ok, my vcu is fine, so whats its beef ???

[myzeneye]

Sounds like it could be the diff pinion bearing or incorrect meshing of the pinion and crownwheel. The other gearing inside the diff (sun and planet gears) are under constant load even if you remove the rear drive train so the noise would be there all the time.

scuse my ignorance nick... is the pinion and crown wheel in the ird or the dif, or both ? hahha

if there is a bearing in the rear dif where the prop plugs in (is that the pinion bearing your talking about?) i could reckon it to be that making the noise... but does this part spin/turn when prop is not on the car or not... ?

 

[nickcc]

Yes the Diff pinion bearing is at the front of the rear Diff and turns when the vehicle is moving but is not usually noisy until it's under load (propshaft connected) unless the bearing is totally knackered. The rubber mounted centre bearing brackets should be lined up at an angle of 90 degrees to the VCU/propshaft, if not then the bearings will suffer premature failure.

 

[myzeneye]

yes, the prop vcu bearings look to be pretty much 90 degrees to the prop... how acuraate doe this need to be ? are we talking set squares out here ???hahha

the bearing in the diff.... is that a diff out job and split open affair or something that can be done it situ with the prop removed ? ......

cheers nick

mat

 

[mjrimmer]

Just measure from either side of the bearing back to the vcu, when its the same both sides the bearing is correctly positioned.

 

[myzeneye]

Just measure from either side of the bearing back to the vcu, when its the same both sides the bearing is correctly positioned.

thanks, ill check at my first opertunity...

 

[myzeneye]

right...... give us your opinion on this one. i know what conclusion i came to, but im happy to here yours.

i called in to speak to an indipendant land rover speacialaist today...... told them the whole story.....
the guy there said, they had a guy in with a very simialr problem. he provided parts and they installed for him a recon ird, a new vcu and bearing and finally a new diff. the noise, still was there........ the guy took the car to l.r and they changed all four wheel bearings. noise went away. ?????
first question i asked of course was, did the noise stay or go when drove without a prop on the vehicle..... answer : the noise went away ???????

how.... how how ??? can a wheel beaqring be at fault. be noise when the prop is on and then be quiet again when prop is off ??? surley the prop does put any of the wheels under that much of an extra load ????

now, im happy to repalce the wheel bearings in the hope that it proves me wrong and saves me the cost of a diff..... but, how can i check the bearings on this car ? apart from obvious play im not sure what to look for or how to check...obviosly spinning the wheel at any kind of speed is not an option.....
any suggestions and comments on this please let me know.

incidenatally the indipendant land rover centre said they didnt want the job as the freelander transmission is a pain in the arris.....:crazy:

 

[Hippo]

*cough* told yer is was a wheel bearing earlier *cough* I ment this no that no the other

I have a similar issue with my hippo. If I remove the prop the squeal goes away. With chassis ears I can locate it to the front, so it's ird or auto related. Most likely ird. With props fitted I think the harmonics etc resonate and amplify to the extent the prop echo's the squeal. But the chassis ears are so sensitive they can pick up general gear to gear noise, and I could be misinterpreting that.

Now I int sure this is the case on yours, but you've got a similar problem I would guess. I too have wondered if mine could be a wheel bearing. I assume wheel bearings are greased on Freelanders, so greasing one at a time could be a way forward as a process of elimination perhaps? I've not had a wheel bearing go (I can tick off most faults) so I don't know if you can access them to regrease while still fitted. This would be the low cost option with a bit of your time.

 

[myzeneye]

yep mate, you did say it.... not sure thats what the problem is, but im willing to try it due to the relativley low cost.......

i cant understand how it could be a wheel bearing... surley to god it would continue to make the noise whether the prop is on or off regardless..... surley ??

now, regreasing is one thing, but the bearing arent expensive so id be willing to renew them... is this a job for a diyer at home or a gargae job with presses etc etc.....

to be fair, id be made up if it was a wheel bearing but i just cant see it...hope im wrong.

ive looked on u tube , plenty of vids for wheel bearing renewal but non specificallly for a freelander...
any vid links, tips , advice welcome.:welcome2:

 

[Hippo]

Just a fluke typo.

