Hi, all. I just did some things to my '86 245 and gained some knowledge I thought I would share. I developed suddenly a vibration in the car at around 45-65 mph. It felt fike engine vibration, but much more severe. Motor mounts looked O.K., but the transmission mount looked like it was tired and pressing on the crossmember. Replaced the mount, but not much better. I started thinking about the u-joints, but they all looked ok to me. A friend told me, though that the only real way to check them was to remove the driveshaft and see if they bind or grind.
So thats just what we did today. Driveshaft removed, we could feel that the rear and the middle joints were smooth and free. The frontmost one, however,next to the tranny, was binding severely and when looked at in the light and close up we could see that one of the cups was completely dry of grease and severely rusted.
So with a new front u-joint, that vibration that we had was gone. And as a side note, so was what we thought was clutch chatter. The clutch engages smoothly and easily; now I can put off that clutch replacement that I was dreading!

 

ive got the same problem with my 85dl i took a look and found that the mount was a soft as a pencil eraser so i got that on order.but il have to try that i need to put a bushing in shift linkage and replace the other.its an automatic so its not to complex.

 

Nice, thanks for the heads up. I'm wondering what my car is up to lately. Can you describe clutch chatter? I'm having some issue with my clutch, it happens right at the end of the release, feels like something is binding up just a little. Doesn't happen all the time. Usually notice it more before everything has warmed up. Is this similar to what you were dealing with? I really am not looking forward to doing a clutch .

 

Zloetakoe, I would describe clutch chatter as follows- due to wear and warping of the pressure plate and maybe other factors, when the clutch is released when starting off, results in a rapid catching and uncatching of the clutch mechanism felt as a vibration in the whole car until the clutch finally engages completely. It is especially bad under hard acceleration; then somtimes even 2nd or 3rd gear shifts will be affected.Yes , it happens near the end of the release. My mechanic said a new clutch was in my future when he drove it 2 years ago. The clutch itself has held up but the "chatter" had gotten worse over the 2 years I have owned the car. If your clutch doesn't slip , you should check these u joints, esp if you have a lot of miles on the car. U joints are a whole lot easier and cheaper than a new clutch; and you still would be left with the same problem. Pretty easy to check yourself.

 

Hate to bring this thread up again after over 1/2 year, but thought it might help anyone who reads this. My clutch is certainly going out. I had it parked on a pretty steep incline and when I started moving forward the RPMs increased, but the car was hardly moving. Sure sign that the clutch is worn out I've been told. I'll have to take a good look at the U-joints while I'm replacing the clutch. I'll be doing the clutch this week.

 

Had to replace the ones for my sisters Ford Ranger once. We just happened to have a torch to losen up the joints (would not suggest doing that, the grease sort of caught fire and scared the hell out of us). So, just for everyone else, never put fire to old U-joints to losen them up, even if you are sure that there is no flameable objects around it. A table vice helps a lot too.