noise in 84 eagle

[mlg10231]

When 4-wheel drive is engaged and the car is in first gear (manual trans) and suddenly I let off on the gas, especially going downhill, there is a grinding noise coming from the left front. At first I thought it was the small tube coming from the exhaust pipe and crossing under the engine hitting the driveshaft between the transfer case and differential, but after bending it to give more clearance and then removing it altogether the noise is still there. Any thoughts? I suspect CV joints, but have never heard this noise before with bad CV joints in other vehicles.

Thanks for any help!

[johnbendik]

Front wheel bearings are a notorious PITA in our Eagles, and a bad one can make the grinding noise you describe.  A quick and dirty check is to elevate that wheel and try shaking it side-to-side and top-to-bottom; any perceptible movement is cause for alarm.

Good luck,
JB

[mlg10231]

John,

Thank you for the suggestion. Actually I found the problem yesterday. My car was missing the bracket between the block and differential at the pinion end letting the differential move and hit the clutch slave cylinder. I fabricated a bracket out of flat bar and the problem is solved!

MG