Rumbling noise

[Nodge68]

Freelander 1 propshafts aren't perfectly straight when fitted. They look straight when you are crawling around under the car though. I try to get them as straight as possible in line between the flanges of the IRD and diff. My thoughts are that the most likely component to wobble due to the UJ action would be the VCU. This would mean keeping the propshaft straight in line with the VCU. I can't see the prop vibrating the engine or diff.

 

[Hippo]

I always just assumed the di and the early l series were the same and then there was a revised ratio in the ird when the td4 come in. Maybe a different fitment for td4 so maybe 4 variants? They say every day is a school day

I'm not sure what the differences are and if they're interchangeable. Microcat 2010 says:

irdpartnumbers Btd5nxG

 

[thizzlemania91]

Does your freebie vibrate at around 30-35 mph like mine? Ive done 5 new tires new prop bearings and U-joint. I think i might have to refit U-joint sometimes that can be it. Hope its not a cv joint.

 

[teddywood1]

what about your wheel bearings

 

[Nodge68]

Mine vibrates slightly at 40 to 50 mph from cold. This only happens in the morning for the first couple of miles, after that it's fine. I'v put it down to the fluid in the VCU settling to the lowest part while it's left over night. This would make the VCU out of balance. Once on the move the plates inside the VCU redistribute the fluid, balance returns and the vibration stops.

 

[john t]

Hi guys just bought a 2003 5 dr kalahari td4, iv got a rumbling noise at 40mph and above, sounded like it was front o/s so i got it on a ramp and no play in wheel, so moved front tyres to the back as they are all terrain thought maybe they were makin the noise but its still there any ideas ???? its not defening or really loud but its one of those things i no its there??

Tried turning up the radio, wearing earphones etc etc lol

Other than that seems to drive nice smooth and responsive, the only other thing iv noticed is the traction control light doesnt come on i have tried spinning up one side on grass but doesnt wanna slip much so no light???

Cheers guys

i had similar situation last year, i thought it was a wheel bearing,i even purchased 2 bearings but couldn't decide which ones to replace,so i didnt actually replace them, in the mean time i bought a set of brand new wheels and tyres on ebay at a great price , when i fitted them , it was like i had a new freelander, what a difference they made, the old tyres were about 3 years old with 4mm tread all round,,

something that i have recently learnt is that the rear tyres should be swooped over at each service interval so as to even out the wear caused by the the permanent 4 wheel drive effect, ,,might be too late to do this now if yours are already worn,
and you might be looking for defects when all it is is the tyres ?

 

[thizzlemania91]

what about your wheel bearings

What wheel bearings in the cv joint?

 

[Kizzeh]

i had similar situation last year, i thought it was a wheel bearing,i even purchased 2 bearings but couldn't decide which ones to replace,so i didnt actually replace them, in the mean time i bought a set of brand new wheels and tyres on ebay at a great price , when i fitted them , it was like i had a new freelander, what a difference they made, the old tyres were about 3 years old with 4mm tread all round,,



something that i have recently learnt is that the rear tyres should be swooped over at each service interval so as to even out the wear caused by the the permanent 4 wheel drive effect, ,,might be too late to do this now if yours are already worn,

and you might be looking for defects when all it is is the tyres ?

+1 I struggled to find the bearing gone in my td4 I could have swore it was a bearing. I even got the stethoscope out and one side sounded slightly worse. Had a real carry on changing the wheel bearing, everything seized. 2 weeks later I put new tyres. Completely transformed! Bit of a red face there... I would have sworn it sounded like a bearing.

Swap tyres front to back or side to side?

 

[john t]

kizzeh, thats exactly how i was thinking the only reason i didnt get round to changing the bearings was i didn't have the time and couldnt pinpoint which one s to replace, , what a nice surprise when i fitted the new tyres, and i will be swapping the rears over every year so they wear evenly, dont be to hard on yourself, at least you have a quiet running freelander now

swap tyres side to side each service

 

[westerdaled]

Hi

One other thing I managed to pickup my original IRD on Sat - you can see the damaged teeth inside it which cause my first tow . We're going to measure this to see if the current IRD is the correct size or not. I have the 2005 TD4 2.0 HSE so I guess I need to track down the fitment for that.

