I have a 99 SS with an aluminum driveshaft. When I put the car in drive with the brakes on the driveshaft makes a pinging noise. I replaced the rear u joint but the noise is still there. My local Chevy dealer suggested drilling two holes in the shaft one at each end and then filling the shaft with "greatstuff " foam to silence the noise. It seems a little strange to me but they said they do it all the time even on newer cars. Any thoughts on what the noise could be?

 

Its normal. in 2000, they started putting cardboard inside of the driveshafts to muffle that sound. Don't worry though, nothing is wrong with it. I'd leave it alone.

 

I was going to post the same damn question. I have read that the ping sound is normal and am having trouble believing it. Mine seems to be getting worse...but it could be my imagination. Mine ping's when I shift into gear and even sometimes when I accelerate. Does this sound like the same noise. I have and A4 98 SS with the aluiminum drive shaft as well.

Is it difficult to replace the U-Joint???

 

The u-joint is a piece of cake. I would save your money though. The sound your hearing is just like mine and it is the driveshaft. I guess they starting filling the driveshafts with cardboard or something like it in 2000 to stop the noise. I still haven't decided if I want to try my dealers foam fix.

 

I guess that Chrysler was having the same problem with their driveshafts as well and according to my buddy at the local Dodge store they started to fill the driveshafts with foam right from the factory and that stopped the problem. It doesn't seem to effect the performance of the car so I might just leave it alone. It is annoying though.

 

Does anyone know exactly what causes that noise? I assume the driveshaft is one piece...where is the noise coming from. If it is one piece is it hitting something when shifted into gear? And, wouldn't filling the shaft throw the balance off. It would be almost impossible to to fill the whole thing?

 

I was told that if you drill 2 holes just large enough for the hose from the can to fit in, one at each end and at 180 degrees from each other and then fill each hole up it shouldn't throw off the balance. As far as what causes the noise, I have no idea. It is annoying I know that. I'm going to buy a new driveshaft for mine. Does anyone know if I can replace it with a steel unit without any problems? Also, are there aftermarket driveshafts available or am I stuck with the Gm part?

 

Does anyone know if GM has done anything about the design of these driveshafts that would prevent a replacement from making the same noise somewhere down the road?

 

Get a 1LE shaft... no such problem, and it's stronger..

 

Whats that cost. I love my SS, but I'm a little disappointed in GM. There seems to be a lot of little problems with these\0\05{\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0ink a $30k car would be built a little more solid. I don't mean to bitch, I know there's not much out there that can hold a candle to these cars in this price range, but Damn. I'm getting tired of replaceing parts that are not broken with more expensive parts because of restriction by the manufacturer or irritating drive shaft noises.

I think feel a little better now!

 

I'm going to have Dennys make me a new one. It's about the same cost as a GM but without the problems. Their alluminum shafts are about $325.00. You can get steel for under $300.00. Why buy new or used GM shaft that is gonna have problems just like the one I'm replacing?

 

I have never heard of a 1LE failing[if anyone HAS.. please verify it]
I paid about 230 from Cromer about 2 yrs ago for mine..
IMHO LS1 aluminum shafts are doo doo..

 

I had Denny's make me a Nitrous Ready shaft... removed ALL my vibe problems I was having for over a year.. the car is smooth as glass all the way to 140+.

The nice thing is, they're local for me, I had a hour discussion with Denny when I picked mine up about driveshafts.