allinger Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Yesterday wife calls up, all upset, and says that as she was driving to work, something started rattling horribly under the car. After a minute or two of driving, there was this tremendous bang and then she was unable to get the car (-99 Defender 110) in gear, so had to leave it by the curb. Knowing her, at times, alarmist attitude towards the motor I took the news with resonable calm - however, given that the car is 11 years old and has 22k on the clock I started looking into possible symptoms, clutch, DMF etc. After having sorted a helping hand to tow the thing home and starting towing, there was this massive clanging noise from under the car. The gear-box side propshaft joint had disintegrated and now the propshaft proper was resting on the frame. Well - that explained the noise at least. And before any well-meaning and instructive comments are posted - yes, in the back of my head I knew that the propshafts need lubricating - but I never got around to it. Believe me, I spanked myself raw with sharpened credit cards all last night... As for the symptoms - and hopefully some comments to them - I now have a car in which I'm able to select any gear, without de-clutching. Which is not a good thing. With the engine on and a gear selected I get tinkling noises from the gearbox/bellhouse area. Since everything else has been going smashing lately, I suspect that the tinkling noise is the result of something in the gear- or transfer box having gone kaputt. Other than that - could it possibly (hopefully) be clutch-related? I'm now in the process of sorting out a shop that will do the labour and allow me to supply the parts, as they charge a pint of blood and your firstborn for spares in this wretched country (trying to point a finger at the clutch yesterday, I found out that the local suppliers charges GBP 375 for a clutch kit and GBP 740 for a DMF ). Then to pull the trigger... And should I have to down gearbox way, I at least know what to give the kiddies for x-mas - "Oooo, look! Santa gave you a nice broken propshaft! You can use that to beat the snot out of the other kiddies at kindergarten..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Could the centre have ripped out of the clutch friction plate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Wont you need to engage the difflock to drive it if one of the props is disconnected? The power will all be going to the transfer box output of the disconnected propshaft without difflock engaged. You may be lucky and find all else is ok if you can drive it in difflock and the noises are there normally, just you can hear them now as everything is turning over without any road noise to drown them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allinger Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 The power will all be going to the transfer box output of the disconnected propshaft without difflock engaged. Transfer output I didn't even give a thought to. After having spent a couple of hours on my back under the car, on wet and gritty tarmac, in the light of a headlamp, following a 10k bike commute home and not having had any dinner, I guess my mechanical aptitude was taken down yet another notch. I'll give that a shot tonight! However, there's still the tinkly-nose and selecting-gear-without-declutching issues to deal with. And CwazyWabbit - as crazy at it might sound a ripped-out pressure plate would really, really make my day. At least when compared to the alternative, that is... Thanks for the input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 However, there's still the tinkly-nose and selecting-gear-without-declutching issues to deal with. I can put my transfer box in neutral and move through the gears without the clutch (you can do it quite smotthly with the drive connected if you get the revs right). I guess this is effectivley what you have here as there is no load on the transmission if all the drive is going to the output the prop has been disconnected from. I'd try it in difflock and if it drives, just fit a new prop for now and see if it seems 'normal' after that. The other thing to check for is the damage a flailing prop might have done, but if you've been under it a lot, you would have spotted that already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 As Reb says - select diff lock or the vehicle won't move. I would expect you to be able to change gear without the clutch if a prop was disconnected. Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomikey Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 which side of the prop it the yoke still on? if it is still attached to the gearbox side, the noise may be just that moving as it goes round i would just replace the prop for now and see if the noise clears, it is quite unlikely that the clutch or anthing would go at the exact same time as the propshaft, i think if antrhing it could just be a n output bearing in the xfer box that could have self destructed as the prop vibrates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happyoldgit Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Don't attempt to move it with the defective propshaft or parts of it still attached. Once that is out of the way as the others have said you should get drive to the other axle once you've engaged the difflock but do check that the whatever it is that happened did not jolt the transfer box into neutral. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allinger Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 I can put my transfer box in neutral and move through the gears without the clutch (you can do it quite smotthly with the drive connected if you get the revs right). I really do wear my ignorance as a badge, don't I... The other thing to check for is the damage a flailing prop might have done, but if you've been under it a lot, you would have spotted that already. Unfortunately the only thing I saw yesterday was red... I'll look for potential damage during the w/e - it's well dark by the time I get home and honestly, I've had my fill of crawling around under cars for this week i would just replace the prop for now and see if the noise clears, I'll do that, then. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 I really do wear my ignorance as a badge, don't I... Dont worry about it. I'd have done the same being called to look at it in the dark, expecting the worst along with a big bill! Best thing sometimes is to leave it for a think, maybe discuss it on here and then go back to it later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakmaster Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 I really do wear my ignorance as a badge, don't I... me too Mate Me too, - thats the great thing about this forum - I dont understand half of what these learned blokes are saying but I'm learning fast! and enjoying the experience - thanks guys! cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlosbeldia Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Just take out the propshaft, lock de central diff and straight forward to home or workshop, not a catastrophic failure. It happened in my car a year ago and have to replace the front connection to the front diff with a Santana's one (due to lack of spare in Colombia). The only side effect was a bad scar in the surface of the cabin floor.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wunntenn Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Allinger - dont worry about 'seeming' stupid! I know my way around my 110 pretty well and have a reasonable knowledge of how things fit, work and sound and do all my own servcing and repairs. But......here's two of my bloopers - stranded at roadside with wobbling rattling noise which I couldn't locate, any driving was making really 'damage' creating sounds. I gave up searching for a cause and called the AA and guy arrived, and after 30 seconds.......tightened my front nearside wheelnuts! Which had loosened after I'd swapped my tyres around the week before! And dont even mention the time I left the 'key' for the locking wheel nut lying on the verge after changing a puncture, but not realising I'd left it there until I had another puncture a few months later and could not find the key....... Hope your fix is easy and not overly expensive - it'd be a shame if your children had no Christmas presents....or maybe got a gearbox instead of a cowboy outfit and bicycle... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 .... it'd be a shame if your children had no Christmas presents....or maybe got a gearbox instead of a cowboy outfit and bicycle... I'd have been over the moon to be given a Land Rover gearbox as a kid My would mother probably have been somewhat less impressed though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 Any updates? Was curious as to the outcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.