clicking sound from rear axle when slowing down

[merrill]

hello
my 66 230sl auto has developed what i am calling a clicking sound from the rear axle upon deceleration.
if sounds as if its coming from the differential area.

would this be a sign of the pinion bearing failing?

about 2 years ago i pulled the axle, replaced the outside axle bearings, hanger bushing and the rear axle flexible seal, and pinion seal

i noticed this clicking very subtly about 2 weeks ago, now it is much more pronounced.....

thanks in advance
merrill

[merrill]

i did some checking this am

jacked up each side rotated each tire both clock wise and counter clockwise no noise
crawled under the car and made sure there was no play in the drive shaft at the pinion end
removed both rear wheels, pulled the drums,  everything looked fine
made sure each drum would spin when installed with the e brake off.

put it all back together,  took it for a drive to some stores, no issues,   
drove home on the freeway and no clicking sound...

this weekend is warmer than when i drove it when i heard the noise,  not sure if it has do do something with the temperature.

guess i will keep an eye on it

[Rick Katucki]

I had a similar issue at one point. Thought it was coming from the differential.  It turned out to be coming from one of the brake drums.  I don't remember the actual cause but the fix amounted to disassembling the brakes on one side, cleaning and putting everything back together. 

[merrill]

Rick
thanks for the reply, 

i didn't have the clicking sound after my inspection. (removed the drums)
if it happens again i will look at the brakes more carefully.

[Pawel66]

I had a clicking occasional sound in the rear wheel. Turned out to be a bit too long wheel bolts (not original) hitting brakes parts inside.