Sqeaky Beam

[pugpete1108 62 1 Cars]

what i thought was my boot squeaking has turned out to be my freshly rebuilt beam squeaking under load on the passenger side.

 

worth pulling the beam apart to regrease the bearings ? or something else?

 

grrrr

[Anthony 1,002]

Double check that it is definitely the beam that's squeaking, and not the exhaust or damper - I've seen both cause squeaking that was initially suspected to be a beam related issue. Easy to prove if you can replicate the issue by bouncing the back up and down with the car stationary as you can just disconnect/remove the suspect items. Spare wheel and cage can cause it too.

 

If it is the beam, then you'll have to strip it down and see what the issue is - unlikely to just be a greasing issue in my opinion, and more likely you'll see marking on the trailing arm shaft if it's a bearing related issue after a few hundred miles running. I assume that the bearing rotated freely and there was no play between the arm and tube when you put the beam together (assuming you built it yourself)

[pugpete1108 62 1 Cars]

i can hear a noise (not so much a sqeak but a creak/grinding) when i push the back of the car down. might get the old lady to do it while i crawl underneath.

 

i do recal the mot bloke saying i had some play in the arm so maybe that is it? plus when i refurbed it i didnt change the shafts (they had some marks but no major pitting) so this could be it.

 

tbh then i may just wait and refurb it again with some xsara arms and new shafts so i can have disks on the rear.

 

do xsara arms fit with the gti tb's and arb? same bearings etc.

[Anthony 1,002]

If there's play in the arm and it's creaking/squeaking then there's something quite major wrong with it

 

Shafts with just some light marking won't cause that on its own IMO, at least not just in a few hundred miles. You really do need to strip it and rectify the cause ASAP in my opinion, as I'd argue that a car with play in the rear arms isn't particularly safe to drive, and regardless, you'll likely destroy the bearings followed by the tube if you carry on.

 

Xsara arms are a direct replacement for 205 arms - just need to run 306/Xsara disks as the hubs are a slightly different offset.

[pugpete1108 62 1 Cars]

i'll check for any play over the weekend, and if i find any i'll strip that side out and have a butchers.

 

pita these cars eh? just when you think you dont need to fix anything else....bang there you go

 

cheers Ant

[Anthony 1,002]

Apologies if it sounds like I'm teaching you to suck eggs... but I assume when you were pushing up and down on the rear and got a creaking sound, you did have the handbrake off, didn't you? If it was on, then the creak might be a red herring as you'll often get all manner of creaks and groans from the handbrake (particularly on disk braked models) when you push up and down on the back - make sure that it's off and try again.

 

Either way though, if the MOT man is reporting that there's play it really does need to be checked.

[pugpete1108 62 1 Cars]

Apologies if it sounds like I'm teaching you to suck eggs... but I assume when you were pushing up and down on the rear and got a creaking sound, you did have the handbrake off, didn't you?

 

 

..................... erm i do believe it was on. i'll check that first then. its drums though

[welshpug 1,646]

drums can still squeak.

[pugpete1108 62 1 Cars]

i havent had time to check for play yet...but i did bounce it with the handbrake off and it still grumbled so thought id have a look underneath and found the lower strut bush has gone which would explain alot.

 

i'll change it then have another look at the beam if its still noisy

 

cheers guys.

[pug_ham 243 3 Cars]

If you're taking the rear shocks off bounce it gently with them removed to help isolate any noises even further.

 

Graham.