear anything that seems to be rattling, I've had the brakes apart on both sides to no avail and there is no tinware, exhaust or drop links lose at all.

Does anyone know if it could it be a radius arm baring playing up?
If so what would that sound like?

It sounds like a 'crack' / 'clunk' that's intermittent! If that helps.

If Defender110 looks at this, can you remember if they've been done in the past or if you fitted grease nipples on the radius arms as you owned the white TZD (N89 GJO) once upon a time

Thanks all. Russ

[JayW]

Radius arm bearing will sound exactly like that.

[rutter123]

Almost certainly the rear arm bearings, they are tapered roller bearings (2 per side) and when they fail or start to break up one or more of the rollers will turn sideways and the clonk you can hear is the other rollers trying to get past the broken up pieces, sometimes sounds like a ping or clonk. Bouncing the car up and down wont always determine the prob and a visual inspection will reveal very little as the bearings are internal to the rear arms, usually the rear wheels will sit as thus /\ leaning inwards at the top, this is a good sign they are knackered, easy enough to remove/rebuild with kits available from about £30 a side. Best repaired sooner rather than later as ultimately it can cause the rear tyres to rub on the inner arches.

[Russ]

Hi,

Thanks ever so much for the advise it's pretty much what I expected I just hoped they hadn't as the wheel camber is still good.

You've described it exactly. You're right I've tried bouncing up and down on the tow hitch and it doesn't make the clonking but the bearings were what I suspected, I'm not surprised they've gone as I did about 37k in it last year!

Do you know if they are pressed in or are the kits pre pressed? I'm assuming they are press fit.

£30 sounds good is it a pig to do?

Thanks
Russ

[rutter123]

They bearings are pressed in but easy enough to get the old ones out with a long drift, the kits (per side) come with 2 tapered roller bearings a plastic internal tube, 2 seals, and the long 24mm headed bolt and locknut, Removal of the arms is fairly straightforward, disconnect the arms from the anti-roll bar 2 bolts per side, remove the rear brake calipers and unclip the pipe from the rear arm, pull the R clip out that connects to the rear struts, remove the long bolt, drop the arm down at 90 degrees to horizontal and it should come out, there are no hydraulic pipes to disconnect, I have rear arms here that i can rebuild for you for £65 per side in exchange for yours or can rebuild yours for you. You will need to get the rear end up high enough to allow the arms to come out and put the suspension on the low setting to release any pressure in the rear end.

[rutter123]

They bearings are pressed in but easy enough to get the old ones out with a long drift, the kits (per side) come with 2 tapered roller bearings a plastic internal tube, 2 seals, and the long 24mm headed bolt and locknut, Removal of the arms is fairly straightforward, disconnect the arms from the anti-roll bar 2 bolts per side, remove the rear brake calipers and unclip the pipe from the rear arm, pull the R clip out that connects to the rear struts, remove the long bolt, drop the arm down at 90 degrees to horizontal and it should come out, there are no hydraulic pipes to disconnect, I have rear arms here that i can rebuild for you for £65 per side in exchange for yours or can rebuild yours for you. You will need to get the rear end up high enough to allow the arms to come out and put the suspension on the low setting to release any pressure in the rear end.

[Tinkley]

You won't always get the / \ of the rear wheels unless there is a lot of wear. Often the bearings just go dry, or corroded without too much slop, and this will make the noise. Well, at least the taper rollers will as when dry and rubbing in their housing with no lube...

There's lots of stuff in the Technical section on the arm bearing renewal. Pack the new bearings very, very thoroughly with grease, I've personally used the graphite/molybdenum lithium based stuff and marine grease. I do not recommend straight 'golden' lithium or calcium/lithium greases, but that's my experience, others may have other preferences. The 'factory' packing is OK but a little light outside the bearing race itself, I believe it to be beneficial to pack more grease in the taper housing area to prevent water and salt getting to the bearing in the first place.

The last couple of cars I did with the bearing kit(s) from Eurocarcare and they are just over £20 per side Italian made kits.

[Defender110]

Hi Russ

They are the original bearings, I did fit grease nipples when I got it at 75,000 miles to prolong the life of the bearings that were fine. When fitting the nipples I drilled through the plastic spacer tube and inserted a small nylon tube to send the grease through into the spacer tube and along to the bearings. I take it that it has done about 140 miles now then?

[Defender110]

p.s. be prepared for a lot of grease in there when you strip them as a lot went in, may be advisable to take them to a pressure washer and get them washed out properly and start again.

[Russ]

Thanks for the help and info everyone it's been a big help, I should have it sorted soon.

Thanks also defender, I thought I saw nipples under there thanks for fitting those. Mileage wise yeah it's a little over 140 now, still going strong and still looks good. I'll upload some pics one day so you can see it again. Although I do have morettes on it now! Haha

Thanks again all for your help
Russ

[Defender110]

Getting rid of it was a very weak moment, I regretted it instantly and did try to buy it back but wasn't willing to pay double what I let it go for. ;-(

[Russ]

I'm sorry to hear that you regretted parting with it, for what it's worth I can assure you it's in good hands now.

Yes your right it was quite expensive for a bx! I've had a fair few and usually I pay no more than £500 haha but at the time I couldn't find a decent TZD anywhere, plus I do a lot of miles. It looked like a good one with only a few weld patches in the boot so I just bit the bullet. The guy I bought it from was a bit of an idiot wheeler dealer, he seemed to have no idea about it and managed to loose all of its history which didn't impress me at all.

I'd say its probably the most used bx in the UK at the moment clocking a lot of motorway miles but I'm a firm believer that 'classic' ish car should be used and not just in the garage. I know the cost of maintaining it greatly out ways the value but I wouldn't have it any other way plus who wants to drive the same old box as everyone else hey!

[Defender110]

Sounds like it's gone to a great home.