Subject: [TR] TR6 tranny sound?

From: Tim Gaines <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 18:00:00 -0400

I thought I was leaving for a nice drive of about 150 miles in the 
TR6 a few days ago, but I didn't get farther than the gas station 
before some nasty noises turned me right around.  When taking off 
from a stop I get a crunching sound plus a "zzzup" thrown in once in 
a while.  My first thought was that I had a stone or two from my 
newly graveled driveway sitting on top of the drive shaft.  But I 
also thought it could be the tranny or the differential, and I didn't 
want to take any chances out on the road.  I got home okay.  In fact, 
the car ran smoothly once up to speed.  It only made the sounds at 
takeoff.  I got it up on jackstands and couldn't find any evidence of 
stones or loose flange bolts at either end of the drive shaft or at 
the rear axles.  I also couldn't reproduce the sounds with the wheels 
off the ground, either with the rear  wheels under power or by 
turning the front ones by hand.  I also couldn't feel or hear 
anything when I turned the rear wheels by hand or the drive shaft 
with a wrench on the flange bolts.

When I got the car on the ground and found that it still made the 
sounds (no lucky fix!), I started thinking it might be a disc brake 
pad issue.  It seemed like the sounds were coming from the 
front.  Today I replaced the pads and the nasty looking anti squeal 
shims.  In the process I rotated the rotors with and without pads in 
place and got no noises.  However, I did get something like the 
"zzzup" noise when I deflected the rotor guard into the rotor while 
turning it.  After everything was back together I made sure that the 
guard wasn't touching the rotor before getting the car back on the 
ground.  Just took a drive up the road, and nothing has changed; 
crunchy noises and "zzzups" at takeoff, forward and backward, but 
fine after it's up to speed.  I think I can feel a little something 
through the shifter when the noises occur, but I'm not really 
positive about that.  I also think that the noises stop when I 
disengage the clutch, but by the time I reach speed enough for that, 
the noises are usually gone anyway.

So folks, what am I up against?  Does a transmission make those kinds 
of noises when it's failing?  Is there something else I should be 
looking at?  Thanks for any help you can offer.

Tim
1974 TR6
1980 Spitfire

** [email-masked] **

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From: "Kinderlehrer" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 17:40:11 -0700

Tim, Do you happen to have wire wheels?
Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: [email-masked]
[mailto:[email-masked]] On Behalf Of Tim Gaines
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 3:00 PM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: [TR] TR6 tranny sound?

I thought I was leaving for a nice drive of about 150 miles in the
TR6 a few days ago, but I didn't get farther than the gas station before
some nasty noises turned me right around.  When taking off from a stop I get
a crunching sound plus a "zzzup" thrown in once in a while.  My first
thought was that I had a stone or two from my newly graveled driveway
sitting on top of the drive shaft.  But I also thought it could be the
tranny or the differential, and I didn't want to take any chances out on the
road.  I got home okay.  In fact, the car ran smoothly once up to speed.  It
only made the sounds at takeoff.  I got it up on jackstands and couldn't
find any evidence of stones or loose flange bolts at either end of the drive
shaft or at the rear axles.  I also couldn't reproduce the sounds with the
wheels off the ground, either with the rear  wheels under power or by
turning the front ones by hand.  I also couldn't feel or hear anything when
I turned the rear wheels by hand or the drive shaft with a wrench on the
flange bolts.

When I got the car on the ground and found that it still made the sounds (no
lucky fix!), I started thinking it might be a disc brake pad issue.  It
seemed like the sounds were coming from the front.  Today I replaced the
pads and the nasty looking anti squeal shims.  In the process I rotated the
rotors with and without pads in place and got no noises.  However, I did get
something like the "zzzup" noise when I deflected the rotor guard into the
rotor while turning it.  After everything was back together I made sure that
the guard wasn't touching the rotor before getting the car back on the
ground.  Just took a drive up the road, and nothing has changed; crunchy
noises and "zzzups" at takeoff, forward and backward, but fine after it's up
to speed.  I think I can feel a little something through the shifter when
the noises occur, but I'm not really positive about that.  I also think that
the noises stop when I disengage the clutch, but by the time I reach speed
enough for that, the noises are usually gone anyway.

So folks, what am I up against?  Does a transmission make those kinds of
noises when it's failing?  Is there something else I should be looking at?
Thanks for any help you can offer.

Tim
1974 TR6
1980 Spitfire

---

From: Wbeech <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 20:02:04 -0500

How's the clutch feel?  Maybe some contamination?

Sent from mobile Bill

On May 15, 2012, at 5:00 PM, Tim Gaines <[email-masked]> wrote:

