Rear driveshaft knocking noise.

[Stuart Phillips]

Hi all
I have a clicking/knocking noise coming from the rear of my 2008 X5, it comes and goes, appears on acceleration, free wheeling dosent seem to be any pattern to it, I drove back from the lake district yesterday with my caravan on the back and it was there the whole time.
I looked underneath the car today and there seems to be loads of free play when you move the shaft inwards and outwards, is this normal?

[mr angry]

Dont mean to be "the purveyor of the bleedin obvious" but have you checked for nail or stone in a tyre?

It is normal for the shaft to have lateral movement to allow for compression and extension of the rear suspension.

[Stuart Phillips]

Defiantly not a stone or nail in the tire, how much movement should there be in the rear driveshafts? I mean by moving it inwards and outwards.

[Stuart Phillips]

I have just found this video on youtube, seems just like my problem,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY21uUPo-ts

[mr angry]

Have you jacked the car up and checked for any play in the bearing?

[Wayfarer]

Stone of similar between the disc and the brake pad, or a sticking pad possibly that's completely worn the friction material.

[Stuart Phillips]

I,m going to get the car lifted tomorrow to check the wheel bearings, regards to a stone being trapped, if I put my foot on the brake it makes no difference, noise still there, anyway after going out for short trip tonight no noise what so ever!, it seems that towing is triggering this noise off.

I,m running Dunlop runflats on the rear and non runflats on the front, simply because I,m waiting for the fronts to be replaced when needing to be, would this be an issue?

[Alan Gunn]

What is the tread depth like on the front and rear tyres.