Vibration when propshaft fitted

Hi all. I would appreciate any ideas over a problem that my 2005 TD4 has developed. The original problem was a clunking from under the drivers seat when turning at slow speed, after getting some good tips off the site I discovered both VCU bearing shot, I had these replaced by a local garage with the cheaper variants. On the first drive after replacement, the car vibrated quite severly at around 40-50 MPH. Had the bearings realigned but the problem remained. The vibration was present both in and out of gear. The clunking problem was eliminated.

I replaced the cheaper bearings with LR originals thinking that they had caused the vibration. Test drive resulted in same symptoms. Numerous trips back to the garage to have the bearing realigned was fruitless. I then removed the prop and VCU assembly and the problem went away.

I have since replaced the oil in the IRD and rear diff and replaced the 3 UJs on the front and rearpropshaft. Refitted the Prop assembly and the problem remains. The vibration was not present before the bearing replacement. Any ideas would be welcome.

Forgot to mention that all four tyres replaced recently but again this made no difference.

i had the same problem on my freelander when i changed the prop shaft bearings,
i had 2 buy another set of bearings, i bought britpart ones put them on and the vibration went away. i got them from freelanderuk.

Did you mark the prop with alignment marks at both ends before removal to ensure that it went back on in exactly the same position as before?

The prop has weight stickers to balance it - have these became detached?

If the prop was not marked there are 6 bolts at the IRD end and 4 at the diff end - giving 24 different combinations as to how it can be re-assembled.

I made this mistake on my rally-car but it only had 4 bolts at each end - so I only had 16 permutations to try!

It turned out to be the 7th one - bit of a tedious job - but boy can I change prop-shafts quick now!!!!!

it makes no difference which way its bolted to ird or diff

jamesmartin said:

it makes no difference which way its bolted to ird or diff

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Are you sure of that? It would be great if it were true.

Why does everyone (including Haynes) say to put alignment marks on then?

Thanks for the replies so far.

The bearing have been replaced with new eye watering LR ones.

I don't know if the shaft had been marked up, From the forums there seems to be two schools of thought over this.

The Propshafts do still have the balance weights on them.

Singvogel said:

Are you sure of that? It would be great if it were true.

Why does everyone (including Haynes) say to put alignment marks on then?

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probably because they dont understand ,props are balanced seperatley not on vehicle ,a prop initself needs aligment to be correct but not what it connects too ,for instance a prop shaft on a implement when fitted to tractor can go on any spline it makes no difference to balance same with vehicles ,how would you cope with new ird or diff ,it wouldnt be marked ,if it was necessary you wouldnt get props seperate,they would come with diff or you would have to get car balanced dynamically,plus 30 years of fitting all types ,

Fair enough James, but as the man from the banks of the Lossie says, there are two schools of thought on this one.

he may be wrong then ,maybe he could explain why

James:
Your explanation sounds logically correct.

What I am trying to work out is why so many other folks say to always replace in exactly the same position.

They can't all be mechanically ignorant. They must have a reason - I don't know what is.

Maybe some one on here can give us the 'mark before removing' theory.

The general rule of thumb is to mark the prop coz if its Ok before, then it will be when it goes back. I agree they are usually balanced as a complete unit, but it cant do any harm to put it back the same as it came off. Sometimes peeps have problems when they dont.

there are more myths now ,alot of info isnt now written by old engineers with experience ,especially mechanical stuff ,playing safe is often reason i suppose

Guys ,I only mentioned that there are two schools of thought, I'm sitting on the fence at the fence at the moment. If I had taken off the shaft I think I would have marked it up along the lines of everything has gone back in the same place.
I can also understand that a new shaft going on to the vehicle would not have any datum as such. I've spent a few hours reading the forums on the various reasons to mark or not to mark but none of them have resulted in a definitive answer or rectified the problem.

there are more important things to worry about - but its a good habit to get in to.

Land Rover say to mark them but then they have been saying the same for donkeys years. like James I think its rubbish and have never marked a shaft flange in 30yrs.

Maybe the problem in now with the tripod joint at the front which to my knowledge, as yet, no one has been able to source?

Lossie-Rover said:

Guys ,I only mentioned that there are two schools of thought, I'm sitting on the fence at the fence at the moment. If I had taken off the shaft I think I would have marked it up along the lines of everything has gone back in the same place.
I can also understand that a new shaft going on to the vehicle would not have any datum as such. I've spent a few hours reading the forums on the various reasons to mark or not to mark but none of them have resulted in a definitive answer or rectified the problem.

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I for one understand that fully - and I'm scratching my head as to how my experience can help you.

I'm thinking that perhaps something is out of line.

I remember a thread about VCU mountings, and the importance of things being exactly central, but can't find it. Yet.

Thanks again fellas. I'm going to have another look at it tomorrow starting with the alignment of the bearings again; failing that I the only other thing i can think of is that maybe the cv joint was damaged when the garage removed the propshaft or they have bent one of the shafts.

Singvogel said:

Did you mark the prop with alignment marks at both ends before removal to ensure that it went back on in exactly the same position as before?

The prop has weight stickers to balance it - have these became detached?

If the prop was not marked there are 6 bolts at the IRD end and 4 at the diff end - giving 24 different combinations as to how it can be re-assembled.

I made this mistake on my rally-car but it only had 4 bolts at each end - so I only had 16 permutations to try!

It turned out to be the 7th one - bit of a tedious job - but boy can I change prop-shafts quick now!!!!!

Click to expand...

agree hear as the prop is in two parts and you have to split to fit the vcu bearings .so if fitted in a diffrent position on the splines the ballance weights will be in diffrent positions.always mark propshafts when i take them off

mickymck said:

agree hear as the prop is in two parts and you have to split to fit the vcu bearings .so if fitted in a diffrent position on the splines the ballance weights will be in diffrent positions.always mark propshafts when i take them off

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1st post so be gentle. Surely as soon as the VCU turns the front and back prop will be in a different position. Each prop is balanced separately. I have a similar problem with a vibration at 30 mph and this is since fitting a recon VCU. I am convinced it is the VCU that is out of balance and I am considering removing the damper to see if this helps.

Sure it's the prop guys - I have been chasing a shimmy type vibe for ages - looks like it was 2 injectors out at differing rpm - it do felt like drive train but it's not.