Since I bought my rav in 2019, there has been a distinct clunk/bang when shifting coming from the rear of my car when shifting and letting off the gas. Learning that the rear differential mounts are the cause, I started the easy way and replaced the rear mount and filled with Sikaflex. While this did help, the diff was still clunking and banging.
I further decided to be cheap and lazy, and tried a strong construction adhesive pumped into the front mounts bushings. I saw several videos on this. This did not help. I then found that Nolathane makes replacement mount bushings for these cars and loving their products already (on my wife's Miata), I ordered them on black friday 2020 from Nolathane. They finally came Feb 23, 2021 so I went to work this weekend to replace them.
I went about this replacement in a different way than I have ever seen anyone do. It was still a pain in the butt, but did NOT require lowering the rear subframe or exhaust (however unbolting the rear section does allow the mid-pipe to move and give you more room).
I will keep this brief and simplified.
1) Jack the rear of the vehicle up safely using jackstands.
2) Remove both rear wheels.
3) Unbolt the front mounts nuts from the subframe (2x 17mm nuts).
4) Unbolt the driveshaft and hang out of your way (4x 14mm bolt/nuts).
5) Support the diff with a jack.
6) Unbolt the front mounts bolts from the diff itself (2x 17mm bolts).
7) Slide the front mount forward.
8) Using a saw/cutoff tool of your choice, cut through the bolt on both sides of the front mount. (You can see my failed construction adhesive attempt in the below images).
![163780]( "163780")
9) Unbolt the rear mount from the unibody of the car (2x 14mm bolts).
10) Remove the mount while wiggling the front of the differential to gain room.
11) Remove the bushings and bushing sleeves on the mount.
![163781]( "163781")
![163782]( "163782")
![163783]( "163783")
12) Clean the bushing holes and prep the Nolathane bushings.
13) Grease the bushings per the instructions and insert into the mount.
![163786]( "163786")
14) Insert the mount back into the car and using the supplied bolt, line up both sides of the mount. Be sure to use the supplied washers per the instructions! I cheated and inserted the bolt 'backwards' since I did not drop the subframe. I had to use tin snips to cut a small hole in the heat shield for the bolt/nut to fit.
15) Reconnect the 2 bolts to the diff and diff mount.
![163787]( "163787")
16) Reconnect the rear mount to the unibody.
17) Reconnect the driveshaft.
18) Now go back and tighten all diff mount bolts/nuts to the proper torques per the FSM.
The results: no more clunk! I can shift aggressively and it will no longer clunk. I do feel the engine/trans mounts are also worn and I feel them shift up front as well, but that is a project for another time.
This method works for Nolathane bushings only as they supply new bolts for the diff mount and we are cutting off the originals. Alternatively, you could cut them out and punch the cut stud out, and replace with your own hardware if you wanted to just fill the stock bushes.
I find that the car is actually quieter with the poly bushes, and a loud rotational noise I had at 55mph+ is now gone.
Thanks all!
I further decided to be cheap and lazy, and tried a strong construction adhesive pumped into the front mounts bushings. I saw several videos on this. This did not help. I then found that Nolathane makes replacement mount bushings for these cars and loving their products already (on my wife's Miata), I ordered them on black friday 2020 from Nolathane. They finally came Feb 23, 2021 so I went to work this weekend to replace them.
I went about this replacement in a different way than I have ever seen anyone do. It was still a pain in the butt, but did NOT require lowering the rear subframe or exhaust (however unbolting the rear section does allow the mid-pipe to move and give you more room).
I will keep this brief and simplified.
1) Jack the rear of the vehicle up safely using jackstands.
2) Remove both rear wheels.
3) Unbolt the front mounts nuts from the subframe (2x 17mm nuts).
4) Unbolt the driveshaft and hang out of your way (4x 14mm bolt/nuts).
5) Support the diff with a jack.
6) Unbolt the front mounts bolts from the diff itself (2x 17mm bolts).
7) Slide the front mount forward.
8) Using a saw/cutoff tool of your choice, cut through the bolt on both sides of the front mount. (You can see my failed construction adhesive attempt in the below images).
9) Unbolt the rear mount from the unibody of the car (2x 14mm bolts).
10) Remove the mount while wiggling the front of the differential to gain room.
11) Remove the bushings and bushing sleeves on the mount.
12) Clean the bushing holes and prep the Nolathane bushings.
13) Grease the bushings per the instructions and insert into the mount.
14) Insert the mount back into the car and using the supplied bolt, line up both sides of the mount. Be sure to use the supplied washers per the instructions! I cheated and inserted the bolt 'backwards' since I did not drop the subframe. I had to use tin snips to cut a small hole in the heat shield for the bolt/nut to fit.
15) Reconnect the 2 bolts to the diff and diff mount.
16) Reconnect the rear mount to the unibody.
17) Reconnect the driveshaft.
18) Now go back and tighten all diff mount bolts/nuts to the proper torques per the FSM.
The results: no more clunk! I can shift aggressively and it will no longer clunk. I do feel the engine/trans mounts are also worn and I feel them shift up front as well, but that is a project for another time.
This method works for Nolathane bushings only as they supply new bolts for the diff mount and we are cutting off the originals. Alternatively, you could cut them out and punch the cut stud out, and replace with your own hardware if you wanted to just fill the stock bushes.
I find that the car is actually quieter with the poly bushes, and a loud rotational noise I had at 55mph+ is now gone.
Thanks all!
