1 wheel spins the drive shaft the other one does not

[81SPIDERMATT]

ok doing brakes..on a 81 spider 2000...while up on the jack stands with the jack supporting the rear axle a little...the drivers side wheel when turned will spin the drive shaft.....the passenger wheel feels stiff and sometimes will turn the drive shaft sometime just sorta vibrate it and sometimes seems to get stuck.... what do you think ?????????????

[v6spider]

Grab the drive shaft shake it to see if you can feel any side to side play. From your description it sounds like you may have a loose or worn pinion bearing. I you feel any play then that will confirm my suspicions. At that point I would advise a rebuild or find a good used pumpkin from a third party.

Also, try to get any side to side play out of the axle shafts. If you have side to side play in one of your axle beariungs then you'll have to replace those to. Not an easy task, I believe they need to be pressed on.

Rob

[majicwrench]

Hmmm, there is no problem if just one wheel turns driveshaft, that is what the spider gears do, so you can turn corners.
That said, both wheels should turn reasonably easy.

[puddin]

these cars don't have posi trac or limited slip - only one wheel with turn -- i suppose since you were doing a brake job you wanted to see the brakes in action-- i used a pry bar to push the brake pedal and tried to spin the tire if it's stiff the brakes work..

i also would not reccomend running the wheels with the car on jackstands -- not only isn't it safe but the diff is supposed to have a load on it while turning freewheeling it may cause damage ..

[81SPIDERMATT]

ok thanks....bleeding the brakes now and then center drive shaft bracket and donut are being replaced...i will check for looseness then.... glad to hear that it might be nothing... did not plan on spinning the wheel up on jack stands until you mentioned it...but i will not do that for sure...do not want to cause damage....trying to fix not break....,thanks again... i will let you know what i find out......matt

[v6spider]

what concerned me was that you felt something other than the wheel turning smoothly. Typically with a non limited slip rear-end while the transmission is in gear, if you spin either wheel the one on the opposite side of the car will spin in the opposite direction. That is normal and would indicate that the spider gears are operating in a normal fashion. there should be no binding the spinning should feel smooth. Same when in neutral the drive side should turn the drive shaft and the other side should spin free there should be no vibration, noise or binding of any kind when turning either wheel. More than likely, the freewheeling side should spin the opposite wheel even though the car is in neutral. Again with no binding or locking up.

Load or no load it will not hurt the rear-end to spin either of the rear wheels or the drive-line by hand.

Rob

[puddin]

that's what i meant (you can spin all you want by hand -- i was thinking he had the eng running and the trans in gear)

i think if you drive on the highway and don't hear any noise or vibration you'll be ok.

[v6spider]

Ok puddin that makes sense... what i am really wondering is if the rear is locking up when he turns the particular wheel he was concerned with. shouldn't lock up at all it should spin freely. if the bearings are worn and there is some side to side play in the pinion shaft then that should be fixed. i've seen where the pinion was worn but the differential did not make any noise going down the road. Could lead to sudden failure. It happened to me.I'd hate for Matt to go through that.

Rob

[81SPIDERMATT]

ok test drive turned out good and bad.... both whells are spinning...no play in the drive shaft or side to side play in axle... but still bad rubbing and when up on jacks hard to turn wheel.... took apart everything and started over...found lock washer for caliper bolt behind rotor making it crooked and becuase it was not there caliper bolt was hitting rotor....put back together also added a flat washer to caliper bolts...everything is fine now...feel sorta silly.... brakes still need another bleed i think.. have to pump pedal to get best result..now off to drive shaft bracket... thanks for the help

[v6spider]

ok test drive turned out good and bad.... both whells are spinning...no play in the drive shaft or side to side play in axle... but still bad rubbing and when up on jacks hard to turn wheel.... took apart everything and started over...found lock washer for caliper bolt behind rotor making it crooked and becuase it was not there caliper bolt was hitting rotor....put back together also added a flat washer to caliper bolts...everything is fine now...feel sorta silly.... brakes still need another bleed i think.. have to pump pedal to get best result..now off to drive shaft bracket... thanks for the help

That is good news! Glad it was just brakes, but from what you were describing sounded like an axle issue.

Cheers!
Rob

[81SPIDERMATT]

thought it was because turning tire was not moving shaft...and with combo of bolt hitting rotor thought for sure it was

[81SPIDERMATT]

AND WE ARE BACK...... LOOKS LIKE I MIGHT HAVE SOME TYPE OF AXLE ISSUE AFTER ALL.... right rear (passenger) axle has side movement.... meaning i can pull on tire and axle wants to slide towards me... a good inch or more... from my research i believe it to be a wheel bearing issue (and rob said earlier)... is there anything else it might be... and how would i check... assuming it is the bearing.... how do i start... i realize that i will have to get into the pumpkin at some point (right??) not sure how to even start such a project... will i need to drop the whole differential or can it be done with it still on the car... looked for a step by step and could not find one... the manuals i have do not show anything like what i think i need to do... any direction or help would be greatly appreciated.....thanks...matt

[azruss]

2 possibilities, neither one very pleasant. First, the is a snap ring on the housing that located the outside wheel bearing. If this is missing you should be able to pull the entire axle out of the housing. 2nd is the shaft is sliding on the bearing. This is supposed to be a press fit, so would require a new axle or sleeving.

[81SPIDERMATT]

first things first.... how does the axle come off... found a shop to unpress and press on bearings but he was not sure how to remove.... sorta looking for a step by step... first time attempting...any pics???

[v6spider]

Matt,
Sorry to hear that... there is a big snap ring behind the rotor.you will have to remove the brake rotor in order to get at it. Once the axle shaft snap ring is removed the shaft pulls out easily. Then after removing the driveshaft and rearend housing bolts you can remove the pumpkin. At least that it is how remember it...

Rob