discovery FRONT AXLE HARMONIC DAMPER

[trickydicky]

hi all I'm upgrading the defender with real brakes ( disks on the rear )and thought id change both axles at the same time as my front axle has an advisory on excessive rust in the spring mounts .iv noticed the new front axle has a   FRONT AXLE HARMONIC DAMPER on the diff .can anybody tell me if its worth keeping on or do you guys think I'm better off removing it ?

[miketomcat]

I've taken it off the axle on 45 with no ill affects.

Mike

[trickydicky]

any idea why it was fitted ? 

 

[GW8IZR]

I fitted mine to the 90 and noticed no difference whatsoever.

Why were they fitted, dunno but when I was driving a Discovery 1 as a company car it seemed to make a difference under braking at motorway speeds, if when braking the things hit bumps the front axle shuddered and bounced, those with the damper didn't do it.

[trickydicky]

wow that's interesting I'm running on military tyres and hd springs as I carry a roof tent and it can get a bit rough when going over bumps perhaps this could help a little .

[GW8IZR]

Its hard to say without insider information, I'm sure LR fitted them for a reason BUT as I said - on my 90 I can't feel the slightest difference.

The addition happened when Discoveries etc were making that transition from semi agricultural work vehicles to fashion accessories where the users demanded a bit of refinement. 

Possibly softer spring rates / heavier engines / softer users / alloy wheels etc meant the damper was more significant ?

[Snagger]

I have one on my soft dash RRC.  I suspect it was fitted from the introduction of the 300Tdi and R380, possibly only for RR and Discovery higher spec models.  The Discovery 2 has a mass balance on the back of the LT230 that the Defender never had (along with the less successful dual mass flywheel), so LR only fitted these things to the more refined vehicles.

[GW8IZR]

53 minutes ago, Snagger said:

(snip) so LR only fitted these things to the more refined vehicles.

Or... LR only fitted these to vehicles they were trying to make more refined :-)

The timing of the 300TDi / R380 seems about right, we bought a few Discoveries at about that changeover and from new only some were fitted with the damper, we had two vehicles retrofitted with them and the drivers stated that they were better with them. (I've still got the number plates for one of them in the shed somewhere, it ended its life upside down after some spirited action)

[toenden]

9 hours ago, Snagger said:

I have one on my soft dash RRC.  I suspect it was fitted from the introduction of the 300Tdi and R380, possibly only for RR and Discovery higher spec models.  The Discovery 2 has a mass balance on the back of the LT230 that the Defender never had (along with the less successful dual mass flywheel), so LR only fitted these things to the more refined vehicles.

Ny parents defender td5 from 2000 has the balanceblock in the lt230 so it did make it to some defenders 😀

/mads 

[Bowie69]

My early and late '91 RRC had them, so definitely not just 300TDI on.

[miketomcat]

All four discos I've owned had them they were all 200tdis 92-93.

Mike

[GW8IZR]

My 300tdi's with a mixture of with/without were all commercial SVO builds and IME that means made of whatever bits were lying around - so I agree not the best data to work with.