[TR] TR6 tranny sound?

[Kinderlehrer]

Tim, Do you happen to have wire wheels?
Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: triumphs-bounces at autox.team.net
[mailto:triumphs-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Tim Gaines
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 3:00 PM
To: Triumphs at autox.team.net
Subject: [TR] TR6 tranny sound?

I thought I was leaving for a nice drive of about 150 miles in the
TR6 a few days ago, but I didn't get farther than the gas station before
some nasty noises turned me right around.  When taking off from a stop I get
a crunching sound plus a "zzzup" thrown in once in a while.  My first
thought was that I had a stone or two from my newly graveled driveway
sitting on top of the drive shaft.  But I also thought it could be the
tranny or the differential, and I didn't want to take any chances out on the
road.  I got home okay.  In fact, the car ran smoothly once up to speed.  It
only made the sounds at takeoff.  I got it up on jackstands and couldn't
find any evidence of stones or loose flange bolts at either end of the drive
shaft or at the rear axles.  I also couldn't reproduce the sounds with the
wheels off the ground, either with the rear  wheels under power or by
turning the front ones by hand.  I also couldn't feel or hear anything when
I turned the rear wheels by hand or the drive shaft with a wrench on the
flange bolts.

When I got the car on the ground and found that it still made the sounds (no
lucky fix!), I started thinking it might be a disc brake pad issue.  It
seemed like the sounds were coming from the front.  Today I replaced the
pads and the nasty looking anti squeal shims.  In the process I rotated the
rotors with and without pads in place and got no noises.  However, I did get
something like the "zzzup" noise when I deflected the rotor guard into the
rotor while turning it.  After everything was back together I made sure that
the guard wasn't touching the rotor before getting the car back on the
ground.  Just took a drive up the road, and nothing has changed; crunchy
noises and "zzzups" at takeoff, forward and backward, but fine after it's up
to speed.  I think I can feel a little something through the shifter when
the noises occur, but I'm not really positive about that.  I also think that
the noises stop when I disengage the clutch, but by the time I reach speed
enough for that, the noises are usually gone anyway.

So folks, what am I up against?  Does a transmission make those kinds of
noises when it's failing?  Is there something else I should be looking at?
Thanks for any help you can offer.

Tim
1974 TR6
1980 Spitfire