Knocking noise ???

Hi Guys

A few weeks ago my wife was driving the Jimny, probably faster than its comfortable at, says she heard a bang and now it has a knocking noise that gets faster as you go faster.

I could see signs that the rear engine mount was going and have swapped it out but the knocking noise is still there.

Another inspection and I can see oil and Greece leaking from the front right ball joint. I've seen the wiki pages about the kingpin and/or wheel bearing but neither mention the knocking.

Is it also a symptom or am I still looking for the source ? Any other ideas what to check ?

Cheers

Paul

It won't be the front axle as nothing is rotating unless you are using it in 4wd.

It should be comfortable up to 80mph so I doubt it was anything that wasn't already on it's way out. Check the intermediate and rear props for play in the UJs.

Thanks for the pointer, I got back underneath again today and just tried moving everything.

There's some sort of joint in the prop from the transfer box to the rear diff and it has done play in it. It's covered by a rubber cover which I didn't wang to remove in case it's not the problem. Is this likely to be it or should there be some play on this joint ?

Regards

Paul

Sorry for the typos, bloody predictive nonsense

Me and my Jimny wrote: Thanks for the pointer, I got back underneath again today and just tried moving everything.

There's some sort of joint in the prop from the transfer box to the rear diff and it has done play in it. It's covered by a rubber cover which I didn't wang to remove in case it's not the problem. Is this likely to be it or should there be some play on this joint ?

Regards

Paul

The rear prop has a grease nipple on it i think. check near the transfer box end. its on the side of the UJ. That will fill the expansion joint in the prop and stop any noise from that, but i have one that is really loose and it doesnt make any undue noises once up to speed.

Check the exhaust. mine bangs on bits here and there. mainly the towbar.

Is it possible it was driven on the road in 4x4? that would usually damage the t-box, but could damage a CV or half shaft in the front axle, possibly leading to it leaking diff oil at the front end?

Ha ha, no, she tries to off road in 2 wheel drive if that's what I left it in when I park, but I don't think she would have had it in 4 on the road.

I don't think the bit I'm referring to is the Uj or grease nipple. I just did an image search and on one it calls it a slip yoke, covered by a slip yoke boot. Would play in the slip yoke cause a knocking noise ?

Hmm I can see it move but not as much as I think you're describing.

I think I need to take the tbox guard off to get a better look if there's any movement at the joint going in there.

I guess it could be inside the tbox, are there any visual signs if something was going wrong in there ?

Just read an interesting old post on another site suggesting to put a tbox in neutral. So I guess if I did this but had the regular gear box in 1st I could rule something out

If it's still knocking then it would rule out the rear prop or diff, but if it doesn't knock then it would rule out the main prop and my gearbox mount swap

But I guess either way it could still be the tbox ?

Finally got round to getting it out for another look, and doing this neutral test I can see, or hear, that as soon as the clutch is released the middle prop starts turning and the knocking starts.

The uj's seem ok at both ends but I can rotate the prop about 10-20 degrees back and forth. Is this normal or does it indicate a certain fault ?

Just trying to narrow it down before taking it to garage. I reckon I could do stuff to the other props but this one looks a bit tricky to get to