Propshaft problem

My 2.5TD 90 started to judder on putting on the power at 35 - 40 mph. After having a good look around underneath I found that the front propshaft could be turned about a quarter turn when stood still while the rear prop was rock solid. I assume that the rear prop was acting correctly and its the front one that has the problem. Any ideas what has caused this?

Play in the front Diff. Was your handbrake on when you checked the rear one? !/4 turn seems a bit much, but if it were mine I wouldn't be worrying over much.

Hi Grunt,

Yep handbrake was on when I checked both props. Even though this has happened it went quite happily up a 1 in 3 lane with 5 people in it but vibrates like hell when not loaded on the road.

having the hand brake on will lock the back prop up solid. Are you sure the play is in the diffs not the UJs?

Morning Grunt,

Have now checked again an both UJ's are moving solidly with the propshaft so play must be in one end, but how do I know which?

Take the prop shaft off and waggle the bits that are left on.

Your better off putting the prop back on in the same position so put a blob of paint on each side of the flanges before you take it off. Sliding part of both the prop shafts go towards the front of the vehicle. Try not to separate the two halves of the shaft as they are balanced, you'd be as well to put aligning marks on both halves just in case. Check for play in the two halves while it's off as this can cause vibration.

Have solved thi one now. the fact that the front prop moved a quarter turn was OK as the handbrake only works on the rear prop if diff lock isn't on. The problem was that the rear propshaft had seized solid and would not lengthen as the rar axle dropped. This casued the UJ near the rear axle to shread itself and disintigrate. So having fitted a new UJ and freeing the seized splines its as good as new. Moral of this story is grease your props till they bleed grease.

Hi there, sorry to take over slightly but I had a similar problem with my 90 (juddering under acceleration over 35mph). I greased both propshafts and joints and after a couple of days the juddering stopped.

Now though, there is a squeaking noise coming from underneath whilst I am accelerating at any speed, but not when coasting along. Any ideas?

Cheers.

i has the same, check out my thred about it. the noise was that all the needle bearings in the cups had broken up. check for free play in all UJs.

ive just replaced both my front driving members and my front prop , before it was really badly clonking , now it drives like its straight off the production line.

nobber said:

ive just replaced both my front driving members and my front prop , before it was really badly clonking , now it drives like its straight off the production line.

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what, yer mean bits fall off it and it ****es in water

So what is the remedy... replace the UJs?

depende chris , jack up the front , take off the wheel , take off the plastic hub cap.
you will see a round shaft sticking out of the middle of the hub by a few milimeters and a driving member bolted to the hub with splines , turn the hub and make sure there is no play in these splines.

get underneath and wiggle the props and ujs and look for play there.

chris_mack said:

Hi there, sorry to take over slightly but I had a similar problem with my 90 (juddering under acceleration over 35mph). I greased both propshafts and joints and after a couple of days the juddering stopped.

Now though, there is a squeaking noise coming from underneath whilst I am accelerating at any speed, but not when coasting along. Any ideas?

Cheers.

Click to expand...

just read this , its probably a uj.
you might get away with greasing them but check for play.

Squeaking and squealing noises are getting worse, accompanied by occasional slight juddering. I've checked for play in all the UJs and the only one where I can feel movement is the gearbox end of the front prop.

However the joint itself seems fine but there seems to be slight movement (only of 1 or 2 mm) beyond the joint where it goes into the centre diff. It is very slight and hardly noticeable. The picture should show which bit I mean.

I'm a bit worried now!

Have you checked your handbrakes not binding or summat?

You will get a bit of movement at that point though 1-2mm seems a bit much. The output flange bearings may be on their way out, have you checked the transfer box oil, the seal in front of the bearing may have gone as well and the oil leaked out. Every one an his dog has bin on about them lately do a search.

I checked the gearbox and transfer box oil levels, both very low, perhaps almost empty, not good!

So I topped them both up with a bit of left over oil I've got, didn't bother draining the old stuff out or filling them up as it is in for a service on Friday anyway.

Is it possible that I fixed the juddering problem when I greased the propshaft and this squeaking noise is unrelated? I think there was about a day in between when I had neither squeaking nor juddering!

It is still squeaking now, but then again I havn't filled up the oil levels cos I ran out so perhaps it is just because of that?

Is it leaking out of that seal then?

Nah doesn't appear to be leaking. No more than the usual drip drip leaks it's always had.