Jpa9058

My second-hand sstc has a lot of play in the drivetrain. There's enough to seem very odd to me. It also shakes a bit when reversing. There's more play than in any other vehicle I've driven before. Is this normal for the Sstc? I haven't noticed any slack in the drivetrain of our other car, a cobalt ls auto. For reference there's a lot more play than in a Colorado manual, Or an Aveo manual, or a cobalt lt manual, or an 80s Kawasaki kz250 csr, with a dying tranny and clutch. The Kawasaki feels the closest.

The slack in the drivetrain doesn't appear to have anything to do with shifting, or a particular gear. When switching between the engine driving the wheels (accelerating) and the wheels driving the engine (engine braking/decelerating/coasting), or vice versa, without any change in gear or use of the clutch, there's noticeable slack and then a catch in the moment that the slack is taken up by the drivetrain. The car also shakes somewhat unusually when reversing. I guess it could also be a bad engine mount...

For the closest comparison I can think of, take a motorcycle, dirtbike, atv or bmx bicycle and put a really loose chain on it. Then try accelerating and decelerating a few times without changing gears. You'll notice the effect of the slack of the chain as you switch back and forth between accel and decel.

YelloEye

iTrader: (3)

Probably worn stock mounts. They're voided rubber stock. Getting rotated mounts helps with the slop and they're not voided. Avoid poly mounts unless you like vibrations.

riceburner

iTrader: (66)

I disagree, yelloeye.

Far as im concerned theres no fixing this issue OP. That slack in movement is very real and ive tried tightening everything up, different axle setups, mounts/combos and it always feels sloppy at the end of the day.

cluelessk

I wonder if really worn cabs could be the issue.

Lift her up and look for any slack. Also put the car on flat ground with the hood up, in gear and rock it back in forth to see how much and how easily the engine torques back and forth.

YelloEye

iTrader: (3)

It's a possibility that it'll take some of the slop out, maybe not all of it. There's slop built into the car to make it drive more comfortably, having solid motor mounts, CABs, TCABs, and an unsprung clutch will take a lot of the slop out but certainly won't eliminate it. Some is just due to the internal design of the F35. I know my L61 had a ton of slop before I tossed poly mounts in it. Once they were in there was significantly less slop.
That's a possibility, and your process might show a little bit of the movement.

riceburner

iTrader: (66)

Internal design of f35 - agreed. Which is what i meant when i said there just isnt much you can do about it.

YelloEye

iTrader: (3)

Ah yes. You can see this if parked in gear and pushing the car, there's a good bit of distance that the car rolls before it is stopped at one end or the other.

You can mitigate a little with things like stiffer bushings but you won't entirely fix it unless you get the gears redone so that they mesh closer together. And by redone I mean an entirely custom cut, new OEM parts won't fix it.

Jpa9058

The drivetrain slop issue has been resolved. The resolution tightened up the suspension, drivetrain slop and shifter slop. I think it may have also resolved the issue with the car shuddering in reverse. One of the bolts that hold the front wheel bearings on was missing. Since there are three bolts, the one bearing was only being held on by two. This apparently was wreaking havoc with the suspension and drivetrain. It appears that this was the case when I bought the car. I've driven about 80K miles like this.

I just thought I should post this, in case someone else has this issue.

cluelessk

Nice to see an update. Should help people with future searches.