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99 T&C All Wheel Drive Noise

The vehicle is a 99 T&C Limited with All Wheel Drive, currently with

170,000 miles. Seven years ago with only 30K on the van, it developed a siren like noise under the middle of the body. With the windows open, you would swear that an emergency vehicle was right on your rear bumper. Chrysler replaced, under warranty, a "SOP Front Torque Tube Bearing" (6 parts used). There was some mention of a Viscous Clutch.

Can someone tell me what that all meant? The sound has returned! It is noticeable starting about 5 MPH and increased with speed. Other vehicle noises drown it out above about 30. How much should I expect to pay for the repair, and is this a dealer only function? This vehicle is not yet ready for the bone yard, I hope. Is a failure of this item catastrophic, or just inconvenient?

Reply to
Piperson
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The failure of the bearing will be catastrophic when it really gets messed up good. You won't be driving it. \

The system has an overrunning clutch (it's a one-way clutch, like a ratchet, but it doesn't click) and it also has a viscous coupling that drives the rear axle. The viscous coupling itsn't a clutch. It's a coupling that transfers torque though some gooey liquid. This allows the rear to slip in relation to the front. That's a good thing. I cannot think of anything in the system offhand that would have initial SOP, so that didnt' help me.

I never had to replace a bearing on mine, so I couldn't comment on what it looks like, but most of the time bearings are pretty simple and they're intended to be replaced. It might be a bearing you can get at a bearing supplier for $10, or it might be dealer only. It really depends on how it was made, and I couldn't say about that.

Reply to
Joe

Reply to
Piperson

The parts used for the repair below were:

4518551 Retainer 9039016 4641578 Shield to 21003028 4641756 Plate Vis 21133038 4518903 Nut Ptw F 21009036 4486164 Bearing F 21005001 4773590 Fluid Aut 1081018

1.6 hours of Tech time

Pipers> The vehicle is a 99 T&C Limited with All Wheel Drive, currently with

Reply to
Piperson

I've got a 1994 T&C AWD. Let be explain a bit about these AWDs, the design is really stupid. The so-called "torque tube" is nothing more than a driveline, however instead of the normal driveline, Chrysler put in something similar to a CV axle, with boots and a CV joint where the U-joints on a driveline normally should be.

What has probably happened with yours is one or both of the boots on the driveline has split. What happens is the CV joints in these things wears out, then they start rattling and banging all over at the joint, the boot then splits open and slings out the remaining grease and the torque tube vibrates worse and worse. This destroys the bearings in the power transfer case in the front and the slipping clutch in the back.

If yours has 170K on the original driveline the driveline is probably shot. The shitty part about this is that a lot of the parts for these are now unavailable so it is a real hit and miss if a driveline place can rebuild it. The shot driveline probably took the bearing with it.

Get under the vehicle and inspect the driveline boots to make sure they are intact. If they aren't then one option is to simply remove the driveline. With the bearing in the front power transfer case now unloaded, it won't whine anymore. Of course you lose the AWD but so what?

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

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