Play in front prop shaft?

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hoopfish

hoopfish

Well-Known Member
Posts
2,616
Location
East Sussex
I have just jacked up my front passenger side wheel to look for a few clonks that are happenening under the front.
When i turn my wheel forwards or backwards i have about 2 inches of turn before the prop shaft starts to rotate.Im guessing this is why when i put it in to drive (auto 300tdi disco) i get a knock and the same for reverse.
Will the play be within the axle or is it more likely to the prop UJs.
:confused:

regards
Terry.
 
Wear in the diffs the clonk is the engine taking up the slack
Warn UJs normally create vibration when in motion.
 
Last edited:
hi there,what iv experianced before is that the gear behind the pto plate on the transfer suffers from the splines wearing ,witch causes slack in the drivetrain,this gear is conected directly to the mainshaft in the main gearbox!
 
if it was 2 inches play on the UJs by god they would be fooked, it is simply the drivetrain full stop, at that age all landies have some play here and there add up lots of heres and theres and you get plenty of slop.


drive plates, half shafts, diff, ujs x 2 transfer box shafts x ???s gear box work it out there are plenty of bits between the go coming out the engine and getting to the wheels.

check your UJs and then if they need doing whilst they are off check the play in the diff alone, pull the end plates and have a look there they might be worn or the shafts might be worn, its a game of chase you will always be playing unless you are going to replace everything at the same time, all you can hope for is to improve it by increments each time.
 
hoopfish said:
Any one know were i can get a blown up picture that shows me what goes on behind the pto plate/drive train ?
Click to expand...
will that help you ,play starts with drive member,cv,diff,crown wheel and pinion,props ,center diff gears ,gears in t/box ,you just need to feel where it seems to be, jacking front and rear wheel up andcontra rotaing propscarefully can let you know if playsin diff gears or t/box gears etc same with front and rear diff
 
jamesmartin said:
will that help you ,play starts with drive member,cv,diff,crown wheel and pinion,props ,center diff gears ,gears in t/box ,you just need to feel where it seems to be, jacking front and rear wheel up andcontra rotaing propscarefully can let you know if playsin diff gears or t/box gears etc same with front and rear diff
Click to expand...
Its defo the front,like i said jacked it up and turned wheel a couple of inches before it started to rotate prop??
So the best place to start looking?
Without knowing whats inside the front diff??
 
With the wheels on the ground, turn each prop and see which moves furthest, that will isolate which axle you need to be looking at - chances are it will be the front as there are more joints in which play can develop. I assumed it was my diff, but having taken the front axle apart I've found there was no play in the diff at all and the play seems to be in the CV joints.
 
I had this same problem in the rear diff and it was one of the pins that go throughout the planet gears snapped and was sat in the bottom of the diff casing still drove ok just massive play when accelerating
 
hoopfish said:
Its defo the front,like i said jacked it up and turned wheel a couple of inches before it started to rotate prop??
So the best place to start looking?
Without knowing whats inside the front diff??
Click to expand...


Hi Hoopfish, if you've only got 2" of play on the outer edge of the front wheel before the prop turns, that is absolutely and categorically NOTHING to worry about.

As others more informed than I have said, the play you are feeling is a composite of 'potentially' play in the drive hubs, play in the front diff, play in the front prop flange and play in the UJ.

But taking all that into account the tiny (in relative terms) amount of play you are feeling on the outer edge of the front tyre is nothing.


"They all do that sir"



Dave
 
Having literally just replaced everything in the front axle I found that the largest amount of play was in/caused by.....
...yep the front diff spider shaft. It wasn't obvious until i turned the planet wheels by hand, but changing the diff made a huge difference to the amount of play in the front propshaft. Far more than all the CVs, swivel bearings and driveplates added together. (and my cvs were knackered!)
Hope that helps.
 
thebiglad said:
Hi Hoopfish, if you've only got 2" of play on the outer edge of the front wheel before the prop turns, that is absolutely and categorically NOTHING to worry about.

As others more informed than I have said, the play you are feeling is a composite of 'potentially' play in the drive hubs, play in the front diff, play in the front prop flange and play in the UJ.

But taking all that into account the tiny (in relative terms) amount of play you are feeling on the outer edge of the front tyre is nothing.


"They all do that sir"



Dave
Click to expand...


I wouldnt be worried about it apart from the fact that when i put the box in to reverse i sometimes get a "clunk" same for putting it in to drive.
My old disco used to do the same but the UJ was fooked on it,could tell that just by looking at it.The UJs on this one all look good.
The "clunk does not appear to have got worse during the last 8 months!.
 
sidewaysste said:
Having literally just replaced everything in the front axle I found that the largest amount of play was in/caused by.....
...yep the front diff spider shaft. It wasn't obvious until i turned the planet wheels by hand, but changing the diff made a huge difference to the amount of play in the front propshaft. Far more than all the CVs, swivel bearings and driveplates added together. (and my cvs were knackered!)
Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Cheers sidewaysste,how much of a job is it to change the spider shaft?
What sort of cash for parts?
regards
Terry
 
I just changed the whole diff. A second hand one was £40. It reduced propshaft movement by 90%. Didn't cure the clunk going into gear though. Think that's the transfer box.
 
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