> I thought I was leaving for a nice drive of about 150 miles in the TR6 a few
days ago, but I didn't get farther than the gas station before some nasty
noises turned me right around.  When taking off from a stop I get a crunching
sound plus a "zzzup" thrown in once in a while.  My first thought was that I
had a stone or two from my newly graveled driveway sitting on top of the drive
shaft.  But I also thought it could be the tranny or the differential, and I
didn't want to take any chances out on the road.  I got home okay.  In fact,
the car ran smoothly once up to speed.  It only made the sounds at takeoff.  I
got it up on jackstands and couldn't find any evidence of stones or loose
flange bolts at either end of the drive shaft or at the rear axles.  I also
couldn't reproduce the sounds with the wheels off the ground, either with the
rear  wheels under power or by turning the front ones by hand.  I also
couldn't feel or hear anything when I turned the rear wheels by hand or the
drive shaft with a wrench on the flange bolts.
> When I got the car on the ground and found that it still made the sounds (no
lucky fix!), I started thinking it might be a disc brake pad issue.  It seemed
like the sounds were coming from the front.  Today I replaced the pads and the
nasty looking anti squeal shims.  In the process I rotated the rotors with and
without pads in place and got no noises.  However, I did get something like
the "zzzup" noise when I deflected the rotor guard into the rotor while
turning it.  After everything was back together I made sure that the guard
wasn't touching the rotor before getting the car back on the ground.  Just
took a drive up the road, and nothing has changed; crunchy noises and "zzzups"
at takeoff, forward and backward, but fine after it's up to speed.  I think I
can feel a little something through the shifter when the noises occur, but I'm
not really positive about that.  I also think that the noises stop when I
disengage the clutch, but by the time I reach speed enough for that, the
noises are usually gone anyway.
> Unsubscribe/Manage:
http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/triumphs/[email-masked]

---

From: "Randall" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 18:03:01 -0700

Any chance you have wire wheels?  Your "zzzup" sounds much like the sound I
got when the splines slipped, which might only happen when leaving from a
stop.

-- Randall

---

From: Tim Gaines <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 May 2012 09:08:02 -0400

I've had a few suggestions that I've ruled out such as wire wheel 
splines and loose wheel lugs, and a few other ideas that I'll check 
out, but I don't think I've gotten the answer to the noises yet.  I'm 
now wondering if the speedometer cable could be responsible for the 
"zzzup" sounds I am hearing.  It seems likely that it would make 
noises at takeoff but then quiet down (or maybe just get high pitched 
and less noticeable).  But I'm not sure why I wouldn't hear anything 
with the car up on jackstands and the wheels under power.

Tim

At 06:00 PM 5/15/2012, you wrote:
>also thought it could be the tranny or the differential, and I 
>didn't want to take any chances out on the road.  I got home 
>okay.  In fact, the car ran smoothly once up to speed.  It only made 
>the sounds at takeoff.  I got it up on jackstands and couldn't find 
>any evidence of stones or loose flange bolts at either end of the 
>drive shaft or at the rear axles.  I also couldn't reproduce the 
>sounds with the wheels off the ground, either with the rear  wheels 
>under power or by turning the front ones by hand.  I also couldn't 
>feel or hear anything when I turned the rear wheels by hand or the 
>So folks, what am I up against?  Does a transmission make those 
>kinds of noises when it's failing?  Is there something else I should 
>be looking at?  Thanks for any help you can offer.
>
>Tim
>1974 TR6
>1980 Spitfire
>
>http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/triumphs/[email-masked]

---

From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 May 2012 10:40:41 -0500

With it on stands, unladen, it could be that the routing is changed just
enough to eliminate the sound.  Disconnect it and give her a run up the
road.
B 

-----Original Message-----
From: [email-masked]
[mailto:[email-masked]] On Behalf Of Tim Gaines
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 8:08 AM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: [TR] TR6 tranny sound?

I've had a few suggestions that I've ruled out such as wire wheel splines
and loose wheel lugs, and a few other ideas that I'll check out, but I don't
think I've gotten the answer to the noises yet.  I'm now wondering if the
speedometer cable could be responsible for the "zzzup" sounds I am hearing.
It seems likely that it would make noises at takeoff but then quiet down (or
maybe just get high pitched and less noticeable).  But I'm not sure why I
wouldn't hear anything with the car up on jackstands and the wheels under
power.

Tim

At 06:00 PM 5/15/2012, you wrote:
>before some nasty noises turned me right around.  When taking off from 
>a stop I get a crunching sound plus a "zzzup" thrown in once in a 
>while.  My first thought was that I had a stone or two from my newly 
>graveled driveway sitting on top of the drive shaft.  But I also 
>thought it could be the tranny or the differential, and I didn't want 
>to take any chances out on the road.  I got home okay.  In fact, the 
>car ran smoothly once up to speed.  It only made the sounds at takeoff.  
>I got it up on jackstands and couldn't find any evidence of stones or 
>loose flange bolts at either end of the drive shaft or at the rear 
>axles.  I also couldn't reproduce the sounds with the wheels off the 
>ground, either with the rear  wheels under power or by turning the 
>front ones by hand.  I also couldn't feel or hear anything when I 
>turned the rear wheels by hand or the drive shaft with a wrench on the 
>flange bolts.
>
>sounds (no lucky fix!), I started thinking it might be a disc brake pad 
>issue.  It seemed like the sounds were coming from the front.  Today I 
>replaced the pads and the nasty looking anti squeal shims.  In the 
>process I rotated the rotors with and without pads in place and got no 
>noises.  However, I did get something like the "zzzup" noise when I 
>deflected the rotor guard into the rotor while turning it.  After 
>everything was back together I made sure that the guard wasn't touching 
>the rotor before getting the car back on the ground.  Just took a drive 
>up the road, and nothing has changed; crunchy noises and "zzzups" at 
>takeoff, forward and backward, but fine after it's up to speed.  I 
>think I can feel a little something through the shifter when the noises 
>occur, but I'm not really positive about that.  I also think that the 
>noises stop when I disengage the clutch, but by the time I reach speed