First off, hello everyone, I'm a not so new Disco owner. I've had some problems with it, mostly tried to fix them myself, but one in particular is too much for me or any mechanic I've spoke to. Front diff clunk's very heavily sometimes when hard steering. I've ignored this for as long as I could,thinking that I'll replace it anyway at some point. At least until my front props haft broke near one of the cross bearings. I took it all apart,aattempted tto switch it with the rear one, since I couldn't afford a new one and as said, the front one works fine when driving straight, but upon inspection they both looked completely fine, no missing teeth, just very dark oil. Changed the oil, drove without the front propshaft, no more clunks, for a week. Now they started again. I don't know what it could be at this point, I suspect the oil level is dropping when driving, since the pinion seal leaks a bit. But could it behave in such a way because of it? Forgot to mention, it clonks with and without the propshaft mounted on. Anybody had something similar happen to them? Thanks you all in advance and I apologise if this isn't the right category, if so I will remove the thread and put it in the right one. Cheers!

Hello and welcome to LZ
are you sure its not the cv joints at the hubs.

brianp38dse said:

Hello and welcome to LZ
are you sure its not the cv joints at the hubs.

Click to expand...

Hey,
I've actually not thought of that one, but they seemed fine when I took the half shafts out. Do you think they could be the reason? Also the clonks wouldn't scare me so much, but inside the car they genuinely feel as if the whole front diff blocks and then dislodges itself, from inside it looks like the whole front of the car drops 3-5cm from midair onto the ground, or as if you run over a pothole at 40mph, even though the car could barely be moving a few mm. I have no idea anymore. I'll check later to see if the oil level has dropped.

I would deffo have a good look at the cv`s its them or diff.

Welcome to the forum

brianp38dse said:

Hello and welcome to LZ
are you sure its not the cv joints at the hubs.

Click to expand...

+1^

Old thread, but following up with findings, just in case someone with the same problem comes across this.

Centre diff in the transfer case is knackered. I assume it happened whilst stuck in a field, I remember one wheel was in the air, spinning on its own and TC not kicking in. I watched a video I think, with Dave Ashcroft talking about how fragile these diffs are and how they can be destroyed in seconds in situations like these. Sure enough, it makes sense, as my car kept driving with no problems with only the rear prop fitted and no CDL engaged. The centre diff is just perpetually locked now, so turning hard corners on tarmac winds up the wheels and one of them (the one inside the corner) has to "jump" in order to spin at the same speed as the other one, which also has to spin at the same speed as the rear wheels. This explains the jerking perfectly. With no front prop, there isn't any jerking.

As for the solution, it's an ATB from Ashcroft's, seeing as it's the same price as a new diff from Britpart, but is better quality and is limited slip on top of it all - to avoid the whole mess happening in the first place. In case TC fails and doesn't kick in, the ATB can still save itself.