Defender propshaft / rattling noises

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exmed wayne

exmed wayne

Well-Known Member
Posts
250
Location
On my way to Scotlandshire
Morning all,

As per the title, I've just noticed an intermittant rattling noise. It sounds like something metal and solid and seems to be coming from just under and forward of the clutch pedal.
It is when I'm pulling off slowly and when I'm slowing down coming up to a junction, but seems to disappear when I'm accelerating hard or driving at a constant speed.
I've been underneath and can't find anything loose, and I've pulled, pushed and rotated the propshaft by hand and can't discern any excess movement at the UJ's.
If it is the Propshaft / UJ's, then I was thinking - Could I take the front prop off and go for a short drive to see if the noise has gone?
Or is there a technical reason why I can't do this?

Cheers,
Wayne
 
exmed wayne said:
Morning all,

As per the title, I've just noticed an intermittant rattling noise. It sounds like something metal and solid and seems to be coming from just under and forward of the clutch pedal.
It is when I'm pulling off slowly and when I'm slowing down coming up to a junction, but seems to disappear when I'm accelerating hard or driving at a constant speed.
I've been underneath and can't find anything loose, and I've pulled, pushed and rotated the propshaft by hand and can't discern any excess movement at the UJ's.
If it is the Propshaft / UJ's, then I was thinking - Could I take the front prop off and go for a short drive to see if the noise has gone?
Or is there a technical reason why I can't do this?

Cheers,
Wayne
Click to expand...
Yes you can. You'll have to put it in diff lock to make it drive through rear axle.
 
Before taking things to bits, see if there is any movement on either of the propshafts, including the UJ's, and the slides.
If there is, they need to be repolaced.
Should you get any 'fore-and-aft' play, drop the shafts off and nip up the castellated nut on the diff pinion to between 1.2Nm & 1.7Nm, and fit a new split pin.
Then check the backlash on the diff.
 
Al2O3 said:
Yes you can. You'll have to put it in diff lock to make it drive through rear axle.
Click to expand...
Oh dear.
I took the front prop off and have given it a thorough going over. The UJ's rotate nice and smooth along their axis as they should, and there isn't any play at all.
There is no rotation of the prop at the splines and it slides in and out nice and smooth, so I think the prop and UJ's are sound.
However, when I tried to put it in Diff Lock (with the front prop off), it won't go into Diff lock High ratio at all and it will go half way into Low ratio until I lift the clutch up half way, then it goes fully forward and the diff lock lights up on the dash.
When I try to drive, the joint on the transfer box where the front prop goes spins, but nothing else happens. There seems to be no drive to the rear prop at all.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Wayne
 
Oldseadog said:
Before taking things to bits, see if there is any movement on either of the propshafts, including the UJ's, and the slides.
If there is, they need to be repolaced.
Should you get any 'fore-and-aft' play, drop the shafts off and nip up the castellated nut on the diff pinion to between 1.2Nm & 1.7Nm, and fit a new split pin.
Then check the backlash on the diff.
Click to expand...

Cheers Seadog, I appreciate your advice, but excuse my ignorance - what's the Diff Pinion? :oops:
 
exmed wayne said:
Oh dear.
I took the front prop off and have given it a thorough going over. The UJ's rotate nice and smooth along their axis as they should, and there isn't any play at all.
There is no rotation of the prop at the splines and it slides in and out nice and smooth, so I think the prop and UJ's are sound.
However, when I tried to put it in Diff Lock (with the front prop off), it won't go into Diff lock High ratio at all and it will go half way into Low ratio until I lift the clutch up half way, then it goes fully forward and the diff lock lights up on the dash.
When I try to drive, the joint on the transfer box where the front prop goes spins, but nothing else happens. There seems to be no drive to the rear prop at all.

Any ideas?
If it's not going in to diff lock properly then the front prop shaft flange will spin as it's the point of least resistance. Like one road wheel spinning in snow or mud. If you take the rubber boot off the gear levers, you should be able to access the linkages from the diff lock gear lever. Try a little bit of oil on them and see if you can gently persuade them to function and get the diff lock selector to work properly. IIRC the linkage pushes a rod back and forth in to the transfer box, oil that too. Keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks,
Wayne
Click to expand...
 
exmed wayne said:
Cheers Seadog, I appreciate your advice, but excuse my ignorance - what's the Diff Pinion? :oops:
Click to expand...
When you remove the prop from the diff, the pinion flange is the bit that it was bolted to, and you should be able to see a castellated nut with a split pin through it.
All you need to do is check that there is no waggle (side to side and corner to corner) on the flange, although there should be between 3 &5 degrees of backlash (rotational).
If you do find any waggle, come back and let us know.
 
Oldseadog said:
When you remove the prop from the diff, the pinion flange is the bit that it was bolted to, and you should be able to see a castellated nut with a split pin through it.
All you need to do is check that there is no waggle (side to side and corner to corner) on the flange, although there should be between 3 &5 degrees of backlash (rotational).
If you do find any waggle, come back and let us know.
Click to expand...
There is no castlellated nut, but a shiny galved flange nut, which is tight as f**k.
No waggle at all on the Diff Flange, but the backlash / rotation is probably 10-15 degrees - I took some photos, but they don't want to be uploaded onto LZ for some reason.
The flange on the Transfer box rotates freely, with no waggle and is held on by a shiny Galved Nyloc.
 
pic 1.jpg
pic 2.jpg
pic 3.jpg
I'll try again with the pictures :rolleyes:
 
@jamesmartin I have to admit that I've never seen a diff pinion preloaded by a bolt instead of a castellated nut!
Even the transfer box flange is on with a nyloc!
Is it just because I'm old and things have moved on? :eek:
 
Oldseadog said:
@jamesmartin I have to admit that I've never seen a diff pinion preloaded by a bolt instead of a castellated nut!
Even the transfer box flange is on with a nyloc!
Is it just because I'm old and things have moved on? :eek:
Click to expand...
yes they moved on after the castellated diff nut came the nyloc nut then lastly the bolt,lt230 has allways had nylocs,same nuts as front radius arms to chassis nuts
 
Thanks Gents
@jamesmartin - you're a hero. :D
Can I assume that the Front Diff and Prop are OK and put the prop back on?
Can I access the linkages through the hatch between the seats, or do I have to do it from underneath?
At the moment, I'm working on the drive with the Defender sat on his wheels, so it's a bit tight :)

Lastly, as there seems to be no rattling noise or vibration when I'm driving at a constant speed, can I assume that there is nothing dramatic going on inside the Gearbox or Transfer box?

Cheers,
Wayne
 
Remove the tunnel around the gearlever for access to the linkage.

Saw someone on a different forum with similiar and it was the gearlever bias springs loose and the plastic cup allowing the lever to accentuate the vibration/rattle at certain rpms.

Probably not that, but easy check if you're removing tunnel anyway.

HTH

S
 
Morning all,
Quick update and a big thanks forl your help and advice.
After pulling things to bits, it turns out it was the rear UJ on the rear propshaft, even though the noises were coming from the front?
I've replaced all 4 UJ's and put the props back on and there's no funny rattling noises anymore.
As for not being able to get it in Diff lock, that was just the foam noise damper under the rubber gear lever gator. it had gone down too far towards the top of the gearbox and was jamming the hi-lo gearstick and not letting me select difflock.
Easy fixes in the end, but a real head scratcher to diagnose.
Hope this thread helps someone in the future ;)
 
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