It's squeeking! Help!

Hey guys, me again! Sorry I keep asking so many questions, but I figured you're the people to ask.

My Defender has a squeek coming from the front wheel. Not sure if it may be the bearings? As I drive along slowly, there's a squeek for every turn of the wheel-as I speed up so does the squeek, up to around 30mph then it kind of just drones into a solid noise. It's not a really metallic noise, more like the noise push bike brakes sometimes make and it's quite loud.

I get the feeling it may be something out of line, simply because it makes the noise fairly consistantly with the rotation of the tyre. Could it be a warped brake disk or something? If I dab the brake whilst driving the noise is still there but changes tone slightly, going slightly higher pitched for a couple of turns before going back to how it was.

I'm really hoping one of you forum guys can help me, I don't want to take it to the garage so I'm kind of counting on you! I have no idea what I'm doing!

:violin:

check yer tread blocks for mice

:mooning:

Try tightening yer wheel nuts.

hughesy said:

Try tightening yer wheel nuts.

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Huh?

Wheel nuts as in the five holding the wheel on? I'm pretty sure they are tight, and how would that help?

If that's a stupid newbie trap you got me! I can't see what difference the wheel nut tension is going to make?

lift each corner see if turning each wheels makes that noise - shot bearings maybe ? - might just need greasing and nipping up, but if they are noisy they might be well gone - might even be prop UJs - when did you grease them last ?

You might just have a stone stuck between the brake shoe and the wheel, very common cause for squeak!!!

If not you should check the oil level in the hub.

The UJs were greased last time the previous owner did them, I don't know as I only bought it yesterday. I will jack it up and check the wheels, and also check the oil level in the hub and look for stones. Would stones be easy to spot?

I'll get a grease gun and do the UJs just in case. It can't hurt it!

Might be a slightly warped disc .
Build up of brake dust ? ( clean em out with clutch-brake cleaner , or jet wash em ) .
Ive had in the past come across the tires rubbing on the ballence weights causing a squeak ish noise ( wd40 sorted that out ) .

Thinking about it I don't think it will be the brakes. If it was a warped disk then surely it would stop squeeking when the brakes are applied?

njc110381 said:

Huh?

Wheel nuts as in the five holding the wheel on? I'm pretty sure they are tight, and how would that help?

If that's a stupid newbie trap you got me! I can't see what difference the wheel nut tension is going to make?

Click to expand...

A squeak can indicate a loose wheelnut. I'm not taking the **** merely suggesting you try the simple stuff first before replacing parts that might be fine.

I will check. Sorry if I sounded like I'm not grateful for your input, it just sounded like a "get me a left handed screwdriver" comment

I've greased all but one UJ, the nipple is snapped off of the last one! Anyone know what thread they have so I can replace it? I don't think that's where the squeek is coming from as it's the rear UJ nipple that's broken and the noise is coming from the front. I've also had a look at the hub but can't figure out how to check the bearings? I've jacked it up and wiggled the wheels about, but there doesn't seem to be any play. How do you grease the bearings? There's a threaded hole in the end of the half shaft (I assume it's the half shaft showing when I take the cap off the centre of the hub?) but I can't get any grease in through there can I? I haven't checked the oil level in the swivel housing yet because I couldn't find my book to tell me what oil it needed, so there's a chance that could be it.

The Swivel balls don't look in bad condition, so hopefully they don't leak!

This squeek is driving me crazy! I hope I can get it sorted soon:lalala:

EP 90 in the swivels or " one shot " greese ( use a 1/2" drive extention and spanner to remove the square level pug , or just a spanner if its not that tight ) .

Thanks for that little snip of info, you've saved me a lot of searching! Most of my old landy books are still in a box from when I moved house!

I've got a key set for all these odd shaped fittings. I wish I'd have known a 1/2" socket driver fitted the diffs and gearbox before I bought it though!

The drivers side swivel housing was empty. What a simple fix that appears to be! I took it out for a short drive after I'd squeezed half a bottle of oil into it and it was fine, no noise at all. I just hope it hasn't been like it for too long and caused damage.

Looking at it the oil seal is on the way out. It has oil soaked mud stuck to the underside of the housing, so I guess it's just leaked out over time. The balls look fine and don't have any pitting at all, so hopefully it's just a seal that needs replacing.

Thanks for your advice on this. I'd have figured it out in the end probably, but it's nice to have some help with these things