Defender 90 TD5 popping noise from rear

Hi all,

I have a defender 90 td5 2004 that has done 60,000 miles.

I have a very strange and hard to figure out noise coming somewhere from the back end.

The noise happens very rarely and randomly and isn't always frequent. Some times you don't hear it for days. Then other days you can hear it twice in ten minutes.

The noise sounds like when you put your finger in your mouth and make a pop sound. It seems to happen when the vehicle kind of lurches forward. Or atleast I have noticed it when braking heavily slowing down from 30mph to say 10mph and then re accelerating.

I have also heard this noise though when setting off from traffic lights in first gear.

This weekend I towed my 1500kg boat for 120 miles a mixture of motorways and rural roads and I didn't hear the noise once. Maybe the extra weight is preventing something from moving as much and creating the knocking sound?

I have recently replaced the rear half shafts and drive flanges and i have looked underneath and swung on every bush and ball joint I can find. Everything. Seems to be solid under the truck.

I am running out of ideas.

I keep thinking of the rear a frame bush but I am not the hulk and can't seem to get any play in it.

Other thoughts that have crossed my mind are perhaps the rear springs or something like that? In honesty I am guessing now.

Can anyone shed any light on what this might be?

Thanks

It might be the central ball joint on the rear suspension, but don't forget the springs themselves as they move about on their seats top and bottom. Mine make some funny noises when they've just been put in. Shouldn't take too long to pop them out and put a bit of grease on the faces where they bear against the chassis at the top and the spring seat at the bottom. You may not be able to detect movement in the ball joint by hand, so try it with a crowbar or long screwdriver. Alternatively, I have come across shock absorber bushes that have given up, bushes where the radius arms join the chassis that have failed and loose bolts where the A frame brackets join on to the mid crossmember.

Brown said:

It might be the central ball joint on the rear suspension, but don't forget the springs themselves as they move about on their seats top and bottom. Mine make some funny noises when they've just been put in. Shouldn't take too long to pop them out and put a bit of grease on the faces where they bear against the chassis at the top and the spring seat at the bottom. You may not be able to detect movement in the ball joint by hand, so try it with a crowbar or long screwdriver. Alternatively, I have come across shock absorber bushes that have given up, bushes where the radius arms join the chassis that have failed and loose bolts where the A frame brackets join on to the mid crossmember.

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Thanks for the suggestions, im going to have a look this saturday as i am planning on renewing my front diff pinion seal also. Ill let you know if i manage to find anything.

As for the shock absorbers and suspension springs one day in the near future i plan on replacing them all with turret rings and cones etc. Can you still buy the genuine land rover shock absorbers? Or is there a very good equivalent available?

Im thinking to stick with the originals as they seem to work well there just getting a bit tired.

The rear doesn't have turret rings, just the front! There are a whole range of shock absorber options for Land Rovers from sub-Britpart budget affairs through to fancy remote reservoir items that probably cost more than a small car each. A quick look at any online 4x4 parts supplier will sort you out.