horrible wheel screech :/ ! any ideas? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

wilburtual · #1 05-13-2012, 03:03 AM

1977 240D - while driving home today the rear drivers (i think) wheel started to give a horrible metal grinding/screeching sound !! oh no

its different than a worn out break pad type grind, much more terrible..! I've never messed with wheels/ axle stuff much, so its not a sound i recognize. my first thought was wheel bearings? or something... that needs some lubing..
I took a quick look underneath before it got dark today and found that on the axle where it meets the wheel seems to have a strange wear mark on it - see pic #1 below -- there is an obvious mark wear like it is rubbing or something,, i think? i checked the other rear tire and there is no similar wear marking.
i didnt see anything actually touching it/draggin on it, could this be my source of screeching??

also, while poking around down there i noticed a piece/metal line just hanging under there (in pic i have a red arrow pointing to it..) on the other rear wheel, this same line seems to have a little connector line that goes to the axle, but this side (the screeching side) there is no connector tube. what is this part? and should it just be hanging there un connected??

Stretch · #2 05-13-2012, 03:21 AM

The bit that the arrow points to is the anti roll bar connection.

I can imagine that it has been rubbing up against the axle making that mark you show in the first picture.

There anti-roll bars either have a plastic connecting link or a metal one. They are easy to replace - well the biggest trouble you'll probably have is undoing rusted nuts...

Have a look on fastlane for pictures of the bit I mean (Click on Buy Parts above)

Before you go off buying bits, however, I think you should have a good look at the rest of that area and see what else might be wrong. Remove the wheel - have a good look - take more photographs if you are unsure about anything you find.

wilburtual · #3 05-13-2012, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Army

The bit that the arrow points to is the anti roll bar connection.

I can imagine that it has been rubbing up against the axle making that mark you show in the first picture.

thanks for the info, i assume its best to have one of those on there,,,? !! i'll order on and put 'er on.
could the lack of the sway bar link be causing the screeching noise? i dont really know what the sway bar link does or is for...

vstech · #4 05-13-2012, 06:41 AM

the link you need to replace looks NOTHING like the new one,but it's the correct part.

the one on your car has a metal shaft, and metal shield around it, don't worry, it's perfectly fine to use the plastic one.

cho · #5 05-14-2012, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vstech

the link you need to replace looks NOTHING like the new one,but it's the correct part.

the one on your car has a metal shaft, and metal shield around it, don't worry, it's perfectly fine to use the plastic one.

mine looks like on attached pic,I have bought 2 plastic white ones but
my indy did not want to change it as he thought those are much weaker...??

for the plastic one SWAG clearly stated that is fully compat. with 87 500sec ..

..

Stretch · #6 05-14-2012, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cho

mine looks like on attached pic,I have bought 2 plastic white ones but
my indy did not want to change it as he thought those are much weaker...??

for the plastic one SWAG clearly stated that is fully compat. with 87 500sec ..

..

Do you not have the anti-squat system with the aluminium trailing arms then?

wilburtual · #7 05-14-2012, 05:07 PM

i took the wheel off again, and pushed/pulled on the hub and it seems tight, doesnt move towards or away from the other rear wheel. the bolt seems to be in place as well.
i guess its something actually in the axle? is there any way to grease the parts rather than replacing the whole thing? i sprayed a bunch of DW40 on that joint and was able to drive 5min away from the house to run an errand without the screech , but im sure WD40 wont last long on there...

Stretch · #8 05-15-2012, 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wilburtual

i took the wheel off again, and pushed/pulled on the hub and it seems tight, doesnt move towards or away from the other rear wheel. the bolt seems to be in place as well.
i guess its something actually in the axle? is there any way to grease the parts rather than replacing the whole thing? i sprayed a bunch of DW40 on that joint and was able to drive 5min away from the house to run an errand without the screech , but im sure WD40 wont last long on there...

I think you need to remove the axle to see what's up. Take a look at the link to see if you want to do it yourself or get someone else to do it for you.

cho · #9 05-15-2012, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Army

Do you not have the anti-squat system with the aluminium trailing arms then?

anti-squat? google translated its "settlement without permission" in my lingo

I have that metal thing pointed by red arrow in pic attachment.
(sway bar....extensions??)
and I wanted to renew it with plastic ones .... but indy refuses as they
dont look same ....

but vstech stated that they are expected to be different
as new part is nothing like the old one....

cheers

.

Stretch · #10 05-15-2012, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cho

anti-squat? google translated its "settlement without permission" in my lingo

I have that metal thing pointed by red arrow in pic attachment.
(sway bar....extensions??)
and I wanted to renew it with plastic ones .... but indy refuses as they
dont look same ....

but vstech stated that they are expected to be different
as new part is nothing like the old one....

cheers

.

"Settlement without permission" - now that sounds a bit viking!

If it turns out that you've got the anti-squat then I'd agree with your indy... take a look at this thread to determine what is already fitted =>

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/289638-w123-w126-trailing-arm-compatibility-question.html

Essentially the aluminium trailing arms look like this from the underside of the car

They've got that kind of webbed under surface - whereas the steel version (which isn't anti-squat) is all solid.

Stretch · #11 05-13-2012, 03:25 PM

I would personally replace it. However I've read here that some people have done with out it (possibly on those lovely long straight desert roads in the US?). The rear anti-sway / roll bar isn't doing 1/20th of the work the front one does...

(I'm not sure if you're interested in this - I don't mean to be teaching you to suck eggs but there's this link that might be worth looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sway_bar)

I assume that the screeching noise is coming from metal on metal contact - anti-roll bar / or end of rubbing on the axle. I don't know if that is true though - it looks like it from your pictures but this way of diagnosing stuff is a bit limited...

...that's why I want to encourage you to remove the wheel and look critically at the rest of the car / structure / suspension etc in that area. There could be something else wrong (I hope not - but it is best to check).

wilburtual · #12 05-13-2012, 03:26 PM

Thanks Army, i'm heading out to take the wheel off now and have a look (fingers crossed) !

Yak · #13 05-13-2012, 05:02 PM

I'd look on the front side of the axle and see if there's a broken stub of the rear torsion bar mount stuck/flopping in there near the wheel carrier and causing that wear streak.

It's also possible something like a stone got wedged in there. I've had that happen between the brake rotor and the shield. Horrible grinding/squealing noise.

vstech · #14 05-13-2012, 06:07 PM

the loud noise is from the link that's still attached to the spindle hitting the inside of your wheel... when you take off the tire and look closer, you'll find the other half, and if you take it off, the noise will stop. it's not doing much, as army says, but it is doing something. it's CRITICAL on a wagon, as it's the part that tells the SLS what height the body is in relation to the tires, but on a CD/D it's only slightly offsetting the squat from corners... the front is doing the majority of the work.

wilburtual · #15 05-13-2012, 07:00 PM

ok, i took the wheel off, and it looks like the sway bar link completely ripped off, and fell off, no loose end attached to the wheel. so im thinking maybe it was hanging there for awhile and causing that wear mark on the axle, but has since fallen off.. :

when i turn the wheel a bit, i heard the screeching noise, i took a video, watch it here:

IMG 4616 - YouTube

i then sprayed a bit of pb blaster in this seam/joint right behind the wheel..:

and then the screeching went away... so, what is that joint? what do i need to do to make it stop squealing

also, on a side note, i had this up on the standard jack, but to do any work, i would want to jack stand it, but where do i put a jack stand on the rear like this?

there are 2 places i thought maybe, but wanted to check to be safe: