Wheel hop\ chatter

[mk3tattoos]

So when I loose traction in 1st gear, I get some wheel hopping. When i loose traction in 2nd gear i don't get any chatter/ wheel hop.it did the same thing with my 87.....

What causes it to happen?
What do I need to do to stop it from happening?
I have new tokico struts and good springs.
Thanks for the help!!!!

 

[enjoi.this]

Could be worn bushings in suspension, worn out LSD or traction arms are bent.

 

[mk3tattoos]

Traction arms look good, this car was drivin it's intire life by a church lady that said she drove it slow
How can I find out if the lsd is bad?

 

[OfnaRcR4]

I doubt its your lsd. Most likely its worn out suspension arm/ subframe bushings imo.

 

[radiod]

To test your LSD, check my signature.....

But I agree, not likely an LSD problem. I'd check your bushings and maybe make sure everything is torqued up properly in terms of subframe bolts etc.

 

[Poodles]

Traction arms may be straight, but the bushings do wear (and dry rot as well). Start inspecting. Also I agree on retorquing the subframe as it's overlooked on maintenance. You may just have too much grip and the traction arms could be working more like springs. Upgrade might be in order.

 

[mk3tattoos]

Traction arms may be straight, but the bushings do wear (and dry rot as well). Start inspecting. Also I agree on retorquing the subframe as it's overlooked on maintenance. You may just have too much grip and the traction arms could be working more like springs. Upgrade might be in order.

Ok so I did some inspecting and found that my strut was not tightens down and the aluminum arm that has the ball joint on it was not tightened down all the way as well. Then I retorqued the subframe.

I will take it out as soon as the roads are dry and test it out.

 

[Flateric]

My car had wheel hope from day one when it was new. It took me years of experimentation to finally get things to a point where I have zero wheelhop in any gear or situation.

The things I addresses over the years......

Largest improvement cam from strengthening the traction arms to prevent em from flexing. So you can buy some aftermarket ones or simply beef up the ones you have already in a way to prevent flexing.

Second biggest improvement I would say was to either improve upon the center axe bearing mount (I didn't do this so can't comment on how it may be done) or go to a single 1 piece driveshaft. I went with the single rather than OEM split driveshaft option. It lowers the weight of the entire assemble and has no downside in my experience. I got no vibrations or any symptoms that would hint that it's not still OEM other than a little bit nicer power.

I speculate especially in older center bearings that the bearing flexes upwards under high loads during launches and "bows" also contributing to wheel hop.

Redo all your bushings and tighten everything up to spec.

But I think the number one cause of wheel hop in the cases I have seen personally is from flexing traction arms. Acting as a pring exactly as Poodles states. Grip. Flex. Bounce. Grip. Flex. Bounce.

This is really really bad for your entire powertrain and needs to be solved if you have it and do hop often. So bad for the tranny/gears/axes/driveshaft everything. You WILL bend or break something if you continue to spin and experience hop. There is no doubt about it.

 

[Poodles]

Yep, it shocks the drivetrain pretty badly. We don't have nearly the issues as a live axle setup (pinion angle goes to hell and causes driveshaft damage). Many many cars have wheel hop issues, even brand new ones.

 

[enjoi.this]

Largest improvement cam from strengthening the traction arms to prevent em from flexing. So you can buy some aftermarket ones or simply beef up the ones you have already in a way to prevent flexing.
.

This. I beefed up the stock traction arms with heavy walled pipe and a mig welder. Worked like a beauty with the hopping. Was basically a free mod too as I found left overs of piping and used my works welder :icon_bigg

 

[Flateric]

This. I beefed up the stock traction arms with heavy walled pipe and a mig welder. Worked like a beauty with the hopping. Was basically a free mod too as I found left overs of piping and used my works welder :icon_bigg

I had some flat bar stock steel and 1/3" wide and welded it along the length of the bar aligned with the flexing axis. And ya, it really is a big improvement.

They are not all that pretty but they work and the price is right.

 

[becauseican]

Old subframe bushings can also be a factor if all your arms and bushings are in decent shape, my wheel hop was eliminated once I put in some solid subframe spacers, this lead me to start a Group buy and offer these to everyone else. I may still have a few sets around...

If you want to see how much movement is in the subframe bushings try jacking up the rear of the car on the pinch welds (not the sub frame or control arms) once its hanging take a large prybar between the chassis and the subframe and move it up and down, you will find there is about an inch of movement!!!, this definatly contributes to wheel hop.

Randy

 

[enjoi.this]

I also put in randy's solid sub frame bushing and WOW that helped with the cornering ability along with the wheel hop. Also stopped the banging when going over large speed bumps.. lol