Drivetrain slack - troubleshooting.

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GINGE

Greenlane liker, bobble hat hater
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So,

For the last few months(on and mostly off!) i ve been chasing some slack in my drivetrain.

Ive isolated it to the front.

About a year(600miles) ago i had the front nearside stub axle replaced. Instantly there was no slack. I replaced the off side one myself only a few months ago and the splines were not worn.

Problem solved i thought.

Or not, i can feel slack again! :(

My thought process was this; This morning i applied the handbrake, and put it into 1st. i then tried to move the front prop shaft. Im getting a good quarter turn of slack, both the t/box output and the diff are moving.

Where do i go from here? should there be movement from the t/box output when 1st gear is engaged?
 
stub axle do you mean cv, there will be some as gears have backlash and center diff will probably be worn to some degree maybe too much ,if your careful when turning front diff you should feel what slacks crown wheel and pinion and whats front diff gear backlash ,like wise with a wheel its possible to feel if its a cv or diff ,drive members it will be obvious with cap off
 
stub axle do you mean cv, there will be some as gears have backlash and center diff will probably be worn to some degree maybe too much ,if your careful when turning front diff you should feel what slacks crown wheel and pinion and whats front diff gear backlash ,like wise with a wheel its possible to feel if its a cv or diff ,drive members it will be obvious with cap off

yes cv, is it not right to call it a stub axle? i know thats what some call it.

Either way i know both my cv's and hubs are spot on as they have been replaced or checked by myself and a garage.

My next step was to remove front prop and check the t/box independently and also the diff(crown and pinion).

With no front prop should it be easy to turn the t/box output?

Ive a horrible feeling i will need either the t/box rebuilding or the front diff rebuilt. Tis a bloody locker aswell :mad:
 
no stub axle is a different part, the bit the wheel bearings run on,,maybe both as with prop on there has to be slack in both a 1/4 of a turn is quite a lot, if you rebuild a cente diff proely there shouldnt be any play in center diff but most have some
 
no stub axle is a different part, the bit the wheel bearings run on,,maybe both as with prop on there has to be slack in both a 1/4 of a turn is quite a lot, if you rebuild a cente diff proely there shouldnt be any play in center diff but most have some

got you, so the bit with the splines(cv) runs through the stub axle then?

Right, guess i will have to do some more looking tomorrow, there is definite movement in both though, its not like one end of the prop moves a bit and the other dosent.

What would you recommend james? in terms of isolating the play?
 
Stub axle and CV's are different components. A stub axle is what the wheel bearing inner race slides on to when you install a hub, the CV is the component that fits onto the front halfshaft and the other end is what the drive member slides on to.
 
yes thats it ,you can only try and feel the subtle difference but if its not in cvs etc it is diff whether cw/p or diff gears and shaft
 
Stub axle and CV's are different components. A stub axle is what the wheel bearing inner race slides on to when you install a hub, the CV is the component that fits onto the front halfshaft and the other end is what the drive member slides on to.

;) got ya now.

yes thats it ,you can only try and feel the subtle difference but if its not in cvs etc it is diff whether cw/p or diff gears and shaft

Cheers JM, i will investigate tomorrow then and maybe have to put my open diff back in.
 
Yes, my experience is that things feel nice and tight with brand new components but after a while as they bed in more and more slack becomes apparent. This can be quite alarming over the first few weeks. At first the gear teeth and splines are just sitting on one another's high spots and manufacturing burrs but these get worn down quite quickly and there's more full face contact between the loadbearing surfaces of the teeth. But also more slack. Given the large number of splines, gears and joints in a Land Rover transmission it's going to be hard to eliminate. Plus, because of the gearing, a tiny bit of slack between driveshaft and drive flange, say, is going to feel like quite a lot at the propshaft. It's not slack, it's just nicely run in.
 
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Well, with most things in my experience, until the teeth start jumping I don't think there's anything to worry about.

i don't think you'd say that if you drove mine. :eek:

There is no teeth skipping but there is an apparent clunk as the slack is taken up! :eek:
 
i don't think you'd say that if you drove mine. :eek:

There is no teeth skipping but there is an apparent clunk as the slack is taken up! :eek:

Anyway, have you dug your inspection pit yet? Weren't you thinking about doing some civil engineering in your garage a while ago?
 
My defender 90 is the same, had front diff repaired and set up, all nice and tight but still have slack and can feel this on take off and changing gears but drive accordingly to compensate and take my time, would be nice to have all the drive train slack free, maybe in time.......another job.
 
Anyway, have you dug your inspection pit yet? Weren't you thinking about doing some civil engineering in your garage a while ago?

I was but since I've actually now moved in thats moved to the bottom of the pile for a while says the wife! :lol:
 
:(

Well now i ant find the slack i had after i took the hubs off and pulled the cv's out the front.

Also had the prop off and although there is some movement from the front t/box output there isn't a lot.

The ARB locker is coming out of the font axle this week as well and the standard open diff going back in so I will see whats what later next week now.
 
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