Whining from gearbox

I'm picturing him Indiana Jones like hanging out the door of the Landy wi his head underneath the landy, a wooden stick stuffed up his earhole listening to the gear box doing 40mph.

Brown said:

Or sometimes finding a bit of bone behind your ear can work well. I used to have one of those old fashioned wooden screwdrivers with a long metal shank and a round wooden handle. If you rest your skull against the wooden handle and the other end against the component that might be making a noise or vibrating you can hear the offending sound very well.

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Phew! I was beginning to suspect that DROBERTS thought I was bonkers!

I find other having my missus in the true k stops the whining straight away.

Well, just to give an example. If I'm having a bath and put my watch on the side near the taps and then lie down and rest the nape of my neck on the back of the bath I can hear it ticking. The vibration comes all the way through her bath and the back of my skull. I've got to be quite close up to hear it under normal circumstances.

Al2O3 said:

A listening stick is just that, a stick for listening! Usually a hard wood dowel about 1cm diameter. (I'm guessing a bit here) You press it against the side of your skull, just in front of your ear. The other end you press on where you suspect a noise is coming from. You can track down the source of a noise. They are particularly effective for subtle noises like yours. I presume you've tried to freewheel out of gear to compare the noise with gearbox engaged, in order to eliminate a road wheel bearing etc. You might need to get it up on a four post to listen to the transfer box in action with the stick.

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Cheers Al203. The sound only happens in 5th gear and above around 38 MPH. As I'm sure you can accept, it's kinda tough to stick my nut to where the sound is coming from. I'm sure it is the transfer box. My wheel bearings have all been checked and are fine. I needed a couple of them fixed but it hasn't fixed my problem. It is ****ing winding me up now cos it's been a ****ing great 4x4. I'm sure I could run it into the ground for another 8 years but I actually want to help it out. I feel kinda emotional about it now. I haven't treated it well but it just keeps going and going. If it ever stops working entirely then it will just get parked at the back of my garden alongside my MK2 Golf. Good cars don't die, they just go into storage until Classic cars mag drags them out as a barn find. Although, at the moment, if they skulk about in my barns they will find the worlds biggest collection of nudey books, stroke jotters, jazz pamphlets, health magazines and anal annuals. When my barn finds are found I will either be a genius or locked up. lol

Brown said:

Well, just to give an example. If I'm having a bath and put my watch on the side near the taps and then lie down and rest the nape of my neck on the back of the bath I can hear it ticking. The vibration comes all the way through her bath and the back of my skull. I've got to be quite close up to hear it under normal circumstances.

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Brown you really need to buy a shower mate. lol. You're watch phoned me and said help!!! lol. Only joking mate. Thanks so much for you help. I know what you mean about sound travelling. It's just too tough when I'm doing about 38 MPH. Cheers for the help.

I mostly do have showers, come to think of it. It's just an example of vibration travelling through metal and bone with a lot less attenuation than when it goes through air. If you really want to splash out, you could get a mechanics stethoscope.

Is it unbearable? A bit of whine is part of gearbox ageing, a bit like the groaning noise you have to make when bending over once old enough There could still be another ten years left in it whilst doing that.

Brown and Rattlegun. Sorry it's taken me so long to get back. Life has been a bit crazy for me the past few months. Brown listen to you with you big words like "attenuation" and "stethescope". What are you, bloody Stephen Fry or something??? Only joking mate, I have borrowed a mechanics stethescope but all that happened was that the neighbours thought that after me starting the Freelander with a hammer for 6 months that I had finally lost the plot. Pensioners can be very rude when they think I'm acting more unusually than them.
Rattlegun, I think you may be right with the 10 years left in it. If the Freelander made even half the noises I make when doing anything that involves me moving more than 5 inches at a time then that's the time to worry. Is there a website that you can report problems with your own body??? that worries you more than your car??? Or is that just called hospital?

Well loads of people seem to post on here about their health problems. It makes sense after all. If there's something wrong with you, what you really need is a Land Rover enthusiast, in the same way that when there's something wrong with your Land Rover you'd want to take it to the doctors'.

Yeah I've not been having too many health probs. Any I do have are fag/booze self inflicted. Just other stuff happening while life is trying to go on. I do need a Land Rover specialist but I cant get a hold of one. Are you a volunteer? I can offer you room, board and a couple of great nights out. I can guarantee you will get laid. ****, if things don't work out I'll do it myself. lol

Well, that's most hospitable. Sadly I'm too tied up with work and other projects just now to make a trip to Rutherglen (isn't that 'red valley' in Gaelic?) just now but I'll pm you when I'm north of the border to see if you're free for a cup/glass of something and a look at the Land Rover.

Thanks Brown, you are very kind. You are correct, Rutherglen does indeed mean the red Glen but no-one knows why it's called that. Rutherglen is a Royal Borough that was here about 400 years before Glasgow. In fact there is a place in Rutherglen with a plaque that says that this was the spot in the 13th century that Sir William Wallace was handed over to the English. We have loads of streets that start with Prince, queen, duke and castle. Where the castle is a matter of local debate. I'm pretty sure i know where it is. There is a rocky outcrop overlooking the railway. It is a natural place for a castle and all the regal streets point towards it. Most decent Scots are sick of all this tartan and kilts ****e. If you fronted up to Wallace in a kilt he would have booted you in the haw maws. The kilt is an invention of of mainly Queen Victoria and Sir Walter Scott. It has now been corrupted so much that it is now worn with a ****ing Bow Tie and a short suit jacket. Unfortunately most of Scots will not be happy until they turn us into a ****ing theme park. The best thing the Scottish nation ever did was to join forces, minds, wealth and fighting forces with England. It was, and remains the greatest union the world has ever seen. Please do not underestimate the good feeling that most decent scots/brits have for you guys. We are brothers