Diff failing?

[Tinggu]

On a caravan trip from Western Vic up the E coast and now heading home from just N of Gympie. A bit concerned about a rumble from the back end when taking a right hand bend. Started as a faint rumble on roundabouts, now a bit louder and more frequent. Hoping it will get is home without a breakdown or stop for repairs as we have a tme limit to be home. Noise is a sort of BRRRRR coming from the back drivers side. Any comment or advice would be welcomed. Trying not to worry....
just clocked 310K
Thanks,
Pete

[bee utey]

Probably a wheel bearing. Best keep your speed down to prevent it from self destructing from overheating the dried out hub. I believe they're not very hard to change over.

[Tinggu]

Thanks for that. If it's not too big a job to change the bearing I wonder if it is even simpler to chuck some grease into the dry bearing? If it's something I can do on the roadside I might have a go.

[Roverlord off road spares]

Thanks for that. If it's not too big a job to change the bearing I wonder if it is even simpler to chuck some grease into the dry bearing? If it's something I can do on the roadside I might have a go.

D2 bearings are not serviceable to put grease into. They are a hub assembly with bearing

[AK83]

.... If it's not too big a job to change the bearing I wonder if it is even simpler to chuck some grease into the dry bearing? If it's something I can do on the roadside I might have a go.

technically .. not really. The bearing is a sealed unit. There is a small access hole for the ABS sensor, but I doubt you could get grease in there to stop the noise.

Bearings can be pretty hardy things if treated well.
I have a D1, so the bearing setup is different, D2 uses a hub assembly unit. Cost about $250-ish or so. Other than the required force for removing the axle nut, it's an easy job with basic sockets and stuff.
You may need a breaker bar and a large socket(32mm, 6point .. from memory). I had to jump up and down quite a lot(105kg) on a 600mm breaker bar to get an axle nut to start moving.

Both my LHS bearings were worn(and I thought it was a diff pinion too) for quite a few thousand klms, before I got the tell tale 'BRRRR' sound on turns too, but I don't drive hard(much!).
I think you just have to be weary and/or avoid of long continuous drives in hot weather. Most of my driving is shorter distances(up to about 200klms) and lightly loaded.

A mechanic should be able to do the replacement in about an hour, maybe less.
If you have the tools, maybe just a tad more if you haven't done one before(and factoring a couple of smoko breaks in there too) ;)

[JR1]

Have a touch of the rims for increased heat after driving. Might give an indication which side.

[ballbag]

I thought same recently about a resonance from front of vehicle - turned out to be wheel bearing. Lift wheel off ground and spin it and rock it looking for play. You’ll know if bearing is shot.

If you work out it is the bearing and you really must drive it I’d try to get grease in via the ABS sensor hole. Grease gun without the Zerk fitting should get it in there. Might encourage The 3 Amigos though.

[RobMichelle]

It definitely WILL bring the 3 blighters out to play, I did it on a front hub..
I'm in Casterton if ya make it home Tinggu not to far if ya need a hand with anything
Rob

[RobMichelle]

If noise is coming from driversode, going around right hand bends, wouldn't the weight be on left of vehicle,so noise in theory should come from left ??
Maybe a stone or something wedged in between brake disc and backing plate? Just throwing stuff out there

[Tinggu]

Thanks to all for the suggestions and advice. Will jack up that wheel tomorrow for a shake. Planning a short easy run to Brizzy tomorrow and see how she goes. I'd really like to nurse her home if poss.

[RobMichelle]

There's always wreckers and Ebay to get you home if needed,

[Leo109]

Thanks to all for the suggestions and advice. Will jack up that wheel tomorrow for a shake. Planning a short easy run to Brizzy tomorrow and see how she goes. I'd really like to nurse her home if poss.
Don't forget about MR Automotive at Redcliffe or British Offroad at Forest Glen (Sunshine Coast region) if you get into trouble. (No connections to me...)

[RobMichelle]

How is the troubleshooting going Peter?

[Tinggu]

I gave the wheel a spin and it sounded.......nothing, so I guess that's good. On our way home on the Newell and all is well

[RobMichelle]

Good to hear safe travels

[Nagaman]

LHS tyres get a hard time from verge often being less than perfect and a possibility of a scalloped tyre only showing up turning right.....just a thought.

[Tinggu]

Mobile service has been very scratchy but 2 bars now camped for the night just S of Forbes. She's been rolling along just fine. Lovely cool wheels. No change in the ocassional BRRRR as we go round roundabouts. Really appreciate the i test from you all. Sorta feels like if it all goes to poo there is help out there and that is a great comfort, so thank you!

[mrapocalypse]

Gympie has good Landy mechs if you need. GOLD CITY LANDROVERS.

[RobMichelle]

He's along way south from there now lol.
Stay up there Pete, weather here is shocking

[Tinggu]

Arrived home yesterday arvo and the old girl never missed a beat, just rolled along. The noise is still there on roundabouts but no worse. When i span the wheel the bearing was silent and so was the diff. A faint clunk as it took up the backlash but not excessive. No LR agents within cooey from here (near Horsham, VIC) so it will have to wait for a while. Next week we are taking our new boat trailer down to Paynesville and staying for 10 days. Plenty of Discos down there. Can someone suggest someone I might take it to for an opinion?
Thanks again for the suggestions and contact while we were on the road. BWs to you all.
Cheers,
Pete

[AK83]

what kind of tyres do you run on the D2?
ATs? MTs? HTs?

