Propshaft and wandering steering and sloppy gearstick.

Hi All.

Took my newly acquired 2003 1.8 SE petrol Freelander down the motorway yesterday and noticed that over 50 MPH there was a high frequency growling coming from under the car so an I right in thinking that the propshaft is out of balance or the carrier bearings are shot?

Additionally the steering is wavy when going over small bumps or when sharp steering in either direction. No play at the steering wheel end but not had the car on jacks yet.

Also is there a fix for a sloppy gearstick such as a new coupling bracket?

All tips and pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

Sounds like lots of the bushes and or drop links and possible shocks could be worn. You can get a bush set for the gear stick but I decided that it was not worth the effort and I live with it until it really needs doing

I'd be doing the one wheel up test and, as a stiffening VCU could be causing the steering to tug.

Oh and read this thread thoroughly.
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/tests-new-freelander-1-owners-should-do-on-their-car.312863/

Thanks Nodge68.

Great information on the link however I took the car for a test drive when purchasing admittedly not very fast and not very far due to lack of petrol and did the reversing on full lock VCU test and no shuddering occurred so I've dis-counted the VCU. The noise I get over 50MPH is a high pitched growl like worn bearings. I've had shaft support bearing failure on another Freelander and that seems to exhibit itself with rumbling at low speed cornering.

How does the propshaft UJ wear show itself?

Cheers

mediaseller said:

Thanks Nodge68.

Great information on the link however I took the car for a test drive when purchasing admittedly not very fast and not very far due to lack of petrol and did the reversing on full lock VCU test and no shuddering occurred so I've dis-counted the VCU. The noise I get over 50MPH is a high pitched growl like worn bearings. I've had shaft support bearing failure on another Freelander and that seems to exhibit itself with rumbling at low speed cornering.

How does the propshaft UJ wear show itself?

Cheers

Click to expand...

Why don't you remove the props & VCU - drive it just to make sure the growling has stopped. With the props off you can have a good look at the CV, UJs and support bearings to see if anything's up there. Not sure I've ever seen anyone has reported out of balance props on the forum, but its possible I suppose.

The propshafts won't go out of balance ,unless they've struck the ground somehow. The UJs can go stiff, but are available as a replacement component.

In my experience, any strange behaviour or noise at speed can normally down to drive train issues, or odd tyres, causing the drive train to be stressed at higher speeds.

Thanks all.

Took it to a mechanic and he put it over the pit. He found the following:

• Front prop shaft UJ worn close to the IRD.
• Rear nearside driveshaft popped out of the diff a bit so he pushed it back in.
• The worst of all and what I was thinking all along is the rear NS tyre is a 205 and the OS is a 225 which might account for the NS driveshaft popping out and could account for a lot of the other faults.

Thanks again for all the help.

Kind regards

Some faults are just so difficult to diagnose.

Those tyres being different for example

mediaseller said:

Thanks all.

Took it to a mechanic and he put it over the pit. He found the following:

• Front prop shaft UJ worn close to the IRD.
• Rear nearside driveshaft popped out of the diff a bit so he pushed it back in.
• The worst of all and what I was thinking all along is the rear NS tyre is a 205 and the OS is a 225 which might account for the NS driveshaft popping out and could account for a lot of the other faults.

Thanks again for all the help.

Kind regards

Click to expand...

I'd fit 4 identical tyres immediately, or you'll be fixing a broken IRD.

mediaseller said:

Thanks Nodge68.

Great information on the link however I took the car for a test drive when purchasing admittedly not very fast and not very far due to lack of petrol and did the reversing on full lock VCU test and no shuddering occurred so I've dis-counted the VCU. The noise I get over 50MPH is a high pitched growl like worn bearings. I've had shaft support bearing failure on another Freelander and that seems to exhibit itself with rumbling at low speed cornering.

How does the propshaft UJ wear show itself?

Cheers

Click to expand...

In my experience reversing on full lock is a VERY unreliable way to test a VCU. There are lots of threads on here but the general consensus is do the one wheel up test (Google it) or take it to a specialist like Bells to test the VCU.
My first Freelander reversed just fine on full lock, no scrabbling tyres or slow down that I noticed. When I checked the VCU properly it was so tight I couldn't make it turn so I was lucky not to destroy my transmission.

Oh and most garages will miss a tight VCU because they don't know what they're looking for.

https://www.muddymods.com/products/freelander-1-td4-floppy-gearshift-fix-bush
For your floppy gear shift. Gets rid of the side to side slop.

Diesel Do said:

https://www.muddymods.com/products/freelander-1-td4-floppy-gearshift-fix-bush
For your floppy gear shift. Gets rid of the side to side slop.

Click to expand...

I think its a 1.8 DD.

BTW good to hear from you again mate.