Offroad-Express

Hi guys!

Hey, I have a Triton (year 2000 - 2.8D 4x4) and it has decided to start 'shuddering' badly once warmed up. It feels like the shudder is coming from the backend (LSD?) but I'm really not sure. I took it into Mitzy around 4 weeks ago and they replaced all the oils (for $400 odd!!) and the problem seemed to go away. They said the water in the LSD was really bad - but once replaced it all went well and over a time period of around a week the sudder got less and less and then stopped altogether.

Now - it has come back. I haven't done any deep water crossings since the new oil so it should still be good.

It's not there when things are cold - but once I've driven around 1km it starts and it stays there - and in all gears. Going frontwards or backwards. When I get over around 50km and with no load on (a flat road and not accelerating) it goes away but once I apply just a little power it returns.

The "shudder" is more like a really bad sharp vibration. I can picture cogs turning in my head to the same speed of it. It's something inbetween a shudder and a grinding.

Has anyone else had this?
Or better yet - does anyone know what it could be?

Thanks for your time guys!
Kind Regards,
Daz.

simple checks first- check for play in all yopur engine/trans mounts and diff bushes etc... then check propshafts are aligned and tight.
Water in diff ouch. Just changed the diff head in my cruiser cos it made a grinding noise + vibration...lots of metal filings were in diff oil-how is your oil and magnetic drain plug?
If a triton has same diff and ratio as pajero there's millions in pickapart some are lsd too. Couyld be a wheel bearing i spose....
Good luck

xorph wrote:simple checks first- check for play in all yopur engine/trans mounts and diff bushes etc... then check propshafts are aligned and tight.
Water in diff ouch. Just changed the diff head in my cruiser cos it made a grinding noise + vibration...lots of metal filings were in diff oil-how is your oil and magnetic drain plug?
If a triton has same diff and ratio as pajero there's millions in pickapart some are lsd too. Couyld be a wheel bearing i spose....
Good luck

Thanks for that BC - I'll check out what you suggest when the wet weather passes - I've done my dash of laying on the wet driveway for now I think... lol.

Yer - water in the diff...
You really have to wonder why they put the breathers so low on 4x4's. Makes no sense to me. And whatever happened to that great invention called 'non return valves'... it seems they haven't heard about those yet either!

Anyway - cheers for the advice, I'll let you know what I find out.

Hey - as a side note.
I popped the bung off the gearbox to check the oil in there and oil spilled out (all over me - oh YAY). Would there be anyway that although the oil level may be low in there that it could still come out the bung when the truck is parked on a level surface?

Also - would you expect to get these kinds of syptoms if gearbox oil was running painfull low?

The reasion I ask is because I think I gave the box a whack a while ago and it has been slowly leaking ever since. I don't really suspect it's the problem - but hey, I've gotta start somewhere!

i would also check your drive shaft u joints for play and your hanger bearing as well. i had my u joint replaced and a noise similar to yours dissappeared.

these things can be a right pain in the rear to locate. good luck finding out what it is

DazzaMc wrote:
And whatever happened to that great invention called 'non return valves'... it seems they haven't heard about those yet either!

They've heard of them. Put a non return valve on your diff breather and interesting things may happen

If its got a driveshaft hanger then my vote (without experiancing it) is on that