Strange ticking sound

[Rusty-Gunn]

Hello. For the past 3-4 weeks we have been hearing a strange ticking sound, that seemed to have gotten a bit louder this past week. We have looked every where under the floor boards but can't find it.
This ticking sound gets faster or slower as we drive faster or slower. I'm convinced its coming from the chains, sprockets, axles. Also, whenever I add left lateral, either to turn left or to adjust driving direction to the left, the sounds goes away.
The axle bearings seem to be okay. The rear axle bearings have a tiny bit of play though.
Yesterday we removed both rear idler sprockets, as the right side was getting shaky (these new ones came in the mail a few days ago). The left idler bearing seems fine, but I'm putting in a new one anyway.
I may put the Max IV up on blocks to rotate the wheels by hand (engine off) and listen for the sound. I figure to loosen the chains and recheck the axle bearings for excessive play.
Other than this is there something I should check? I'm stumped. I can't even pin point the sound. Help! Thank you.

[ARGOJIM]

Hello. For the past 3-4 weeks we have been hearing a strange ticking sound, that seemed to have gotten a bit louder this past week. We have looked every where under the floor boards but can't find it.
This ticking sound gets faster or slower as we drive faster or slower. I'm convinced its coming from the chains, sprockets, axles. Also, whenever I add left lateral, either to turn left or to adjust driving direction to the left, the sounds goes away.
The axle bearings seem to be okay. The rear axle bearings have a tiny bit of play though.
Yesterday we removed both rear idler sprockets, as the right side was getting shaky (these new ones came in the mail a few days ago). The left idler bearing seems fine, but I'm putting in a new one anyway.
I may put the Max IV up on blocks to rotate the wheels by hand (engine off) and listen for the sound. I figure to loosen the chains and recheck the axle bearings for excessive play.
Other than this is there something I should check? I'm stumped. I can't even pin point the sound. Help! Thank you.

Where does it come from in machine? Is it the foot brakes making noise? is it something wrapped around the axle outside? a bent chain link or sharp axle tooth will also cause a hanging on sprocket creating a tick. A piece of debris stuck in sprocket would cause a tick, even a small as a piece of rag.

[Rusty-Gunn]

ArgoJim... The sound "seems" to come from the left rear, but we're not 100% on it. We are going to do a serious inspection of the chains and axles inside first. We have the engine out, so it will be a bit easier. Go from there.
I never experienced a mysterious ticking sound before. So, here it is, ticking away, taunting me. Thank you for these suggestions.

[Rusty-Gunn]

We tore out the rear left axle and replaced the bearings and outer flanges (there was play in the axle). I got it back on.
Today we're mounting the trans and engine. This ought to take care of it.

[Rusty-Gunn]

We test drove the Max, and the ticking sound is there, but quieter. I think it might be to right rear, since it has a tiny bit of movement. It might be just the flange enlargening, as that is what the left rear did (bearings were tight but I put new ones). The flange is the thin 3/32" from Buffalo Bearing. I put a thicker 1/8" from Max6x6 on the left.
I figure to monitor the tight left (and ticking) for a while, then decide if I need to yank that axle soon or next spring. Dang ton of work to pull a rear axle out.

[ARGOJIM]

Did you jack it up yet? spinning by hand should locate the culprit.

[Rusty-Gunn]

No. I don't have enough blocks yet. I thought I might of had enough, but don't. It shouldn't be too hard to find a few scrap blocks of wood here and there.
We noticed on the ride today the ticking seemed to alternate between constant and intermittant. Weird stuff.

[dirtdobber]

For what its worth I'll tell you about a strange noise I had, but surely this won't be your problem. I was riding along a muddy lake bottom one day and all of a sudden a fairly heavy popping sound appeared. It sounded a little like a chain jumping a sprocket, but not quite that heavy. I stopped and pulled the floor out to see what was going on. Standing out of the machine, I eased it forward for a few revolutions of the tires and there was no noise. Everything was fine. I put it back together and continued my ride only for the noise to reappear. I stopped again and got out and this time looked outside the machine and there it was. A piece of fishing line had wrapped around the tire (not the axle) and a pretty good size led weight was still attached to the line. When I went fast enough, the weight would sling up and pop against the plastic tub. Easiest repair I've ever made!

[Rusty-Gunn]

I wish this sound was something that easy. We removed all tires, one at a time to lube the zerks and tighten the four flange bolts. All were clear.

[tbone9]

Most of the time when there’s intermittent noise that seems to move around it was loose chains for me. Get all the wheels off the ground and get them tight as you can then back off a little. 1/2” of play on the long chains and about 1/4” on the primaries. Hopefully that helps. Remember if your chain is lose it wants to climb the teeth on the sprocket the “slap” back down depending on the load at the time.

[Rusty-Gunn]

We went berry picking today, and on the return the Max got worse, adding a louder "rubbing" sound, sort of like the chains trying to climb over, or rubbing the side, of the sprocket teeth constantly, and sort of like the tread of the tires rubbing the tub. We looked under the hood, but nothing seen.
We drove home slowly.
The engine has to come out again, maybe the trans. Something unlnown to me is going on back there.
This will indeed be a learning situation. The more we fix the more we learn. Then maintaining can be done to prevent such things.

[Rusty-Gunn]

We removed the engine and transmission today, only to discover the bolt at the end (tip) of the axle was broken, missing the hex head.
This, no doubt, allowed the axle to slide in and out just enough to cause the chain to try and derail itself due to misalignment, causing the ticking sound. When the axle moved out a bit more on the second ride it caused the chain to rub against the sprocket teeth, giving it that weird tire tread rubbing sound.
How I missed not seeing it is plain poor investigating. My bad.
We intend to trade out the bearings and flanges while we're at it (the outer one is getting some ugly play in it).
Now, to extract the broken bolt stud. Thats a whole lot of fun.
Thank you all for giving me info, suggestions, etc.

[dirtdobber]

Glad you found the problem.

[Rusty-Gunn]

So, I got the broken bolt extracted. A bit of work, but easy enough. We got the bearings cut off, the axle cleaned up, and new bearings/flanges installed. The whole she-bang mounted back in the Max.
We gotvthe trans and engine to go.

[wheeler]

One thing that might help is to get a mechanics stethoscope you can get them at most parts stores. You start eliminating by touching each piece you think it might be. If its ticking you will definetly hear it. Let me know. And yes the stethoscopes are just like what the dr's have.