Hey there Scott,

Both mechs manhandles the axles. Gary said he unbolted the axles from
the flanges and wobbled, wiggled, and generally harassed them and
everything felt fine. No bindings, no loosenesses, nothing felt wrong.

Regarding rear wheel brg play, how can I check that? Where is the brg?

(I didn't even know these were still using brgs in the '80s.)

If tomorrow's weather is as sweet as today's I will check that muffler
question. It's possible, I can't say it's certain, but the noise MAY
have started after the van was crunched by the parked aircooled bus that
was totaled by the guy driving down our street. The tailpipe has a 3/4
moon cross-section from the collision, which suggests . . . merely hints
at . . . tempts me with the possibility that the muffer is banging the
body like *(=== similie redacted because this is a family show===)* in a
dirty video.

--
Rocky J Squirrel

On Sat, 2011-04-02 at 13:29 -0700, Scott Daniel - Turbovans wrote:

> auto trans, no clutch plate.
>
> I'm with drivetrain as the main suspect.
>
> any check that the CV joint screws are all tight ?
> or check for rear wheel brg play ?
>
> and the muffler isn't just touching the body, right ?
> sometimes they are very close to bodywork or the frame back there..
> like 3/8th of an inch from contact.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "ralph meyermann" <ralphmeyermann@GMAIL.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Saturday, April 02, 2011 1:10 PM
> Subject: Re: More fun with mechanics
>
>
> > Could the elastomers or springs be out of the clutch plate?
> >
> > On Apr 2, 2011 3:00 PM, "Rocket J Squirrel" <camping.elliott@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > The thunking only occurs when the drivetrain gets slack. Like taking
> > your foot off the gas pedal while cruising slowly on a flat street.
> > Re-applying pressure on the pedal does not cause the noises. Sometimes
> > when the van is moving at just the right speed . . . 8 mph or so . . .
> > on a flat street, sort of idling along, you can hear the mystery thunker
> > going thunk thunk thunk. It's a heavy sound, can be felt a little bit.
> >
> > Second gear seems to be perfect to set up the right relationship between
> > engine power and van moving resistance, allows the right amount of
> > slack. If that makes any sense at all, first is too "tight" and 3rd,
> > well, there's a lot more road noise when up in third it might be
> > happening but can't hear it.
> >
> > If this sounds like a suspension bushing thing, then we'll look again
> > there. But it feels like a drivetrain thing. But the engine does not
> > move visibly when thunking, the transmission and diff were rebuilt and
> > the noise was happening before and now after the rebuild, and Gary just
> > checked the axles.
> >
> > It baffles science.
> > --
> > Rocky J Squirrel
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sat, 2011-04-02 at 09:34 -0700, Don Hanson wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Sat, Apr 2, 2011 at 9:10 AM, Roc...