scarey freelander

Hello sorry new to the forum and not introduced myself but looking for thoughts on a problem with our freelander
Started a couple weeks back on the dirt road coming home from work ,driver said a rear wheel suddenly locked up (level bit of road so not on the brakes but on power ) then just as suddenly freed again , i checked the mot advisory and it had a uj advisory on the rear prop so ordered a new 1
Couple days later during which time vehicle had been fine . rear off side wheel locked up on the main road at about 30 mph accelerating out of a slight left hand corner puting the freelander accross the road into the path of what could have been oncoming traffic (change of underwear time for my father who was dring at the time )
I have now stripped the rear shaft uj is knackered but i wouldnt have thought enough to have locked .I have read IRD and vicous coupling can give probs

Any thoughts wellcome please as obviously nobody is offering to drive it now

Its 54 plate TD4 short wheel base with 100 00 =mile

Thanks Davie

Only 2 things I can think off that could cause your problem, some thing floating around in the diff houseing, or some glitch in the brake control system, ABS or hill decent inputs locking the wheels momentarily.

If only one wheel locked up check the brakes on that wheel to eliminate that first. I'm thinking that anything wrong transmission wise would do more than lock a single wheel.

Locking one wheel on an axle effectively doubles the speed of the other side. giving a double whammy effect which must be scarey. My son had a similar problem on his Disco, the CV joint was shot. Check the gaiter to see if it is still intact, if not that is a good indicator. Bearing steels rust and pit very quickly when exposed to water.

a fault with the abs surely, or brake linings parting company from the shoes

freelance said:

a fault with the abs surely, or brake linings parting company from the shoes

Click to expand...

ABS, no, Brake issue, possibly and worthy of a check, Diff no, CV, possibly but what else has it broken / bent in the process?

A mate of mine had a very sacry experience in an Escort. He and a bunch of mates had got home after a lenghty drive on the M4 and A470 towards Pontypridd. He drove into a space near the house and manovoured the car when he realised something was very wrong. If he drove forward one rear wheel was locked solid. If he reverse this same wheel cause the car to hunch up on its suspension and no backward movement. When they eventually got the drum off they discovered that the brake lining on one shoe had detached, travelled round the drum and wedged itself between the drum and the other shoe, effectively locking the hub. Of course the thoughts were what if this had happened at 70MPH????

Thanks folks not had a chance to do much with it yet .
Had the drum off and brakes are intact , vehicle does apparantely have an isue with a off side not always releassing if over applied but by the looks of things just needs a clean and a wee bit copper grease .Driver is adament both times no braking was involved
Will check gators etc tomorrow .One other thought was how much movement if any should there be in the complete diff assy on its mountings as i can move the front of the diff housing up and down by maybee as much as half an inch
Minis are my thing usualy :crazy: so the underside of a freelander is a bit different lol

Cheers again for your input Davie

Search front diff mounting, its a common problem and easy to fix.

Should have updated this sorry
Turned out to be a brake isue on the wheel in question sure enough .
New shoes had been fitted for an MOT not that long ago and after a closer look as nothing e
lse seemed to add up I found that the shoe retaining pin on the front shoe had been replaced with a large split pin basicaly pushed through (with a smaller pin and washer at the head to stop the eye pulling through the shoe ) and flaired at the rear of the back plate . This was allowing the shoe to move forward and grab on the drum (probably when it hit a pothole or bump in the road )
Simply fixed with a new set of pins and clips for less than a tenner but could have been dangerous had this not happened at low speed .