I have been noticing some "slack" when I accelerate and decelerate rapidly. If I gradually ease into the throttle I don't have any problem, but that is usually not the case, I like to get up to the speedlimit farily quickly because that is usually what most other people do. I went underneath the car and I am able to move the driveshaft a little. Not side to side, but clockwise/counterclockwise. It isn't really bad, but I was figuring that it might need ujoint replacement. Is that the case, or is it something else. Its got 144,000 on it, with all of the original driveshaft parts, so I thought maybe it is time.
usually a u-joint makes a clank noise. You may want to confirm the exact location of the movement by eye. Depending on the severity of the bad u-joint you may or may not be able to see the movement. Also, look for rust around the u-joints. If you see rust coming out of the joint, it needs to be replaced. The car should be chocked, parking brake engaged and trans in neutral to do this.
I checked the shaft again, but I don't see movement at the joints themselves, just the whole shaft clockwise/counterclockwise. I don't see any rust coming from them though. There is an audible sound when I accelerate/decelerate rapidly however, its not that loud, but you can feel it if you are paing attention.
I checked the shaft again, but I don't see movement at the joints themselves, just the whole shaft clockwise/counterclockwise. I don't see any rust coming from them though. There is an audible sound when I accelerate/decelerate rapidly however, its not that loud, but you can feel it if you are paying attention.
Does the '76 use a CV joint like the earlier years? If it does, could be the CV joint going bad and not the U-joints.
