Hi,
Im failry new to this Landy lark, well owning one anyway. Used to drive them in the army but if i broke I gave it over to REME mechanics (I was in a different bit of REME so such activity meant **** taking.)
Anyhoo I recently bought, via drunken ebay, a 1990 H, Defender 90 200tdi with raised suspension and all sorts of other gubbins underneath. Its done 180k and...well... you can tell.
I have a transmission clunk issue that mainly happens when throttling back/coasting to a stop. It makes no difference if im in gear or neutral. Basically there is a juddering as I slow down which can be heard and felt. The speedo needle also jumps around suggesting the transfer box is getting a good shaking. (i replaced the speedo cable the first week as the jumping was so bad you couldnt tell what speed you where driving, you just got a vague impression!)
A few weeks after I got it this became suddenly very loud at the start of a 180 mile journey but fortunately I was not far away from a very decent LR chap called Dan from Carew 4X4 in Pembrokeshire. We got it onto his lift and ran it with wheels off the ground and the clunking was quite obvious. I drove it with the rear prop shaft off for a test (dont ask about the handbrake drum....) and there was no noise, suggesting a fault at the back.
Dan changed the rear diff for me, though it was second hand of indeterminate age. The seriously reduced the problem but its not gone away. The UJs on the prop shats appear fine with no play.
I did some googling and was quite worried it was the input shaft from gearbox to transfer box. However I followed some advice and took off the PTO plate (turned into bugger of a job....and its only 6 bolts!) and bearing plate, removing the gear thingy. I could see the splines where in perfect nick and the gear thingy (sorry about the technical terms) was the newer version with oil holes, also in perfect nick. Phew!
Next I looked at the halfshafts and driving flanges and can see these are in poor condition, especially on the front. By removing the dust cap, lifting each wheel in turn and rocking them back and forth I can see definate play, with oil oozing out.
Is this likely to be the cause of this clunk? Whilst there is quite a bit of play in the front and a little at the back, im not experienced enough to know if this can send these knocks through the transmission.
Whilst I had a front wheel off the ground this morning I rocked the lifted wheel back and forth a bit and noticed a lot of play via the front diff but have no idea if this 'slack' is normal. Basically I had a wheel lifted, in 1st gear, handbrake on, with a slight turn. When rolling the wheel back and forth there was a good 5 degrees of slack before the wheel movement got through to the propshaft. is this normal?
I have limited funds and limited working space where I live, though I can pinch my dads drive (and his lovely air tools!) for a weekend, but I gotta get it off his drive by the sunday night or else! As such I'd like to do as much as possible in one go.
What are the experts thoughts then? Will a new set of halfshafts and flanges cure this? Have other had the same issue, done the same fix?
Thanks in advance for your time.
Im failry new to this Landy lark, well owning one anyway. Used to drive them in the army but if i broke I gave it over to REME mechanics (I was in a different bit of REME so such activity meant **** taking.)
Anyhoo I recently bought, via drunken ebay, a 1990 H, Defender 90 200tdi with raised suspension and all sorts of other gubbins underneath. Its done 180k and...well... you can tell.
I have a transmission clunk issue that mainly happens when throttling back/coasting to a stop. It makes no difference if im in gear or neutral. Basically there is a juddering as I slow down which can be heard and felt. The speedo needle also jumps around suggesting the transfer box is getting a good shaking. (i replaced the speedo cable the first week as the jumping was so bad you couldnt tell what speed you where driving, you just got a vague impression!)
A few weeks after I got it this became suddenly very loud at the start of a 180 mile journey but fortunately I was not far away from a very decent LR chap called Dan from Carew 4X4 in Pembrokeshire. We got it onto his lift and ran it with wheels off the ground and the clunking was quite obvious. I drove it with the rear prop shaft off for a test (dont ask about the handbrake drum....) and there was no noise, suggesting a fault at the back.
Dan changed the rear diff for me, though it was second hand of indeterminate age. The seriously reduced the problem but its not gone away. The UJs on the prop shats appear fine with no play.
I did some googling and was quite worried it was the input shaft from gearbox to transfer box. However I followed some advice and took off the PTO plate (turned into bugger of a job....and its only 6 bolts!) and bearing plate, removing the gear thingy. I could see the splines where in perfect nick and the gear thingy (sorry about the technical terms) was the newer version with oil holes, also in perfect nick. Phew!
Next I looked at the halfshafts and driving flanges and can see these are in poor condition, especially on the front. By removing the dust cap, lifting each wheel in turn and rocking them back and forth I can see definate play, with oil oozing out.
Is this likely to be the cause of this clunk? Whilst there is quite a bit of play in the front and a little at the back, im not experienced enough to know if this can send these knocks through the transmission.
Whilst I had a front wheel off the ground this morning I rocked the lifted wheel back and forth a bit and noticed a lot of play via the front diff but have no idea if this 'slack' is normal. Basically I had a wheel lifted, in 1st gear, handbrake on, with a slight turn. When rolling the wheel back and forth there was a good 5 degrees of slack before the wheel movement got through to the propshaft. is this normal?
I have limited funds and limited working space where I live, though I can pinch my dads drive (and his lovely air tools!) for a weekend, but I gotta get it off his drive by the sunday night or else! As such I'd like to do as much as possible in one go.
What are the experts thoughts then? Will a new set of halfshafts and flanges cure this? Have other had the same issue, done the same fix?
Thanks in advance for your time.