Did the garage test drive it? If they've had simular before and are confident, then give it a do. It's one of those probelms thats difficult to locate. Do you get the feeling they're trying to get rid of the problem or you?

Props are hollow so I guess this allows them to amplify. My squeal has been around for the last 17,000 miles. Int changed at all. Stops when props are removed.

 

[myzeneye]

the garage i sopke to today not only gave me the impression, they told me straight, they didnt want the job..... "pain in the arse mate" "process of illimination,expensive, still may not get rid of noise after all work...."
todays the first time i spoke to this garage, thought id get the opinion of the local indipendant land rover workshop, they never saw the car, i just wanted to talk to them....

they said a similar punter had same problem... they changed everything for him ..ird, vcu, bearings, dif..... noise was still there....
he took it to land rover and they changed wheel bearings...noise gone.! i asked if the noise stopped when they removed the prop he said yes it did, but came back when under load...........

i just cant see it my self tho....... ??????????
but in fairness, it sounds like a duff bearing. could be in the diff, could be anywhere !!!!
so i guess before i spend on the diff, i should at least try the cheaper option of wheel bearings.......

as far as i can see tho, there is just no way to check a wheel bearing on this car other then for play.....

reckon im gonna have a go at them.... can any one advise on best way to remove existing bearings? is it a job for pullers and press or will brute force and ignorance do ? (ive got plenty of that :doh

as for my prop being a bugle for the ird box...i just dont even wanna think about that box being the issue.... no sir, lets not go there......not yet....

 

[Hippo]

Ah, I thought it was going back to where you bought it from. I should pay more attendtion in class.

So to sum up, this garage dun't want the work but think it's the wheel bearings. LR dealer they mentioned changed the last thing on another car, which could be due to everything else already being changed. So on yours the cheapest option is the same - wheels bearings.

If it were mine I'd get it free wheeling in the air. Check for play in wheel bearings. With prop/vcu fitted run it in gear and see if you can hear where the noise is coming from. This may give you more confidence you can either pin point the location or general direction of the noise, or at least rule something out. Could it be something rubbing like the rear brakes or something in the drum? I think we've eliminated what we can. Free wheel test and see if that produces anything.

 

[myzeneye]

ill try and get it up on blocks of some sort at the weekend............:doh:

 

[warehouse13]

hi..my first post on here si i hope this helps...
I have an 02 1.8 petrol 3 dr done 78k miles..bought it six months ago toi replace an unreliable td5 disco..no real problems and actually quite like it when I wasnt expecting to..
on taking it to a mate who works for landrover (he does jobs on an evening..) for service and general look over he reported rear diff mount worn and one of the vcu bearings on the way out.nothing major then!
a couple of months later I took it back for the work doing and all the drivetrain oils changing as a precaution.

on getting it back its making the same noise you reported..like a wha wha noise at low speed under light load. I did notice it was more noticable when clap cold and not really there as much when warm.
took it back and he was baffled..checked everything..all ok. removed rear prop..noise gone. put it back together..noise returns. oh goody.

he couldnt explain it..everyone in the trade I know just shrugged and said the usual its a freelander thing..
he then swapped the vcu and the bearings with a known good one..the noise gone! eh? he had no idea why or what caused it.
I have done around 1500 miles on holiday and running about and its still ok apart from a rattling noise on light load low speed that sounds like its coming from the gearbox in 4th and 5th gear. im not even going there!

so..was it mis-aligned vcu bearings? the diff being disturbed?? not a clue but thats my story and I hope it helps!

