Have I been driving 2wd for too long????

Hi I have just had the Be**mont VCU removed from my FL1 which as some of you might be aware was providing no drive to the rear wheels whatsoever!! Tried and tested off road and it let me down having said that it was pretty smooth on the motorway.

I got the new VCU and bearings from Bell Engineering (I had the new bearings that were fitted by my specialist replaced incase they came from Be**mont too).

The 4wd now works perfectly!!

My question now is at around 50-65mph I feel/hear this slight vibration not through the steering but through the seat. I would say its about 1/4 of the level of driving over a rumble strip......But again reiterate nothing through the steering.

Is this just me being too used to driving 2wd?

I had my last one in 2wd for a year. No probs afaik.

Are your tyres ok?

Mike,

What make bearings did your specialist fit ??? there are a number of different bearing manufactures about and most of them are crap GKN are regarded as the best bearing you can get to fit on the prop.

I had new bearings fitted by a garage a couple of years ago and they didn't last six months I have since fitted GKN bearings myself around 18 months ago and still running smooth. The vibration you are having could also be mis-matched tyres, I have also had this problem when I bought a cheap couple of tyres to go on the back, they were terrible for vibration and also road noise. They didn't last long before I put a full set of Pirelli Scorpion STR's on and what a difference they made.

My tyres at 4 brand new Hankook. The specialist fitted bearings that cost £15 each so I assumed they were cheap crap and had them replaced. Bell provided me with bearings they use which are now fitted. They were not brand new rubbers but Ken said they put good English/German bearings in so they would be ok. Surely they can't be at fault?

mikey7985 said:

My tyres at 4 brand new Hankook. The specialist fitted bearings that cost £15 each so I assumed they were cheap crap and had them replaced. Bell provided me with bearings they use which are now fitted. They were not brand new rubbers but Ken said they put good English/German bearings in so they would be ok. Surely they can't be at fault?

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The £15 bearings will be crap and not worth the time and money to fit them. I'm sure Bell use GKN so you will be ok there. I've never used Hankook so can't comment on those but it could be the cause of your vibration.

Grayo said:

The £15 bearings will be crap and not worth the time and money to fit them. I'm sure Bell use GKN so you will be ok there. I've never used Hankook so can't comment on those but it could be the cause of your vibration.

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It didn't vibrate before I had the new Bell VCU and bearings fitted tho. I asked ken if they were GKN and he said they use their own bearings with good rubbers. The tyres have been on for weeks with no problems. I just though maybe I had got too used to 2wd and was now feeling drive through the rear wheels as abnormal.

mikey7985 said:

It didn't vibrate before I had the new Bell VCU and bearings fitted tho. I asked ken if they were GKN and he said they use their own bearings with good rubbers. The tyres have been on for weeks with no problems. I just though maybe I had got too used to 2wd and was now feeling drive through the rear wheels as abnormal.

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Hmmmm if you had no problem before the VCU was fitted then it's all pointing towards the new VCU and bearings. Did you buy the VCU second hand ???? don't understand when you said they were not brand new rubbers so is what your saying is the bearings second hand ???

Could you get it in the air and drive it briefly (it'll get hot very quickly with no air flow) to see where the vibration is coming from? Or can you mount a camera underneath to see where the vibration is when yer driving?

The VCU came recon from Bell and the same with the bearings.....Not new rubbers but new bearings pressed in Ken said. So I basically bought recon VCU and Bearings from Bell. I am considering going for a new set of GKN bearings see if that sorts it.

Hippo said:

Could you get it in the air and drive it briefly (it'll get hot very quickly with no air flow) to see where the vibration is coming from? Or can you mount a camera underneath to see where the vibration is when yer driving?

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Yeah I could probably do that at a mates garage on the lift. getting the car up to 50-60 on a lift is going to be brutal tho isn't it????

mikey7985 said:

The VCU came recon from Bell and the same with the bearings.....Not new rubbers but new bearings pressed in Ken said. So I basically bought recon VCU and Bearings from Bell. I am considering going for a new set of GKN bearings see if that sorts it.

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It's worth a bit more investigation first Mike before you go forking out more money. Do you know anybody with a freelander near you that you could possibly try there wheels and tyres to see if the vibration goes or not.

mikey7985 said:

Yeah I could probably do that at a mates garage on the lift. getting the car up to 50-60 on a lift is going to be brutal tho isn't it????

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You may find 20mph free wheeling displays the fault enough when yer underneath. Just be careful to support the vehicle when doing this and keep well away from spinning bits. When it's not on it's wheel the loading/set-up is different so the fault may show differently. You could buy some chassis ears to help investigate.

Hippo said:

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Been parking in Basingstoke again?

Spacemonkey... said:

Been parking in Basingstoke again?

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Or Peckham? :lol:

Spacemonkey... said:

Been parking in Basingstoke again?

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That's ma HippoRamps (TM) rolling road option.

Epicuser said:

Or Peckham? :lol:

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I used to work there. Nasty place...

...and Basingstoke, and Swindon, and Croydon, and Penge, and Highbury. Lovely places...

Grayo said:

It's worth a bit more investigation first Mike before you go forking out more money. Do you know anybody with a freelander near you that you could possibly try there wheels and tyres to see if the vibration goes or not.

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Surely if it were the tyres the vibration would have been there before the VCU/bearing change?

Spacemonkey... said:

I used to work there. Nasty place...

...and Basingstoke, and Swindon, and Croydon, and Penge, and Highbury. Lovely places...

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Hey.....I live in one of those areas......

It is lovely.

I've had Hankook Dynapro ATM tyres on my FL1 for over a year now, no problems with them at all. I have also had a recon VCU from Bell for the last couple of months with cheapo bearings and so far so good. Could be one wheel/tyre is not as well balanced as it should be. Is the vibration at all road speeds?