What Causes Rear Axle Noise?
1 Answers
Rear axle noise faults can be attributed to the following reasons: 1. Uneven meshing clearance: When the vehicle is in motion, the drive axle emits intermittent "clunk, clunk" noises that increase with speed. This is caused by warping of the conical driven gear, loose connecting screws or rivets, deformed mating surfaces, impact damage, or debris causing misalignment during movement, or uneven meshing between the cylindrical driven gear and the driving gear, resulting in uneven tightness during operation and producing noise. 2. Bearing noise: While driving, the drive axle produces a chaotic, continuous sound. If the sound is a continuous "click, click" that intensifies with speed, it is due to fatigue spalling of the bearing raceway or rollers, or damaged bearing cages. If the sound is a chaotic "rattle, rattle," it indicates excessive bearing clearance. 3. Differential noise: When the vehicle moves straight, there is a "squeak" sound that changes to a "hum, hum" during turns, caused by insufficient clearance in the planetary gears. During turns, a "pop, pop" sound occurs but disappears when driving straight, indicating seized planetary gears on the cross shaft, damaged or broken teeth on the planetary gears, or mismatched planetary and axle gears, causing resistance during gear movement. 4. Axle and axle housing noise: If the axle or axle housing is bent and rubs against each other, intermittent "clank, clank" sounds occur while driving. Severe rubbing results in a "thud, thud" impact noise.