Hi, I have an 86 240 with 420000 km andwant to check my driveshaft and hanger bearing. How can I tell if the ujoints are bad. I remember something about gently rotating the driveshaft back and forth by hand...is there anything I should look or listen for? Thanks,
Rene.

 

There are two things you can do. first put the car in nuetral with the wheels chocked. then crawl under and twist the driveshaft. there should be only about 1/8" of movement. If it moves more its probably bad. The biggest indicator is when driving. if you start out and you here a thunk and then it goes, its likely to be a u-joint. You'll only feel this at the beginning.

 

Moaning, rumbling whilst driving are typical, shift between fwd and reverse listen for the loud click as the excess slop is taken up, grab and yank the shaft at both ends and the middle.
I found my tranny output flange was gone by putting the rear end on stands and running it up, on deccelration the tranny output was shaking, the output bushing was shot, it sounded like bad universals but it wasn't.
$12 fix though.

 

Thank you! It is a four speed and there isa rattling soundfrom the rear end similar to a muffler pipe rattle. The rattleoccursbriefly when engaging the cluth after shifting to higher gear. I could not find anything to make such a noise.There is no clunk noise though when starting out.
I checked the ujoints, with the car in gear though, and found less than 1/8 inch freeplayin thedriveshaft.If all the ujoints are in poor condition could it cause a chattering noise?

 

U-joints like to seize. If they do, the joint won't flex on one of its axes, and will cause vibration. They don't loosen up over time very often. That's the job of the differential. It loves to gradually develop more slop. You can determine that by just rotating the input flange in the differential and feeling for much play.

The only true wear item designed into the 240's transmission/driveshaft/differential is the center support bearing. The rubber surround can collapse and cause the shaft to wobble at certain speeds, and the bearing inside it can fail and cause grinding or whining sounds.

 

Put it on jackstands and have someone run it up while you watch, watch the tranny output end and the rear end on start up and slow down. If theres a problem anywhere in the driveline it will be obvious.
Tranny mounts turn to mush too.

Everything on mine was bad from tranny bearing to univ joints and the tranny mount too.
None of it is hard to do, but make sure you actually have a problem first.