What's wrong with my rear-end?

Z

zer0cool

New member
Hi,

I've been having some worrying rear suspension issues. It first started after a 1500km road trip. Right at the end of the trip, and after 8 hours of straight driving, the manual transmission started sounding strange and felt funny. I took it easy on it after that point, and it doesn't seem to be acting up too much. I also noticed that I had a small leak coming from my rear axle, and had a mechanic top off the gear fluid when I had an oil change. I know this suggests a bad seal in there, but it seems to have stopped leaking.

NOW, the whole rear end feels very unstable. The ride is very harsh, all bumps are felt, and there is a noticeable 'clunking' sound whenever I start to move unless I really baby it. There is also a pronounced 'squeaking' present most of the time. Also, there is a lot of side to side rocking when going over any rough stuff (in my case it's mostly streetcar tracks).

What I've thought it could be so far.
-At first I thought it might just be transmission bushings
-After researching I thought it might be shocks. The ones on there look pretty rough on the outside, but the car only has 120k miles on it, and when I jump on the rear and rock it, it stops moving as soon as I get off.
-Now I think the springs are bad (as I've read my 96 has issues with) but I'm in Canada and I don't think the recall applies to me. I checked the bump stops and there seems to be some contact between them, but there isn't a noticeable sag to the rear end.

What else do you think could be causing these symptoms? I really feel as though there is front to back movement of the rear end. What keeps this in place?

Also, are there rear sub-frame bushing on these things? That's really what it feels like but I haven't read anything about them.
 
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Thanks for the input.

I just have a few follow up questions.

1) are there simple way's to check these potentially loose area's? ie, jack up the rear wheel and check for movement like you might do for a wheel bearing?

2) where does this panbar connect to and from? I've heard mention of it while I was searching and haven't heard of it before.

3) what sort of more major damage could occur if these symptoms are ignored for a little while longer? I hate driving any vehicle that doesn't 'feel' right, especially when it's clunking in the suspension.
 
zer0cool said:
Thanks for the input.

I just have a few follow up questions.

1) are there simple way's to check these potentially loose area's? ie, jack up the rear wheel and check for movement like you might do for a wheel bearing?

All the things we suggested are connected by bolts so just put a wrench on them and tighten them up if they need it and inpect the areas for broken parts.

2) where does this panbar connect to and from? I've heard mention of it while I was searching and haven't heard of it before.

It's a long bar that runs behind the rear axle. It's connected to the frame on one end and the axle on the other.

3) what sort of more major damage could occur if these symptoms are ignored for a little while longer? I hate driving any vehicle that doesn't 'feel' right, especially when it's clunking in the suspension.

That I can't answer because we don't know what it is. It could be minor or serious depending on what it is. If it feels that squirrely, I would ahve it checked out by the dealer or a mechanic who you trust their knowledge ASAP.
Click to expand...
^^^^
 
Okay I'm relieved to hear that I might just be able to tighten down some of these loose area's. I've had a minor visual inspection and nothing really seems to be that worn and the bushings seem to be intact.

I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks so I'll take a look at it when I'm back and post up some pictures to see what you guys think.

This just leaves me with one last hypothetical question. The body of my car is 99% rust free, but coming from a snow-belt area with a lot of salt use, the underbody of the truck is quite rusted. The rear axle, drum brakes, sway bars, and most everything else is pretty rusty. If I could find a wrecked 4runner with a clean rear-end, do you think it would be worth it to swap all that over, adding new bushings and struts/springs?

I'm just hesitant to fix too much if it's all just gonna rust out. I'll post some pictures of the rust when I get back and we'll come up with a consensus.

Cheers,

Jay
 
Here is how she sits
DSC_1089.jpg~original


And here is the bad news....

DSC_1081.jpg~original


DSC_1083.jpg~original


oil/moister on the strut??

DSC_1084.jpg~original


The front is not as bad... but not great

DSC_1086.jpg~original


DSC_1087.jpg~original


There is an undercoating on the truck which is peeling from the rust which makes it look worse, but I really don't know how bad rust like this is. The frame bushings in the first picture are really chewed up and I'm thinking they might be a real trouble spot.
 
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That rear shock is blown if it's leaking oil. I'm not a rust expert (thankfully), I live in CA. But it looks pretty bad to me. I wouldn't spend much money trying to fix it persoanally, I think it would be better to get a new rear end.
 
brian2sun said:
That rear shock is blown if it's leaking oil. I'm not a rust expert (thankfully), I live in CA. But it looks pretty bad to me. I wouldn't spend much money trying to fix it persoanally, I think it would be better to get a new rear end.
Click to expand...

So there is good news and bad news.... The shock is blown and that's where the leak is from back there, not the seal inside the axle.

I also read that the 'clunk' might be from the drive-shaft coming in contact with the u-joint(?). Seems to be a common problem and a tough one to fix. I'm thinking if I replace the rear shocks and maybe springs it might solve that problem and at the very least fix the ride quality. How labour intensive is it to replace the sub-frame bushings? (ie. the first picture)

When you say replace the whole rear end, what does that include exactly?

Can anyone with a better knowledge in rust tell me whether I'm in trouble of my frame mounts rusting away?
 
I'd say the instability can be attributed to that blown shock absorber. Replace both and report back.
 
zer0cool said:
I also read that the 'clunk' might be from the drive-shaft coming in contact with the u-joint(?). Seems to be a common problem and a tough one to fix.
Click to expand...

Well, the driveshaft is always in contact with the u-joint because they're bolted together. :) The clunk could be a bad u-joint or the slip yoke could be binding up. Try greasing the zerks with a grease gun and see if that shuts it up. Just pump greaese into them until it starts oozing out. Also with the truck in "N", get under there and see if there is any up/down or side to side play in the u-joint and that can tell you if it's bad. You will have some rotational play so don't be concerned about that (it's just the space between the teeth on the gears).

zer0cool said:
I'm thinking if I replace the rear shocks and maybe springs it might solve that problem and at the very least fix the ride quality. How labour intensive is it to replace the sub-frame bushings? (ie. the first picture)
Click to expand...


The rear shocks and coils will help the ride quality a lot. That pic is of your body mount. they would have to be cut off and new mounts welded on. The question is, can you weld new ones on, or is the frame too rusty. I think I would have it looked at by a body shop so someone with expertise can see it up close and tell you how bad it really is and if they even need to be replaced right now.

zer0cool said:
When you say replace the whole rear end, what does that include exactly?
Click to expand...

Axle and it's mounts. Shock mounts and coil seats too maybe.
 
Thanks everyone!

I really think we've narrowed down the problem area's. I think that the axle's are fine for now and I just need to replace the shocks and there mounts for now. I will also try that grease gun idea. If that get's ride of the clunk and the shocks fix the ride quality then I think she'll hold out for now without much in the way of maintenance.

I'll report back in about 3 weeks to let you guys know how it went.

Cheers
 
hi zerocool,
am very interested with this as i am feeling a certain looseness also from my rear left suspension.
did the new shocks fix the problem?
thanks.
 
zer0cool said:
Can anyone with a better knowledge in rust tell me whether I'm in trouble of my frame mounts rusting away?
Click to expand...

looking at that rust, I would get on it as soon as you can, you may have a very difficult time getting any of that hardware to come loose without breaking! Maybe it's because I work on aircraft and right now I work the corrosion shift but take care of that stuff, if you can stay on top of it, it should last you a long time.
 
by the way, i finally solved my looseness at the rear...the panhard track bar bushings were worn out- replaced the 2 and voila- SOLVED
 
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