Trouble diagnosing my 8.8 SRA noise

[hatchke]

The relevant part of my 8.8 setup:

35-spline Strange axles (c-clip eliminators, etc, and had everything came assembled)
35-spline Strange S-trac differential
Strange ABS reluctor wheels, etc


The problem(s) i'm coming across:

When the rear gets hotter after longer drives (or really hard driving) the left rear axle feels like it's binding and popping/clunking on left-hand turns. There's also a bit of a squeal and almost a grind from the outside edge. It just started doing that the other day after a fairly long drive around town to try to get the noise audible.

No other noises, no whining, grinding or anything under other conditions. Drives straight fine, right-hand turns fine. The rear makes zero noise on shorter drives around town.

The c-clip eliminator on the left (driver's) side leaks a decent bit too. It's not a full drip, but I can see fluid inside the barrel of the wheel.


What i've done so far:

I pulled apart the whole left side assembled, cleaned, greased, inspected the seals and tried to seal it up again hoping the leaking would stop. It still leaks.

I also thought maybe the rear was low on fluid, so I drained it (all looked fine with no metal deposits) and refilled with the recommended fluid from Strange.


Next steps:

I ordered a new rear axle seal and retaining ring from Strange, thinking maybe the axle seal is going (or is) bad and it's causing friction in the assemble. Otherwise, i'm kinda out of ideas. Rear-ends aren't something I've done a lot of work on and i'm sure I could easily just take this to the good local speed shop, but I also kind of want to fix this one myself and get some learning in. I've done everything else on this car so might as well try to see.

What else am I missing? Maybe I need to open up the rear and visually inspect the differential itself? I'd assume I would have seen more particulates in the fluid change, but again, not super knowledgable here.

 

[01yellercobra]

Are you sure the diff itself isn't acting up? Just curious, but with everything you've done why didn't you go with 9" ends?

 

[hatchke]

Are you sure the diff itself isn't acting up? Just curious, but with everything you've done why didn't you go with 9" ends?

Unfortunately that's what i'm kinda worried about. That diff wasn't cheap, but I also haven't had it all that long and might be warrantied. Maybe I should open it up and give an inspection of some sort.

Also good question - I wish I had the knowledge I have now when I was doing the rear. When I got the car it already had a SRA, but had a 35-spline spool. I thought I could just get the S-trac and swap it in but I neglected to think about the different axle lengths. At that point I should have done the 9" ends but I just didn't know enough about what I should do.

 

[BlckBox04]

So you have a spool now? Are you positive the noise is coming from the axle?

 

[hatchke]

So you have a spool now? Are you positive the noise is coming from the axle?

Ah, no sorry I didn't make that clear. It used to have a spool and now I have the Strange S-trac. I'm positive that the squealing noise I'm hearing is from the very outside edge of the rear but the clunk could be from anywhere I guess.

 

[01yellercobra]

Is there supposed to be any free play with the eliminators? I wonder if the axle is sliding out when you turn one way and is rubbing on the caliper bracket or something?

 

[DCguy]

I have the same setup as you (Strac 35 spline, strange axles, C-elims, factory ends).

Not sure if this might be your issue, but when Strange sent me their off-the-shelf axles for 99-04 cars we found they were way short...only about 3/4in of an inch of the axle splines were engaging into the Strac. Went back and forth with them, both of us confused, and they exchanged the axles for another set which unfortunately also had to be returned because whoever the tech was that installed the axle bearings destroyed the bearings and marred up both axles deep when pressing them onto the axle. I guess no one QC'd his work or they just decided to send me that garbage anyway.

Ok so another couple weeks later I get the 3rd set of axles.....and one axle was longer than the other. Someone goofed and sent me S550 axles....another return. Finally, I just measured them out myself and ended up ordering a "custom length" axle that was a little longer than the cup in the Strac would accept. Then I had the ends machined down for a perfect fit.