The prop was out by 2" biased to the driver's side - this we think is the cause of the horrendous noise and the possible cause from my collection of replaced parts.

Finally, the freelander seems a bit sluggish in 2 wheel drive for those who have also ever disconnected your propshafts - tho can't think why!

 

[westerdaled]

Another update. Took the original IRD to the garage and we raised the car so we could all go underneath. was great for me as I got to see where everything is located or a least the fixing holes for the missing prop shaft and VCU.

Anyway, both IRD's are the same size. We also did an experiment we rotated the IRD to see if both wheels turned around at the same rate when in a straight line: They did. So we are back to the drawing board

 

[thizzlemania91]

Did you try the wheel bearings? Your car rumbles at certain speeds and rumbles again when slowimg down right? Mine did this last week and ended up beign those bearings.

 

[westerdaled]

Did you try the wheel bearings? Your car rumbles at certain speeds and rumbles again when slowimg down right? Mine did this last week and ended up beign those bearings.

Hi
Funny you say that, I do have front bearing issue . However, since I have the prop disconnected; so 2 wheel drive, my rumbling noise has completely gone. I spoke to another garage based in near Birmingham and they claim that this noise can be caused by the prop not been aligned straight.

 

[thizzlemania91]

That cray because mine was of by 2 inches and it didnt cause any problems. When i changed the bearing i didnt mark the prop and vcu and everything work out fine. Glad your noise is gone tho.

 

[Nodge68]

Does it rumble all the time? Or just for a few minutes in the morning?

 

[westerdaled]

That cray because mine was of by 2 inches and it didnt cause any problems. When i changed the bearing i didnt mark the prop and vcu and everything work out fine. Glad your noise is gone tho.

When you say you didn't mark the prop and the vcu, what did you mean? The noise may be gone but I really want my prop reconnected.
When you mention that your prop is out by 2" then that is reassuring as I was beginning to think this was a red herring.

 

[westerdaled]

Does it rumble all the time? Or just for a few minutes in the morning?

If you not referring to me before my first cup of coffee (!) . Then ironically, it is later in the drive.

I found a garage near Stafford which seems to service a few Freelanders and they going to look at it first thing on Monday. Last Tuesday I had a chat with an AA man who had just towed one to it, which was the same colour and model as mine. This unfortunate has a fuel pump issue ( been there too ) He was telling me that he also towed one with a "gear box" issue last week. Doesn't inspire much confidence in the Mark 1 does it?

 

[thizzlemania91]

I didnt mark the prop when connecting it to the vcu. Alot of people say that you need to mark your prop before removal or install it or it will throw it off balance. When i replaced the bearings my prop shaft wasnt align perfectly in fact it was off by 2" inches. I went back and refitted it but it did t really affect it much nor did i see or hear a difference. My rbling noise was caused by two bad rear wheel bearings. I still need to bleed the brakes cuz i have no pressure on the brake pedal. Three of the four wherls have pressure except the LH-R i believe the nipple is plugged with gung because the rubber stopper wasnt there.

 

[westerdaled]

I didnt mark the prop when connecting it to the vcu. Alot of people say that you need to mark your prop before removal or install it or it will throw it off balance. When i replaced the bearings my prop shaft wasnt align perfectly in fact it was off by 2" inches. I went back and refitted it but it did t really affect it much nor did i see or hear a difference. My rbling noise was caused by two bad rear wheel bearings. I still need to bleed the brakes cuz i have no pressure on the brake pedal. Three of the four wherls have pressure except the LH-R i believe the nipple is plugged with gung because the rubber stopper wasnt there.

I had a test drive in mine after the mechanic replaced the universal joint. I think my issues were combination of broken VCU coupling bearings and now a rusty universal joint..... There is still a whining noise from the transmission box but I think it something I can live with. The rumbling noise is something that I would never been able to live with.