Offroad-Express

Hey all..

Been reading through these forums for a while.. thought it was about time I signed up.

Driven a few landy's over the years. Finally bought my own last year as a daily driver and hunting truck; a 65 IIa... not one for the purist's. Been jacked up on mud's, whole front end has been shortened, custom cab, LD28, upgraded brakes etc. Been slowly doing bits and pieces. New brake lines, bigger radiator w/electric fan, rewired the spotties, sorted out the half rotation of play in the steering wheel.

Was driving to work this morning putting along the motorway at about 70kph and bugger me, the loudest bloody noise I have ever heard from a car comes screaming at me from under the bonnet. Was like a whining sound that got progressively louder or quieter as I sped up/slowed down.

Took it to an diesel mechanic I know and he swears its the front diff head. All he did was climb under the truck and play with the slop on the driveshaft. Stopped making the noise about 5 mins before I got to him so he had nothing to go on really. Thing is, I was in 2wd and the lockers were disengaged <-- seeing the driveshaft wasnt spinning and neither were the halfshafts, shouldnt the front diff have been stationary? Im pretty handy with engines and mechanical things (could pull apart my old MK1 escort and reassemble with my eyes closed), but im just learning about landys and 4wds etc, so do correct me if im wrong.

Any other ideas where it might have been coming from? Nothing felt amiss; no metal grinding away, no pulling or shuddering which id expect if it were brakes etc.

Appreciate any feedback you guys have got. Looking forward to racking your brains some more in the future!

Cheers, Bman

Welcome.

You seem to think its front related and that it is drive line not engine due to changing pitch as speed changes up and down.

Basic checks first;
Were both free wheel hubs disengaged?
Or was one still engaged.
Definitely not in high range 4WD but with hubs disengaged?
Some times people forget to go into low range to actually get it out of high range 4WD, therefore diff will still be turning even though front hubs disengaged.
Have you jacked it up and checked each wheel turns freely, could be wheel bearing problem.
Drop the oil from the front diff and see what comes out. Any metal or filings and it is the diff.

one of my Jeeps starting doing what you describe. Could it be your clutch throw out bearing?

work through it methodically you'll find the source,
was it a squeel as such or a spun bearing noise like when one goes dry?
only reason i say that ld28s have a cambelt like belt to drive the injector pump possibly there's a seized idler pulley in the mix.
i'm planning on using my 2a as a daily as well once i fix a few things and add a turbo to the ld28

Cheers for the replies..

Both hubs are definitely disengaged and wheels are turning freely. Am going to change out the diff oils this weekend so will get back to you on that one.

Might be a bearing but ive had one go before in my escort and the noise was present when idling in neutral. My landy only screams when driving forward or backward and it seems to kick in once I go over about 5-10kph but wont stop till the truck comes to a halt.

Noise wasn't a 'squeal'... more like an air raid siren winding up.

Going to start with the oil changes this weekend and go from there.

Anyone know where to get EP90 in bulk from? or what comparable oil would be ok to use?

Cheers, Bman

just had a similair prob with my stage 1, i thought it was a bearing prob, sounded like the something was going to fly to pieces!! turned out that it had, was the exhaust muffler had fallen to bits inside and was thrashing around - the faster i went the more noise it made. sheet it was noisy tho!

Found the issue..
Pulled the hubs off to get the diff out and water came pouring out the right hand hub. Bearing was completely rusted and had seized.

Had to drill the allen screws out of the hubs as the heads had been stripped. Now the problem is finding replacement screws here in chch.
Got 11 of them now. Still needing one more.

Anyone know who stocks AVM parts in chch? have tried about 6-7 places with no luck yet.

might be able to find you some complete AVM hubs ,, my brother has a pair .. he brought them about 20 yrs ago but never put them on then sold his landrover.

Yep.. saw that link after i'd already spent $100 on the screws and gaskets here in chch.. Was not happy!! Neither was the mrs!!

And Tallsam.. If you find them let me know what he wants for them. Might be keen if they come with the service kit (gaskets, screws etc). Wouldnt mind having some spares in my box of bits..

are you still missing one of those long screws I think I've got some in a box in the shed somewhere

Yep, still missing 1 at the moment.

If thats the one you need pm me your address and I'll drop it in the post

Legend!!! PM sent!

After a lot of searching and being told by mechanics and sales reps that "i'd never find it... use this instead", I finally found some oil!!

For anyone thats interested;
Aegis Oils here in NZ do a GL-4 straight EP90...
$120ish for a 20L container.
Found them and my local Rep very helpful!!

beardyman wrote:Yep.. saw that link after i'd already spent $100 on the screws and gaskets here in chch.. Was not happy!! Neither was the mrs!!

And Tallsam.. If you find them let me know what he wants for them. Might be keen if they come with the service kit (gaskets, screws etc). Wouldnt mind having some spares in my box of bits..

Nuts bolts etc are a rip off unless you can get trade. Put a set of overalls on and say you work for some outfit but its a cash sale