Rear Wheel Sound

[Richardtr3a]

The current  maintenance is to investigate a noise from the back LHS wheel. While driving there is some low noise but as I slow down there is a noticeable flapping sound as if there was something attached to the tyre. 

So this morning, while it was dry, I jacked up the back and removed the wheel, brake drum and the hoop that is attached to the chassis. There was no sign of damage and all parts had dust but no evidence of a damaged loose part. The drum was smooth and I cleaned it , inside and out, with a wire brush. The brake shoes had good thick linings and no shiny parts which could be evidence of a noise. The shoes and back plate were cleaned and the dust was lost on the driveway. The tyre had some small gravel pieces in the pattern and they were sprung out using a small screwdriver.

I put it all back together and cleaned the inside of the  wire wheel. This made a new  job for  the next sunny day, which is cleaning all the wheels !!! So I set off expecting the flapping noise to still be there. So It was good news that in a very slow three mile test the noise was gone. It is not clear to me what it could have been. It was easily heard at 10 mph and sounded as if there might be a problem soon.

Has any one any advice ?    Richard & B.

[Trev Good]

Richard, firstly....well done on your maintenance!

Secondly, I am assuming your TR3A was not used much over the winter. If so, brakes do have a habit of binding up, the disks/drums corrode on the wearing surfaces and then after the first few drives out, the build up of the loosened corrosion can cause all manner of noises. Drum brakes more so than disk brakes as the drum holds the loosened material to go round and round in the brake. My 3A seems okay, although the clutch was stuck on, another story!......the TR6, however, had developed a lhs front squeal and on investigation it was just the same build up on the disk, a few more drives out and it was fine! The disk was cleaned by the pads.

I'm pretty sure that your suspected something on the back wheel was the corrosion, like my TR6 front.

[Ralph Whitaker]

Probably the gravel in the tyre tread, it is surprising how easy it is to hear this in an open car, particularly the rear drivers side.

Ralph

[Richardtr3a]

Thanks for the reply. I have been using the drive for over 5 years and this is the first time that I have a tyre problem. The tyres wheels and hub extensions for the wire wheels have all been renewed in the last few years. I have a special wrench for the tapered nuts holding the extensions and it was set at 50 . Is this correct ?

Thanks

Richard & B

[Ian Vincent]

9 minutes ago, Richardtr3a said:

Thanks for the reply. I have been using the drive for over 5 years and this is the first time that I have a tyre problem. The tyres wheels and hub extensions for the wire wheels have all been renewed in the last few years. I have a special wrench for the tapered nuts holding the extensions and it was set at 50 . Is this correct ?

Thanks

Richard & B

I set my torque wrench to 60 ft-lbs for the wire wheel extension nuts and use loctite as well, but I have had one come loose a long time ago.  Very disconcerting plus it knackered the studs and I had the faff of replacing them.

Rgds Ian