Nasty CREAKING noise, from the left rear wheel/hub Options

[Chris Julian]

Happy holidays- or better yet MERRY CHRISTMAS to all you non PC people out there.

I’m hoping someone here can help with a drive-train problem I’m having. Here’s the details:

Symptoms: When the car is driven forward or reverse @ ~5 mph there is a really deep creaking sound coming from the left rear wheel/hub and @ higher speeds the noise seems to disappear.

Background: This is a V8 car that has been under construction for many years. The car has rebuilt trailing arms with new bearings and a stiffening kit. The hubs are 914-6 adapted for 930 half shafts. The wheel is a super deep dish Centerline Convo-pro (15” x 12”).

First thoughts:
-Bushings- yes I do have the urethane bushings- but they have a totally different cry or moan.

-CV joints- they are the big 930 units with an acceptable?? ~10.5degrees of angular misalignment, the half shafts slide back and forth ~.5” with little resistance

-Transaxle- the sound is definitely coming from the wheel/hub

-Bearings- the trailing arms have brand bearings but they could have been installed incorrectly??


Here’s the tests/inspections to date:

-When on jack stands, out of gear, wheel spinning- no creaking

-When on jack stands, in gear- no creaking

-When on jack stands, motor running, in gear- no creaking

-When on jack stands, motor off, lots of wheel bearing play, on the right the wheel has close to 3/8” movement up and down @ the outside edge of the wheel. Looks like there is something going on with the bearings. I’ll address this problem later, but is it the cause of the creaking noise? The left wheel has ½ the play the right wheel has.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten. Anyone have any ideas what else I should test before I tear it apart? The problem, or at least the noise, only occurs under load, so at this point I am not sure inspecting individual components makes the most sense??
Does anyone make an aftermarket rear-trailing arm that can take the abuse of racing these cars with deep-dish wheels and high torque loadings? There are a lot of wide-bodied 914s out there and it seems like it may be a common problem?


Thanks, Chris