Help- lots of play in my rear driveshaft!

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HazzaB

New Member
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3
Hi everyone,
Having searched the Internet for advice on this problem, I couldn't find an exact opinion on it on the several land rover websites there are, but thought landyzone seemed the best place for advice so have just registered. Please excuse future ignorance as have only recently become the proud owner of a V8 Discovery 1 and although I like getting my hands dirty, I am no expert on these matters!

To cut to the chase, although the rest of the car seems solid (serious touching of wood going on!) my rear drive shaft has rather a lot of play. When in Park, it's about 30 degrees of rotation and in Neutral seems a bit more, maybe 45-50. When engaging Drive, there is a clunk if the revs are anything near 1000rpm (have been fiddling with the idle trim as had a stalling prob also) and a similar clunk on selecting reverse. When cruising, the same clunk can be heard when I take my foot off the gas, and again when I reapply it.

There is very little play in the front shaft and the rubber 'donut' on the rear shaft looks very recently replaced. I understand that some play in the drivetrain is normal, but am worried this could be excessive and lead to a transfer box/driveshaft failure. What amount of play would get you worried?

Unfortunately I am in the Middle East where spares (and decent old landies for that matter) are very hard to find- a couple of wrecks being broken up are all I can find at the moment. At least there is hardly any rust on the car!

Look forward to any advice, cheers in advance.
Harry :)
 
tricky as play in propshaft means it has it both ends rear diff or worn halfshaft (easy enough to check just pull each half shaft out and look (5 bolts on axle end just silicone seal when refitting)and transfer box which could be worn center diff or input shaft , input can be checked by removing the six bolts on pto cover (round plare rear of box )check and the copme back with results
 
Hi everyone,
Having searched the Internet for advice on this problem, I couldn't find an exact opinion on it on the several land rover websites there are, but thought landyzone seemed the best place for advice so have just registered. Please excuse future ignorance as have only recently become the proud owner of a V8 Discovery 1 and although I like getting my hands dirty, I am no expert on these matters!

To cut to the chase, although the rest of the car seems solid (serious touching of wood going on!) my rear drive shaft has rather a lot of play. When in Park, it's about 30 degrees of rotation and in Neutral seems a bit more, maybe 45-50. When engaging Drive, there is a clunk if the revs are anything near 1000rpm (have been fiddling with the idle trim as had a stalling prob also) and a similar clunk on selecting reverse. When cruising, the same clunk can be heard when I take my foot off the gas, and again when I reapply it.

There is very little play in the front shaft and the rubber 'donut' on the rear shaft looks very recently replaced. I understand that some play in the drivetrain is normal, but am worried this could be excessive and lead to a transfer box/driveshaft failure. What amount of play would get you worried?

Unfortunately I am in the Middle East where spares (and decent old landies for that matter) are very hard to find- a couple of wrecks being broken up are all I can find at the moment. At least there is hardly any rust on the car!

Look forward to any advice, cheers in advance.
Harry :)



My Disco suffers from the same symptoms.
In my unprofessional opinion it feels like the rear diff and Tbox are worn out.
I'm saving the money to have them replaced.

:fencing:
 
Thanks James and iLandrover, much appreciate your input. James- I'll certainly get it on a ramp at some stage in the next few weeks to have a better look.

I guess for now the best thing is to drive v gingerly?!
 
Well to follow up on this, I have just picked up the car from a garage where I managed to get a pair of cannibalised diffs fitted and the drivetrain seems like new. Several other tidying up jobs, including a re-plumbed fuel tank, new seat belts, air con leak repair and oil/filters and plugs change, and the bill came to just over £500!

Thanks for you help again, ;)
H
 
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