I've a Nissan Navara and about three weeks ago someone ran into the back of me while I was stopped at traffic lights. flattened my bumper and warped the tailgate. Fortunately the towbar took the brunt of the impact.
As I drove away after the incident, the vehicle had developed a squeak from the rear drive train. This was not there before the shunt and gets worse as I accelerate and stops when I don't.
I thought it was the rear universal joint on the propshaft and have spoken to the repairers and insurance company and both are telling me it's wear and tear and nothing to do with the impact.
I disagree with this on two points - firstly it wasnt there before hand and secondly it was checked by my garage only a month or so ago as the front one needed changing and it was all fine.
spoke to the automotive engineer who authorised the other repairs and he's not interested and sticking by his conclusion. So last night I decided to get underneath and have a look myself and there is no play in the rear UJ at all however when I took the prop shaft out the UJ works fine on one set of bearings (up and down) however the other set is now extremely stiff and I could only just move it slightly with a big ajustable spanner across the yoke.
Sorry for being long winded about this - my questions for those in the know.
1) When UJs wear don't they become sloppy in the bearings rather than seized solid?
2) Is it unreasonable of me to expect the third party to pay for the replacement as there was definitely no noise from the UJ before the impact?
Cheers
John
As I drove away after the incident, the vehicle had developed a squeak from the rear drive train. This was not there before the shunt and gets worse as I accelerate and stops when I don't.
I thought it was the rear universal joint on the propshaft and have spoken to the repairers and insurance company and both are telling me it's wear and tear and nothing to do with the impact.
I disagree with this on two points - firstly it wasnt there before hand and secondly it was checked by my garage only a month or so ago as the front one needed changing and it was all fine.
spoke to the automotive engineer who authorised the other repairs and he's not interested and sticking by his conclusion. So last night I decided to get underneath and have a look myself and there is no play in the rear UJ at all however when I took the prop shaft out the UJ works fine on one set of bearings (up and down) however the other set is now extremely stiff and I could only just move it slightly with a big ajustable spanner across the yoke.
Sorry for being long winded about this - my questions for those in the know.
1) When UJs wear don't they become sloppy in the bearings rather than seized solid?
2) Is it unreasonable of me to expect the third party to pay for the replacement as there was definitely no noise from the UJ before the impact?
Cheers
John