 

[myzeneye]

hi..my first post on here si i hope this helps...
I have an 02 1.8 petrol 3 dr done 78k miles..bought it six months ago toi replace an unreliable td5 disco..no real problems and actually quite like it when I wasnt expecting to..
on taking it to a mate who works for landrover (he does jobs on an evening..) for service and general look over he reported rear diff mount worn and one of the vcu bearings on the way out.nothing major then!
a couple of months later I took it back for the work doing and all the drivetrain oils changing as a precaution.

on getting it back its making the same noise you reported..like a wha wha noise at low speed under light load. I did notice it was more noticable when clap cold and not really there as much when warm.
took it back and he was baffled..checked everything..all ok. removed rear prop..noise gone. put it back together..noise returns. oh goody.

he couldnt explain it..everyone in the trade I know just shrugged and said the usual its a freelander thing..
he then swapped the vcu and the bearings with a known good one..the noise gone! eh? he had no idea why or what caused it.
I have done around 1500 miles on holiday and running about and its still ok apart from a rattling noise on light load low speed that sounds like its coming from the gearbox in 4th and 5th gear. im not even going there!

so..was it mis-aligned vcu bearings? the diff being disturbed?? not a clue but thats my story and I hope it helps!

thanks for your comments, it does help.... kind of..hahha
a missaligned vcu bearing is a real possibilty i guess.....

should they be pressed on or is the usuall knocking on acceptable ?
if i remove my prop will i liekly be able to remove and remfit the vcu bearings myself or is it somthing better done by a garage with pullers and presses etc.....???

on the other hand,, your vcu may have been duff dispite passing th eusuall one wheel up vcu tests etc....
my vcu, which is new, passes the test, but it still feels mega tight on full lock....i know this is normal for a freelander but it could be duff....it is possible i guess......:doh:

deoff deffo deffo sounds like a bearing.

 

[myzeneye]

right guys.... ive been under neath it this morning....
on close examination of the vcu bearings i think i may have identified the fault. im gonna try and post a picture below, basically what it should show is..... on the shaft of the vcu there appears to be a stopper cast into the shaft, what i would imagine the vcu bearing should be pressed right up to.... on the bearing, the centre is flaunched slightly and looks as though this shoul allow the bearing to be pressed right up to the stopper on the vcu shaft ive just mentioned.....
well, mine appears to have a gap of aprox 4-5mm between the stop casting and the bearing...., doesnt look right to me.??? added to that, the rubber centre of the bearing seems to be sat slightly out of line top to bottom, depite the fact the metal housings seem square to the vcu it self.......

ill try and post the pics below, if any one can confirm if there car has this gap or not, it would help a great deal......

 

[myzeneye]

 

[Hippo]

That gap is where the splash washer thing goes. If it int fitted, then there's a gap. Stops the bearing being splashed with muck. There is a tolerance of where the bearing goes on the vcu. That is allowed for in the bearing mount elongated holes in the bearing mounts where they connector under yer hippo. Hole allows for slight difference so it will still bolt under yer hippo. Fitting bearing at 90 degrees is important, but if the whole bearing/vcu is slightly out, the rubber in the bearing mounts will sort of allow for this if it's minor. You can eye it up wiv the metal structs the bearings connect to under yer hippo. Flange on vcu is there to support vcu when putting the bearing on. Loosen the bolts into yer hippo and realign the mounts. This will correct yer rubber being out. Then tighten them again. Then see how it goes.

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/fr...replacement-how-guide-156068.html#post1531522

 

[thrasher]

ok i would put money on the prop bearings,i replaced mine only for them to go about 3 months later,well it was only one side,but i wouldnt assume as they are not old that they are ok,as they are not expensive i would try them.wheel bearings failing are rare,and unless all the seals on the diff are leaking and theres no oil in it i would doubt its failed,even though theres no load on diff if you remove prop its still turning so would make a noise if knackered,hope this helps,as ive found out with my freelander and its noises its not usually the major scare stories,like vcu or ird,diff etc but something less expensive lol

 

[myzeneye]

dang it, just when i thought id spotted somthing worthy of a bit of finger pointing and blame.....
saying that, in the bottom pic ive posted, the left hand bearing does look a little cock eyed ?
ill do what you say hippo, ive set some lube on the 10mm bolts for the bearings, tried to slacken em off today and they're super tight, socket slipped on one, hope thats not another world of pain im letting myself into.....

this bloody car..........................................:doh:..

guys, thanks again for all the advice........

 

[warehouse13]

i might be stating the obvious here..the photos show your vcu to floor mountings are way off centre. the elongated bolt holes are full on to one side. on mine they are bang in the middle front and rear.
might be worth trying to slide em central and try then?