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Rear Axle not centered, it's off to left half inch?

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So Boss

Boss at Vancouver (now Finland)
70
1
Hi,
today I noticed that my left rear wheel is poking little bit out of the wheel well. Measurement result is 1/2" off to left (comparing to right).
-anyone else wondering the same thing?

The reason why I looked carefully is that I can hear a "singing noise" like bad axle bearing which varies according to wheel speed. Ford service didn't found anything wrong. But noise came 2000 miles ago (27000 in the odometer) and it's gradually increasing.

Cheers
Art
 
6,363
8,189
IMO measuring from the fender lip may not be the best way to do it, try to find an factory alignment mark and measure from there. I did this once on a 99 and before I was done I had ripped out the whole rear axle and replaced it with an IRS so beware of what you start..lol
 
Does that singing occur around 60 MPH? If so then it is gear whine, I say it's normal, others disagree, but Ford probably won't fix it, just happens from the Torsen. As far as the difference of 1/2 inch, have you lowered the car? If you haven't then I would see if it is within spec, which I think that is, I believe it is to allow the arc of movement that occurs with the panhard bar.
 

So Boss

Boss at Vancouver (now Finland)
70
1
Brandon302 said:
Does that singing occur around 60 MPH? If so then it is gear whine, I say it's normal, others disagree, but Ford probably won't fix it, just happens from the Torsen. As far as the difference of 1/2 inch, have you lowered the car? If you haven't then I would see if it is within spec, which I think that is, I believe it is to allow the arc of movement that occurs with the panhard bar.

I can hear singing from 40 mph up (after 100 mph it's too much noise anyhow). Car is is not altered, standard height.
-Art
 
1,482
408
blacksheep-1 said:
IMO measuring from the fender lip may not be the best way to do it, try to find an factory alignment mark and measure from there. I did this once on a 99 and before I was done I had ripped out the whole rear axle and replaced it with an IRS so beware of what you start..lol

A good place on these cars to measure from is the "frame rail." That fake frame piece near the axle. Get it within 1/16" and you're good to go.
 

PeteInCT

#LS-378 - So many Porsche's, so little time....
Moderator
2,848
14
Connecticut
1) check your rear differential fluid level.
2) the singing you may be hearing can just be the sound of the Torsen rear differential. They do have a distinctive sound.
3) many cars came off the assembly line with the rear slightly off center. Mine was about 1/8 of an inch and when I load the car getting Crees to about 1/2 of an inch. An adjustable panhard bar will fix that problem.

-Pete
 
I have the same thing, looks a little off center based on the wheel opening and I also have the rear end whine. I thought about an adjustable panhard bar to get the car's rear end center but I think it would only effect aesthetics not the handling. The jury's still out on that one. The fix for the whine is to go wide open on the side pipes and turn the radio up, we don't have a lot of sound dampening in these cars it will transmit NVH from back to front and it will get worse the stiffer you make the suspension. You could line your trunk and under your back seat with sound dampner to mitigate the some of it. The empty spare tire well in the back works overtime as a big speaker too.
 
I installed a BMR adjustable panhard bar to correct the offset. It didn't take much adjustment but now the body is centered on the axle and all is good now.
 

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