It's time..... for a new transfer box.....

Leaving work, pull away at the junction and..... BANG! No drive, and an awful grinding noise....

Hazards on, coast to the side, and have a small cry.....

Not had chance to get underneath and inspect, but the symptoms are:
No drive forwards or backwards, in diff lock or not.
No handbrake at all
Grinding still happens in neutral when being towed

This suggests transfer box to me, but I guess I need to drop the oil and check for lumps to start with.

At least it didn't happen at the coast at the weekend..... no, wait.... it should have! Then I could have had an extended stay

I don't see why the handbrake would stop working? Surely it would still lock the rear prop...

Sounds like the layshaft may have snapped in the gearbox try moving it in 4th see if it will move.

Marmaduke said:

I don't see why the handbrake would stop working? Surely it would still lock the rear prop...

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I don't know enough about the innards of the transfer box to know that....

danny6801 said:

Sounds like the layshaft may have snapped in the gearbox try moving it in 4th see if it will move.

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cheers - will try the tomorrow - luckily I was 100 yards from work, and a colleague was just behind me in his van, so I got a tow back, and borrowed a car

4th gear is a direct gear so if that works then it's the gearbox that has gone that is what happened to mine anyway Big Bang and had to drive it home in 4th.

danny6801 said:

4th gear is a direct gear so if that works then it's the gearbox that has gone that is what happened to mine anyway Big Bang and had to drive it home in 4th.

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would that cause a grinding in neutral while being towed though?

I'm not to sure to be honest. All I can say is try what I have said I hope you get to the bottom of it.

danny6801 said:

I'm not to sure to be honest. All I can say is try what I have said I hope you get to the bottom of it.

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I'll try diff lock again and 4th to see what happens. Last night I was at the side of a busy road, blocking a junction, with a dog that needed walking and kids that needed feeding, so all a bit fraught!

Either way, I suspect its a trip to the local 4x4 place for repairs and wallet surgery....

as other has mentioned it should have no direct affect on the handbrake unless you have two issues tbox / gbox and (something from the hand break back).

when towed the gear box output shaft will still be turning unless the tbox is in neutral also

steveo said:

Leaving work, pull away at the junction and..... BANG! No drive, and an awful grinding noise....

Hazards on, coast to the side, and have a small cry.....

Not had chance to get underneath and inspect, but the symptoms are:
No drive forwards or backwards, in diff lock or not.
No handbrake at all
Grinding still happens in neutral when being towed

This suggests transfer box to me, but I guess I need to drop the oil and check for lumps to start with.

At least it didn't happen at the coast at the weekend..... no, wait.... it should have! Then I could have had an extended stay

Click to expand...

This happened to me about 9 years ago, gearbox bearing had collapsed, no drive, sounded like a bag of nails, when towing it still ground as the drive from the wheels turned the box.

The handbrake is almost certainly a separate issue, even if the T-box had it's innards removed, as long as the flange was still there and spun as it should (I know this would not work but read me out) the handbrake would still lock the prop, in turn locking the diff in turn... see where this is going.

Thanks for the advice chaps, much appreciated.

So, today saw me jacking up the rear axle. Turn the offside rear wheel and no prop shaft turning. Turn the nearside, and the prop turns. This points to the offside shaft. Pulled the shaft out and theres no damage to the end of it.

Interestingly, after turning the nearside, the offside then turned the prop. The grinding is coming from the rear diff. If I try to drive it, there's a jolt and then drive is lost - I suspect the gear that the shaft goes into is wrecked - when too much force is applied I think the shaft flexes and then spins in what is nor an enlarged hole! Currently a week and a half wait for a recon diff, thats not so bad.

Still got no handbrake, which points to another issue. Also, I can't get difflock on, although I do have drive to the rear propshaft, and the diff lock lever feels loose despite being in standard high range. Coupled with the grinding when towing leads me to suspect two issues also

I managed half an hour today looking at it - might not get chance tomorrow, but Saturday will see me getting oily.....

sounds to me like the center diff lock isn't working and that's the reason you have no drive.

I'd whip the rear prop off and see if I could get the center diff working. I've been driving round the last 2 weeks in 2wd as a result. If you do take off the rear shaft and drive it either put the bolts back on or remove the handbrake drum. I nearly lost me!!

gazman said:

sounds to me like the center diff lock isn't working and that's the reason you have no drive.

I'd whip the rear prop off and see if I could get the center diff working. I've been driving round the last 2 weeks in 2wd as a result. If you do take off the rear shaft and drive it either put the bolts back on or remove the handbrake drum. I nearly lost me!!

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I've done that before when a rear prop failed

I need to get difflock working so I can prove the boxes are okay ...

I'll drop all the oils on saturday to check for debris too

steveo said:

I've done that before when a rear prop failed

I need to get difflock working so I can prove the boxes are okay ...

I'll drop all the oils on saturday to check for debris too

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Blast the diff lock linkage with GT85/WD40 Plus gas and then while under the vehicle get someone to work the linkage while you help it back and forth. My diff used to work every time very reliably until recently where if I needed it in anger I could not count on it, so I will need to do the same soon.

So, after a slow down of panic mode, I pulled the flange off the driveshaft and realised the problem. It is indeed as suggested - the flange has stripped and the shaft is worn. New flanges and shafts are purchased and to be fitted tomorrow.

This is what a worn driveshaft looks like. I doubt most of us realise how worn this is - I will post pics tomorrow of new against old, to provoke a flurry of drive flange changes

Nuffin wrong with that......got another 50K miles on it..........................

Question is, where did all the worn metal go?


Cheers

neilly said:

Nuffin wrong with that......got another 50K miles on it..........................

Question is, where did all the worn metal go?


Cheers

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thanks for that - paranoia level has increased again good job I get free oil to flush it out

steveo said:

thanks for that - paranoia level has increased again good job I get free oil to flush it out

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What about bearings and grease?....................

Cheers

I read you post and was thinking it sounds like the drive flange, I just installed some HD ones on a clients Landy. These have more splined surface area but the down side is you might wear the splines on the axle more in extreme driving conditions...the OEM ones being the sacrificial part.

I like the HD ones for the grease cap, its bigger and threaded with a rubber seal.

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