My "new" tercel from Boulder

riceburner · Post by **riceburner** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 12:13 pm

I had posted a reply to Typrus's note in the for sale section about the Tercel I picked up. I had some troubles rolling it onto the trailer (it would catch every two feet or so). I just jacked up the front end and did a redneck driving test to see what it was doing. It makes a steady chunk-chunk while in gear. It sounds like it was coming from the front end. A couple of times, when I stopped it, I couldn't get the front tires to start spinning again as I started to SLOWLY let out on the clutch. To get the tires spinning again, I had to get out and spin the tire a little. I stopped the engine and had my daughter help me try to spin the tires in the forward direction. Initially we couldn't do it. I then rolled the tire on my side quickly backward for a bit then tried rolling it forward, and that did the trick. If I didn't know any better, I would say that I have a chipped tooth on a gear that catches every time around. The thing is definitely not in any shape for rolling around the yard.

keith · Post by **keith** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:14 pm

With the front end jacked up. if you get one, two or three distinct clunks per tire revolution, it would be the CV joint. If you turn one tire with the other held still and get 2 distinct clunks per revolution, that could be the differential. Turn both tires together in the same direction and you get 4 per revolution, that would confirm the differential.

riceburner · Post by **riceburner** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 6:01 pm

Thanks. I'll look at it a little closer tomorrow. It seems like when we got both of the tires spinning forward, we didn't have the clunks any more, but it was a bit of a trick getting them both to spin forward.

keith wrote:With the front end jacked up. if you get one, two or three distinct clunks per tire revolution, it would be the CV joint. If you turn one tire with the other held still and get 2 distinct clunks per revolution, that could be the differential. Turn both tires together in the same direction and you get 4 per revolution, that would confirm the differential.

keith · Post by **keith** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:28 pm

That sounds like the spider gears are messed up. Maybe a bad bearing in them. That might not be to difficult to deal with.

takza · Post by **takza** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:13 am

I had a VW bus trash the spiders gears once...the mechanic showed them to me...some of the teeth were completely gone on both causing the van to act "weird" going around corners....as in one side would catch and drive...then wouldn't.

riceburner · Post by **riceburner** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:19 am

I would go for cheap and easy. I did a slightly different experiment this morning (because I didn't have a second set of hands). I just jacked up one side at a time and spun the free tire. I was able to duplicate the same results on each side. I think it was much clunkier than yesterday when we spun both tires at the same time. Anyway, for your viewing/listening pleasure, I uploaded a crappy video. Mainly the sound is what I was trying to capture (although it's pretty loud because I held the camera close).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksBVPwUsaEQ

It makes steady, fast clunks as I spin the tire. I spun it forward for a while then reversed the direction until it caught. I tried forcing it a couple of times, then went forward just a bit, then was able to get it to spin in reverse.

The thing has leaked out a huge amount of gear oil onto my trailer (not sure from where).

keith · Post by **keith** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 4:10 pm

Thats not good. Both sides do the same? Would you shoot the same scene with the camera pointed at the outer CV joint? I don't really think its the outer CV joint, bit it would be nice to eliminated it first. I do think the damage is limited to the differential and it really sounds like a bearing in the differential, so it maybe repairable for less than the cost of a new transmission.

riceburner · Post by **riceburner** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 5:04 pm

keith wrote:Thats not good. Both sides do the same? Would you shoot the same scene with the camera pointed at the outer CV joint? I don't really think its the outer CV joint, bit it would be nice to eliminated it first. I do think the damage is limited to the differential and it really sounds like a bearing in the differential, so it maybe repairable for less than the cost of a new transmission.

Both sides do the exact same thing and result in an identical noise from the center. I'm very confident at this point that the noise is coming from the center. The final video doesn't provide very good audio, but the frequency of chunks kind of reminded me of a modified version of a card in the spokes of a bike wheel -- just a constant duh,duh,duh,duh.... The constant sound would probably be bearing (?) and the sudden chunk could be a chipped tooth (?? but hopefully not or the remainder of the bearing catching??). I haven't seen the insides of these front ends; are there any pics on this forum?

I might be able to shoot a vid of the outside in a couple of days.

keith · Post by **keith** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:24 pm

If the sound is definitely coming from the center, then lets rule out the outer CV joints for now. It could be a bad bearing. The occasional locking could be the bearing cage getting wrapped up around something, maybe trying to force a ball to roll over it. You might be lucky and have no chipped teeth. It might be possible to repair without pulling the transmission.

takza · Post by **takza** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 5:13 am

Somebody managed to get the cover off the diff...best thing is to take a look?

Remember...part of the trans...5th...runs in the same area as the diff. They share oil. Didn't seem to hurt my diff too much...running in metal soup when the trans failed though.

riceburner · Post by **riceburner** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:36 am

I'll pull the cover one of these days. I'm up to my nuts in snow and mud, so the car is still sitting on the trailer. I haven't found the spot where the tercel can sit undisturbed for a while if necessary.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 12:08 pm

Hmmmmmmmm......
What year was it?

riceburner · Post by **riceburner** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 1:22 pm

'84. Did you ever go look at it? He said that somebody bought some parts that he had.

Typrus wrote:Hmmmmmmmm......
What year was it?

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:12 pm

Never went up to look.

Still deciding whether I want to sell my 86 or 84 6-speed.

riceburner · Post by **riceburner** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:59 pm

Well, if you decide to shoot the 84 into space, let me know. I'm not needing a cat though