Hi there, I'm new here. I just bought a Sreies Three two months ago and am enjoying it very much. Great all round machine.

I have a problem with my front axle though. I hope someone can shed some light to this, bearing in mind I am new to four wheel drives.

I just noticed today, whilst in 4x4 mode on compacted gravel in the yard, that my front left wheel is locking up, had a mate look at it while I drove it forwards and backwards. Same for forwards and reverse, Hi/ Low gears. This is with the front freewheeling hubs locked into 4x4.

The plot thickens. The shuddering- locking up of the left front wheel goes away if I dis-engage the freewheeling hub on the right front wheel (and keep the front left locked). This technically could be called three wheel drive

This isnt a big issue at the moment, but would explain why I got bogged trying to get out of soft ground the other day in 4x4. I wouldnt have noticed the front wheel problem as they could spin away in the mud, but obviously not properly at all.

Any ideas anyone??

Many thanks in advance.

Jack up each wheel in turn and spin both ways with free and locked hubs while in high ratio and see if you can hear/feel any thing strange.

id strip that side down may well be a collapsed uj on drive shaft

Many thanks for your ideas, I will get down to it over the week. Will post up any news/ progress.

Just been doing some reading. It could be that the hard surface (compacted gravel) is not allowing the slip required to the front axle?:doh: I will try again in soft ground and get someone to watch the wheels.

You've ruled out it being a problem between transfer box and front axle, because it plays happily with the FWH on one wheel unlocked.

If it IS just a simple case of wind-up, then it wouldn't matter which FWH is unlocked.

If it's a driveshaft/UJ problem to that corner, then I'd have thought that jacking that corner up, locking that FWH, and trying to spin that wheel would have the same effect - or, indeed, driving in 2wd with the FWH engaged. I s'pose the UJ could be locking up only when driven from the diff end...

In 2wd, the front drivetrain's disconnected from the transfer box.
With a FWH unlocked, the front drivetrain's disconnected from that front wheel.

If you've got two of the three (doesn't matter which two - 1xFWH+TB, or 2xFWH) engaged, the drivetrain'll spin as the car moves, but no power will actually reach the front wheels - if it's one FWH disengaged, then that driveshaft will spin any power away, because of the effect of the diff.