Dispatch driveshaft noise

[ito]

Hi, I have a Citroen Dispatch, year 2000. When under load, ie going up a steep incline, there is a noise which is rotational in nature and sounds like a dodgy driveshaft, I have changed both driveshafts(New) but noticed that there is some play in the long driveshaft w.r.t. the centre bearing in relation to it and the housing which it sits in (which is also the rear engine mounting), to clamp up the bearing there are two 'toggle' bolts which, I presume, should bolt the outer race of this bearing tight in the housing, well, even done up extra tight (and, yes, the correct way round) there is still looseness which I am sure is the cause of the noise. Any ideas? thanks!

[citronut]

are the hocky stick/toggle bolts bent trough maybe previously being overtightened

[ito]

Thanks for replying and the idea, just taken one out, its straight with the toggle at 90 degrees so not the problem, on reflection I have had some difficulty in the past knocking these bearings out because they always seem to stick, but this one went in real easy although I would have thought that the togglebolts or hockey sticks should still hold it firmly in place. I suppose what I am trying to avoid is taking out the driveshaft and lower mounting and bolting it altogether off the vehicle, might actually be able to see what is going on then.

[Peter.N.]

Has the bearing siezed and is rotating in the housing?

Peter

[citronut]

are the nuts on the hocky stick bolts running out of thread before pulling the bearing fully home,
if so add some washers under the nuts

[ito]

Hi, first thing I looked at, thread still visible but put an extra washer on anyway - no result!

[ito]

As regards the bearing, I replaced the driveshaft with a new one recently, thinking it would cure the noise not knowing where exactly it was coming from although the clue was it was about roadwheel speed (I didnt know about the looseness of the bearing in its housing at that time), both old and new bearings not seized! This is a really good website for us with obscure problems, in fact I havent come across a better one. Thank you all! I'm off to France today for a month with no internet access, heres hoping that your weather will be as good as mine!! I think it is necessary, when I actually do the dismantling there, to post a solution (ha, theres confidence!) on my return.

[citronut]

is the cola on the shaft firstly tight against bearing and secondly protruding through the bearing housing on the back of the engine by any amount

[ito]

Just to finish, I removed the driveshaft and the centre bearing housing to see what was going on, the toggles were fully home but still some lateral movement, and when dismantled the reason was either a. the driveshaft bearing was slightly narrower (only about 1.5mm) or at some point due to loose toggles, some of the aluminium had worn away, although there was no evidence of this. Solution was to use a spring steel packing ring to take up the difference, Voila, sans noise! The item that fitted almost perfectly is shown in the picture, easy enough for me to find amongst my bits and pieces, its from a Morris 1000 gearbox (stainless steel spring ring), dimensions are a bit critical but this fitted (with some persuasion). If I had not solved this problem the bearing would have eventually chewed up the housing because of the movement under load. I can imagine this problem is not unique to my van.