If it breaks on good road, you should not have a problem- I friend with
a 90 Syncro did a 4000 mile trip.( South Africa, Namibia and Botswana)
1000 miles from home his front CV's started making a terrible noise - so
he took of his prop. About 400 miles from home, one of his back CV's
stripped - no problem, he engaged his rear diff lock and got home
safely.( yes, he did have a rather steep CV repair bill)

Twins are great - I have twin daughters age 4 years 9 months.

Jimmy Sanby
89 Syncro 15"

>>> "Steven X. Schwenk" <sxs@Schwenk-Law.com> 14/May/1998 02:32am >>>
There is a noise coming from the drive train of my syncro that I cannot
diagnose due to my limited knowledge/experience.   I already removed the
drive shaft leading up to the front wheels so that is not the problem.
Here's the   symptoms:

My tranny has always had some noise...nothing alarming, you can just
identify the sound it makes under normal conditions...just like you can
hear the engine.  Well, now there is like a wavering mixed in
there....if you looked at the sound on an oscillascope you would see
that it is not the flat, consistent sound of a healthy bearing....it now
makes a sound like something is out of balance...very subtle, but there
for sure....there's more

The sound is not always there....road conditions have an effect.  It is
most frequently there in the mountains, going up hills at between 2500
and 3300 in 4th gear.  On less demanding flat roads it is may disappear
altogether...the wavering, that is....you can still hear the tranny.

If you let off the gas or take it out of gear, the noise disappears.
What's more, sometimes, you can actually feel the reverberation...and
not just hear it.  In hilly conditions, while I'am going through the
gears and picjking up speed...between 2200 and 2800 rpm in 4th gear (and
4000 in 3rd gear sometimes) you can feel a reverberating, noticable but
not terrible, coming from what seems to be the right rear...but could be
the rear center of the bus.  At about 3000 rpm, it smooths out like
glass...no more reverberating....but you can hear that wavering in the
bearing sound described above.  The wavering could actually be a
separate and distinct sound that chimes in with the normal trans.
bearing noise.

I suspect a right-rear cv joint...based on my limited knowledge etc. and
wishful thinking.  Questions:

(1) What do you think it is?

(2) Is it likely to fail in the next 500 miles leaving me stranded (my
twins and I were going to go camping this weekend...300 mile round
trip.)

 (3) If it is a CV, can you buy the whole rear axle set up like Dennis
and others mentioned recently are available for the front?

Thanks for any info.  We are scheduled to leave sat a.m.
steve
1990 syncro westfalia