Anyway, with that context, point of the story is that what we discovered with Strange is that their off the shelf 35 spline axles are meant to be paired with their 35 spline spool and that is why I was having an issue with the lengths not being correct for my Strac. I figured this out by asking them to measure the "cup" receiver in both the Strac and the spool and it was an "ahh ha" moment as the lengths were different. I don't understand how this can be the case given the fact that I know i'm not the first person to ever run an Strac and i'm just running your every day standard 99-04 axle housing nothing special.

So again...not sure if this may be an issue for you, but since you say you used to have a spool and now you have an Strac (with the same axles i imagine), you may be experiencing the same dilemma I did.....so it would be my recommendation to pull the axles and measure how much engagement you are getting. Could be that one axle might have damaged splines or the Strac does.

Also, FYI, i believe the Strac has a "lifetime warranty".

 

[BlckBox04]

you know now that I read ^ that I vaguely remember reading something about people getting the wrong size axles without knowing until it became an issue like this

 

[hatchke]

I have the same setup as you (Strac 35 spline, strange axles, C-elims, factory ends).

Not sure if this might be your issue, but when Strange sent me their off-the-shelf axles for 99-04 cars we found they were way short...only about 3/4in of an inch of the axle splines were engaging into the Strac. Went back and forth with them, both of us confused, and they exchanged the axles for another set which unfortunately also had to be returned because whoever the tech was that installed the axle bearings destroyed the bearings and marred up both axles deep when pressing them onto the axle. I guess no one QC'd his work or they just decided to send me that garbage anyway.

Ok so another couple weeks later I get the 3rd set of axles.....and one axle was longer than the other. Someone goofed and sent me S550 axles....another return. Finally, I just measured them out myself and ended up ordering a "custom length" axle that was a little longer than the cup in the Strac would accept. Then I had the ends machined down for a perfect fit.

Anyway, with that context, point of the story is that what we discovered with Strange is that their off the shelf 35 spline axles are meant to be paired with their 35 spline spool and that is why I was having an issue with the lengths not being correct for my Strac. I figured this out by asking them to measure the "cup" receiver in both the Strac and the spool and it was an "ahh ha" moment as the lengths were different. I don't understand how this can be the case given the fact that I know i'm not the first person to ever run an Strac and i'm just running your every day standard 99-04 axle housing nothing special.

So again...not sure if this may be an issue for you, but since you say you used to have a spool and now you have an Strac (with the same axles i imagine), you may be experiencing the same dilemma I did.....so it would be my recommendation to pull the axles and measure how much engagement you are getting. Could be that one axle might have damaged splines or the Strac does.

Also, FYI, i believe the Strac has a "lifetime warranty".

Ahh yes! I had this exact problem when I was swapping from the spool. The axles just weren't close to being long enough. I ended up ordering another set through Strange and were the correct length this time, although the shop I had do the install said the driver was long and had to machine it down a touch.

Looks like i'll have to pop the cover off and see if I can get a visual for what's going on. It's interesting that it's only after driving for extended periods of time.

 

[hatchke]

Lame update: As much as I want to dig in myself, i'm just going to take it to the shop that did the initial install. I'm just not confident enough that i'll be able to really figure out what's happening visually, how much axle engagement is appropriate, or why the binding only occurs when hot.

 

[01yellercobra]

I wouldn't call it lame. I'd call it smart since you know you can quickly get over your head. Hopefully the shop takes care of you.

 

[hatchke]

I wouldn't call it lame. I'd call it smart since you know you can quickly get over your head. Hopefully the shop takes care of you.

That's a fair point, I think it's just my pride talking now. I've done everything else on the car and feel like i've spun every bolt on the thing but just out of my element on this one. Not worth the risk imo.

 

[MG0h3]

Not familiar with how the S trac works but is it still a differential with side gears and clutches?

I’d suspect the heat and expansion are causing binding with an improper length axle.


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

 

[DCguy]

Not familiar with how the S trac works but is it still a differential with side gears and clutches?

I’d suspect the heat and expansion are causing binding with an improper length axle.


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

No clutches..its a helical setup like the Trutrac, but with high quality billet housing and ARP hardware etc. Similar to the Wavetrac.