Im just tryin to see if everyone lese agrees with me on this. A freind of mine has an 88' T2. Anytime you get on or off the gas you can hear a clunk in the rear. Wouldnt that 9 times out of 10 be the front diff mount? He said it started overnight, out of nowhere. Just making sure before he does any buying

 

does it sound like a baseball bat hitting under the car?

 

pretty much. or any other hard object. maybe like someone trapped in a casket trying to hammer their way out but yeah, its pretty loud and hard

 

It's most probably the front mount, and that's easy to check. Jack up the back of the car, get a big bar and lever up on the side of the mount that's bolted to the diff. It's it's broken you'll see it clearly.

 

Yeah thats what Im hoping for. Ive never actaully done it but the top mounts look a bit harder to reach. Ive never seen such though. It drove fine one day, nice and solid. Next day its slapping the underbelly of the car. What would fail so quickly?

 

yea it's probably that
thats the same prob i had with my 7

my fix?
I welded the front mount straight to the sub-frame
It's worked perfect for over 9 months now

 

you can also use a prybar to pry up on the snout of the differential, if it moves freely up and down then the diff mount is torn completely, it's not all that easy to see the mount itself so it is easier to just use this approach to test it.

 

Aight, thanks guys. I just wanted to be sure my idea of what it was was correct before I got him to drive a half hour to my house so I could check it for him. As he doesnt have a whole lot of mechanical skills or tools

 

yep the diff mount can break instantly and cause clunking in the rear of the car so it can explain alot.

 

what part of it can break. from what ive seen its fairly beefy, except the arm with the weight block on it. Did the actual structure break, or did the rubber around it or something else break causing it to be very loose? I dont guess all cases are the same though. We might check it tomarrow so I guess I shall see

 

the thick plate you see is just the arm that reaches up and forward that the actual mount mounts onto. the actual diff mount itself is just a mediocre size rubber piece with a steel backing where it bolts to the differential itself. much like a motor mount when the rubber weakens it cracks and eventually shears off clean and the unit it mounted to is free to move where it wants, with the differential it basically torques up and hits the bottom of the chassis which is the clunk you hear and feel.

 

Figured so. thanks again

 

Is there an echo in here?

 

No question that its broken. COuld pry it with a bar as much as 3''- 4'' up from its resting location. Hese also going to go ahead an buy new top mounts while hese at it. While taking the car off the ramps (I brought my ramps to his house to save time, as I was already going over there) one of the ramps slipped on the concrete driveway, and the rear fender got bent a little So now Im going to be fixing it for him and repainting his car soon. Its not bad but I feel bad for doing it. out of the hundreds of times I have used ramps, this is the first time I have ever had this happen. Instead of the car rolling off, the ramp shot out from under the passanger side rear tire... car dropped and I just said oh ****. MY BAD