Originally Posted by
Kern
I was recently doing some other service work and noted a slight clunk sound when rotating a rear wheel back and forth. Crawling under the car and moving the wheel I noted that the sound was coming from the center U-joint of the drive shaft. It had about 1/16 inch of play when moving it back and forth. The car has slightly less than 20K miles on it, which seems rather early for this type of wear.
Is this a known problem with these cars?
Kern are you certain there is play in the U-joint? It is normal to get a clunking sound and see some rotation of the drive shaft when rolling a rear wheel back and forth. What you need to do is stretch out your hands from under the car ( This is a lot easier up on a left) and grab the drive shaft near the transmission with one and and near the rear with the other and then try twisting the shaft. The u-joint you speak of and the center bearing would be between your two hands and there should be no rotation or clunking sound when you twist the shaft in opposing directions with your hands.
My SRT6 has 13,000 miles and I have a loud noticeable movement and clunking sound of the drive shaft when rolling the tires back and forth, but solid no rotation or sound when twisting with my hands while the car is up on a lift. The center bearing and u-joint are solid.