First things first, I'm a helicopter mechanic, and have always worked on my own cars, can do just about anything, just never worked on transmissions/rear ends. I have a firm grasp, and an open mind, just need some help on my '00 Z28.

It has always had a solid clunk when I would shift it in drive from park, or from reverse to drive, and one day, it finally ate it. It was a very loud clunk from the rear end, and then another clunk every full rotation of the wheels. Parked it, then when I tried again about a month later, I was praying it was transmission, that way I could just rip out the auto, and put a Tremec 6spd in it. I put it in reverse, and the speedo was reading, looked underneath and the driveshaft was turning, and still connected to the yoke, and U-joints are still intact.

So I gathered from this, that it's somewhere from the rear differential, to the tires that's ate up. Either the spider gears, the ring and pinion, or the axels. I don't hear any extra grinding or anything while it's in gear and the driveshaft is free spinning, only when I have to put it in park, and the brake tries to catch.

Just looking for some help on the first places I should tear into, I'm thinking about pulling the diff cover off and seeing if anything is awry in there as a start. Just looking to some higher knowledge people for some pointers.

Thanks,

Trevor

 

Your car most likely came with a torsen limited slip differentia which does not use spider gears. Remove the cover and look for broken pieces. There is a good possibility that the clunking is being caused by worn suspension parts, such as control arm bushing, lose torque arm bolts, or transmission mount which also anchors the front of the torque arm. Also check for slop in the universal joints, which would call for replacement. A small amount of motion can make a lot of noise.

 

i am going to say you have stripped the ring gear in one spot. easiest to replace the whole rear unit. having someone set up a new center section is about the same cost as a used rear differential, probably more being you will have to replace all bearings and seals to insure all metal has been removed. if you have traction control you will want a traction control rear end. traction control have sensors on each wheel. non traction control rear end has one sensor at the top of the center section. other than that any differential from a 93 to 02 camaro or ta/bird will fit.

 

As Craby says the easiest thing is to get a low miles rear out of a salvage yard. If you push the car hard you should be looking for upgrades as the LS1 seem to be a little too much for stock rears.

A factory manual with have a good step by step proceedure on how to set up the rear. I don't know any helicopter mechanics but I did knew one Airplane tech and he could follow a proceedure to the letter, better then any Car tech I have known. I think I remember him say if he did not follow each and every step to the letter at work he could see jail time.

The process to rebuild a rear is not complicated but it is very unforgiving. One mistake and every part in the rear could be trashed in a few hundred miles. It common in the bigger shops to have a guy that knows how to build rear teach younger guys how to do it. Pretty much everything else they just throw a manual at you and say fix that and I will check it when your done.

 

Well, I appreciate the words of wisdom gentlemen. As far as problems geeing somewhere not in the differential, I knew it was the case, as the input shaft was turning, but the wheels were not. Definitely not suspension, definitely not transmission, and then I ripped the diff cover off, and saw half my gears laying in the bottom.



Now my concern is what gear ratio to throw back in it, I know it had the 3.43, but I want to make a tad more power in the lower gears, but don't want to sacrifice a lot of fuel. Also, there is a website RockAuto that has a couple differential kits for 2000 5.7L Camaros; Eaton Differential Kit: AuburnGear Differential Kit and I wondered if either of those would be a decent option, and that's my next opinion to ask of some of you.

Also, Gorn, where do you think I could get ahold of one of the maintenance manuals you're talking about..? Obviously Haynes and Chiltons aren't as detailed as I'd like, but if that's what you were referring to, then that'll have to do.

 

You might contact Helm's Publishing as they print GM service manuals.
4.11 would be a good upgrade, 3.73 would be middle of the road.

 

go here download the 99fb file, http://www.mediafire.com/?40mfgeoe4ctti should be pretty much the same as yours. can search on ebabe for hard copy 2000 GM Checrolet Camaro Pontiac Firebird 3 Volume Set Service Manual | eBay or look for electronic copy. should be cheaper

 

if its your dd and with the auto i would use 373. i am a little over 2k rpms going 60mph with 370s