Reply to "Clunk in rear driveline. Advice needed."

Thanks guys,

I found the issue. I put the car up in the air again and supported it so that the wheels were at operational angles. (ie: weight of car on them). I rotated the tyres by hand and every now and then got a clunk. So then I went under the car and rotated whilst listening for where it was coming from, so at this stage I'm under the car trying to rotate the tyre whilst my ear is as close to the drive shaft as possible.

So it's going round and round and then clunk, a bit more and then clunk, and a bit more and then I feel the wheel wobble! Yes, five loose wheel nuts. And I mean really, really loose. Like remove with fingers.

So I remove the wheel and check it out, and fortunately it hasn't affected the tapered nut seats nor chewed into and elongated the stud holes. Fortunately the wheel was held nicely on the centering ring.

So there's an interesting thing. All three other wheels were really tight. Like torqued to specification tight. So it appears that the constant clunking at speed has reacted like a rattle gun and literally vibrated my nuts off.

One to watch out for as it could have ended drastically with damage to the wheel and bodywork had it come off at any speed.

So lads, check your nuts! and if any are loose, look for a reason and don't overlook a crook universal joint.