Squeak under load

Hi, after a day out playing on Salisbury Plain my Defender 90 300tdi has developed a squeak when it's under load. Any ideas? 'Cos it's driving me mad! Cheers. Steve.

Belt slipping?
But probably a knackered front UJ.

I had something similar, that came on when I was accelerating. It turned out to be the drum handbrake. New brake shoes made it much quieter. I'm not quite sure how the handbrake knew I had my foot in the accelerator, because there isn't any detectable play in the output shaft, but it did.

Hmm, thanks for the replies, gonna have a look later, I'll report back with my findings.

Sounds like a classic UJ fault. Of course it could be one of a hundred things though. Have a close look at your propshaft UJs, pump plenty of grease into them and see if the noise changes.

zeaphod said:

Sounds like a classic UJ fault. Of course it could be one of a hundred things though. Have a close look at your propshaft UJs, pump plenty of grease into them and see if the noise changes.

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It would have been useful to know where the squeak was roughly coming from! Might be speedo cable, sunvisor, exhaust mounting , rear door hinges etc.
Ujs are a good shout though.

zeaphod said:

Sounds like a classic UJ fault. Of course it could be one of a hundred things though. Have a close look at your propshaft UJs, pump plenty of grease into them and see if the noise changes.

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+1 tor this - coincidentally I just replaced mine yesterday, the squeak (and horrible vibration through the vehicle at higher speeds) has gone away The plus side is replacing UJ's are cheap as chips!

And the winner is........
Knackered front UJ. Only one bearing had gone, so quite lucky really. Gonna replace all 4 today, just to be on the safe side!
Thanks for the replies.

The front transfer box UJ is the most common to go,it works at more of an angle than the others.It is often the case that just one of the UJs journals gives up before the others and a severe vibration and squeaking is a sign of it seizing up. You can try greasing them but invariably the grease just goes to the 3 good journals and not the one that needs it. If stuck somewhere soaking with diesel may free it enough to get you home.

Pludmugger said:

And the winner is........
Knackered front UJ. Only one bearing had gone, so quite lucky really. Gonna replace all 4 today, just to be on the safe side!
Thanks for the replies.

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Thanks for posting the result - feedback is always useful for the next time....