Freelander 1 Rumbley at 40mph

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SamA90

Member
Posts
47
Location
Hythe
Hi everyone!
I've been having a bit of trouble with my Freelander 1 TD4 (05).
About a month ago, started getting a horrible rumble that was both audibly cringe worthy and physically juddery through the seats, particularly under hard acceleration, hard turning.
To cut a long-ish story short, I've replaced front and rear props as well as prop bearings.
(Btw, no rumbles whilst the props were off)
Now that the new props and bearings are back on, the rumble is still there, but way, way quieter and only between 35-45mph. Doesn't judder under hard under turning and acceleration anymore.
Basically, I'm trying to figure out my next move.

Here are my current observations:
•Rumble noise and vibration is at its worst at 35-45mph
•VCU is warm/hot after driving on normal road
•Tyre wear appears to be more advanced on the inside of tyres
•Front pair of tyres are new, rear pair are old...could cause inconsistent wheel rotation?

Anything else I should look for to help diagnose?

Thanks for your wisdom in advance

:rolleyes:
 
sounds like your vcu if it is getting hot it would be suspect next will either be your diff or ird keep a check on it.

Mmm, I do suspect the VCU. I'm going to make sure all my tyre pressures are equal tomorrow to make sure it's not rolling uneven and causing the VCU to kick in when it shouldn't (want to check EVERYTHING before I fork out another bloody £300)
 
Did you put quality bearings on vcu? Are they aligned? Sear cb for and perform one wheel up test!

They were just normal VCU bearings. As far as I know they are aligned! Everything went on as snug as possible. I'll do the one wheel up test tomorrow! Thanks
 
Also maybe think of getting the four wheel tracking done if you replace the worn tyre and check the rear middle diff mount
 
Yup, gonna happen. Unfortunately, the previous owner didn't seem to know this rule (I've had it 4 months or so now). Could well be the root of all my problems
I assume you have now swapped the new tyres to the rear?
If not you are knackering your new VCU.
When that gets knackered enough, you'll destroy your IRD and/or possibly your rear diff.
I'd be fairly happy to bet that the rumbling will disappear after you swap them.
 
Thanks for al your help guys. Payday this week, so I'm gonna try and get all 4 tyres replaced.
After balancing all the tyre pressures (they were all different), the rumble SEEMS to have lessened, but still present, so hopefully new tires will do the trick. Checked the VCU after my drive to work and it wasn't anywhere near as warm as it was on Saturday.
Still yet to do the one wheel up test, as I need to find a breaker bar to turn the wheel (unless you reckon I can turn it with a normal tyre iron?)
 
Just did the one wheel up.

Used a 1.2m bar with 8kg weight on the end (well, 7.5kg, was the best I could do) and it took just over 1 min to rotate the 45*. That's a good sign right?
 
Last edited:
From Hippo's video on YouTube also using a 1.2m...

7.1 kg . . . . . . . 20.0 seconds
8.0 kg . . . . . . . 16.0 seconds

That was after not driving the car overnight and an ambient temp of 23 degrees. If you had used the car and left it for a while (so VCU was warm, not cold or hot) I would expect slightly lower times than these as they lose a little viscocity with warmth. If you hadn't used the car and it was colder, then expect slightly longer times. These observations are born out by tests done by #HTR - forget what his timings actually were and the weights, but they're on the results thread.

What ever, your timings of over a minute look like you should be concerned.

 
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