[DickFox]

Hey everyone,
I just had a few days over at stadbroke island again with a few mates in my landy. She semed to go ok most the time, however, I think I have major issues with the transfer box or somesuch. She seems to be ok getting onto the beach through the soft sand with the bit of a downhill slope, but as soon as it came to geting her off or up the dunes, there was a number of clunks that sounded a lot like it was jumping out of gear as soon as the going got a bit tough. these clunks became more frequent the more I had to drive through soft sand.
When I was leaving the beach, I was very lucky indeed to get out! It took me three attemts, and someone who was coming onto the beach at the time i was trying to leave said I did not look like I was 4wd. It felt very much like this was the case. I got off the 3rd time by hitting her with the engine revving in 3rd low range, plenty of clunks and just managed to get her out.

Any ideas as to what the problem would be? I think I was actually in 2wd most of the time I was on the beach, I cant wait to see what she can do with 4wd.
Cheers,
Dick

 

[chuckles]

The same thing happend to me today. I was stuck and the tyres were just sipinning, I had some one pull me out and heard a pop sound while the wheels were spinning. After that it seemed that only the rear wheels were getting power. Also hi and low will not engage now unless the diffs are locked. Any help is greatley appreciated.

 

[DickFox]

I just did a bit of mucking around on the old girl and I have found out that the front diff if knackered!!! So that is where all the clunking was coming from. I dunno if this would be your problem as well chuckles, it may be wrth a look though. I was thinking if picking up a another land rover just for parts and taking the diff off this. Would this be the best plan of action, or should i get mine recon.

 

[DickFox]

Before I do anything too rash, could it actually just be the main bearing in the diff is completely buggered, it is really wierd cause it seems to work ok in reverse, and sometimes in forward. The shaft just seems to jump around a lot!

 

[Moeras]

My impression is that you need to replace the Front Half shafts. (one or both might be broken).

The shafts is not that expensive (Around R300 here in SA = about $180) and it is only about a hour or two's work per side.

No special tools needed or anything funny about the job.

The best wouls be to take both half shafts out BEFORE buying the replacement as the Left and Right shafts differ in lenth. Also be sure which diff you have on (Rover, Salisbury ect.) as the halfshafts differ.

 

[DickFox]

As I am looking at buying another series 3 for wrecking, is it worth putting a 2nd hand half shaft in or should I just get a new one?

 

[Disco]

That depends on your finances. Personally, I would put new ones in. You don't know what stresses 2nd hand ones have been subjected to.

 

[DickFox]

I have had my old man looking at her with me, and he finds it hard to believe that it wouldn be a buggered half shaft. we had her jacked up spinning the shafts which seemed ok. We also did a bit of four wheel driving in the back yard and I couldn't get it to make the clunking noise again and we had each of the front wheels spinning finely while I was trying to go up a steep dirt mound. So we thought we would have a look at the free wheeling hubs. It seems that the sometimes gets jammed in the free position on one side(I havent had a look at the other side yet). Does this sound like a possible cause? Maybe one hub is in and the other is not or is trying.
I also drained the fluid from the diff which had no signs of grinding metal at all.
Very weird!

 

[Moeras]

2 possibles:
1) The half shaft snapped near to the wheel so that when you turn the wheel there is no part of the shaft that moves around in the worx.

2) Might just as well be the freewheel hubs!
I did not see that you mentioned free wheelers in your post so I assumed you did not have them fitted.
- Who fitted the hubs? - I did mine myself (without instructions) and managed to fit the engaging gear the wrong way around - did not work!
- How is your maintanince on the universals in the diff? The danger with freewheelers is that the diff now stands still in one place and this causes the "Universal" (in the big round ball-part of the diff) to dry out a bit. If you suddenly now engage 4X4 this universal tends to make a lot of noise. The only way to get around this is to engage 4X4 more regularly so that the universal is lubed more often.
- How is the lubrication in the freewheel Hub itself? Remember you now have another set of Wheel bearings that need to be lubricated. Some designs (like mine) is not lubricated from the diff and needs to be lubricated on their own.

Hope it helps