The amount of tyre noise they make can mask a noisy bearing.

I've got Yokohama ATs on my D1, and they make a lot more noise for a predominantly road biased tyre than I think they should.
But what happens is that on really newly laid bitumen, the tyre noise stops .. pretty much completely.
Around my area lots of new roadworks on the freeways and some main suburban roads, so what I do is roll the D1 in neutral for a short distance on these new surfaces to listen for bearing noise.

Bearing don't always make noises when you just spin them by hand, and they need some loading on them to make the noise.
In your situation, I'm thinking that a bearing is 'on the way out' .. ie. not fully worn, but worn enough that when you make a turn(in your case a right turn) that's when there's enough loading on the bearing to make the noise.
Same thing happened to my D1. On an easy straight run, I'd get no noise, but on fast RH sweeping bends the LHS of the car gets loaded up, and bearings make noise.
I couldn't work out tho if it was front, or rear .. noise wasn't particularly concentrated either front or rear.. just LHS of the car.
I changed the front bearing(D1 is an assembly that needs to be built up), so when the bearing came out it was obvious that the bearing collar had bad wear marking.
Beauty I thought! fix was easy. But on the test drive, the noise was even worse, and now I could hear it on a easy straight run! :bat:
Turned out the rear left was also worn when I did that one too.
My problem was then that I must have set too much tension(but going by the assembly method according to RAVE), so after rear was done I still had some noise. Too much tension. After a few runs tho, it's all gone, so I reckon it's sorted itself.
I had plans to pull the rear apart again to re do it's tension, but now that it stopped whining I think it's going fine.

The problem with the old style of bearing assemblies I guess .. a non expert can stuff it up easily.
But on your D2, you can't really muck it up. As long as you have the tools to do the work, it'll take you about an hour or two to change a bearing out. I'd say do it.
From what I've read tho, do not go with cheap bearing options. I think some can have the incorrect number of teeth on the ABS sensor, which then mucks things up electrically in the D2.
So the advice is to get a bearing from a reputable retailer. I think it cost brother about $250, fitted easily no amigos popping up, so we assume the bearing he got was the correct type.

Tools handy to have again: 32mm socket, long breaker bar, large philips screwdriver or better a impact driver with philips head .. just in case the security screw on the brake disc is stuck.

So most likely you have a wearing bearing, and you may well make it to Paynesville and back .. and further again, but at some point it will get noisy all the time.

[Leo109]

Hi Peter,

How is the diagnosis going? If still not sorted, perhaps have a look at the condition of your 'doughnut' - rear prop shaft to diff pinion shaft joint.

Ww've gone through a few of these on the D1A with heavy towing (2.3T ATM). When really stuffed, you can get steel to steel contact and resultant grinding noises. Possible more noticable at low speed around roundabouts when you're putting a lot of torque through it?

Just a thought.

[Tinggu]

what kind of tyres do you run on the D2?
ATs? MTs? HTs?

The amount of tyre noise they make can mask a noisy bearing.

I've got Yokohama ATs on my D1, and they make a lot more noise for a predominantly road biased tyre than I think they should.
But what happens is that on really newly laid bitumen, the tyre noise stops .. pretty much completely.
Around my area lots of new roadworks on the freeways and some main suburban roads, so what I do is roll the D1 in neutral for a short distance on these new surfaces to listen for bearing noise.

Bearing don't always make noises when you just spin them by hand, and they need some loading on them to make the noise.
In your situation, I'm thinking that a bearing is 'on the way out' .. ie. not fully worn, but worn enough that when you make a turn(in your case a right turn) that's when there's enough loading on the bearing to make the noise.
Same thing happened to my D1. On an easy straight run, I'd get no noise, but on fast RH sweeping bends the LHS of the car gets loaded up, and bearings make noise.
I couldn't work out tho if it was front, or rear .. noise wasn't particularly concentrated either front or rear.. just LHS of the car.
I changed the front bearing(D1 is an assembly that needs to be built up), so when the bearing came out it was obvious that the bearing collar had bad wear marking.
Beauty I thought! fix was easy. But on the test drive, the noise was even worse, and now I could hear it on a easy straight run! :bat:
Turned out the rear left was also worn when I did that one too.
My problem was then that I must have set too much tension(but going by the assembly method according to RAVE), so after rear was done I still had some noise. Too much tension. After a few runs tho, it's all gone, so I reckon it's sorted itself.
I had plans to pull the rear apart again to re do it's tension, but now that it stopped whining I think it's going fine.

The problem with the old style of bearing assemblies I guess .. a non expert can stuff it up easily.
But on your D2, you can't really muck it up. As long as you have the tools to do the work, it'll take you about an hour or two to change a bearing out. I'd say do it.
From what I've read tho, do not go with cheap bearing options. I think some can have the incorrect number of teeth on the ABS sensor, which then mucks things up electrically in the D2.
So the advice is to get a bearing from a reputable retailer. I think it cost brother about $250, fitted easily no amigos popping up, so we assume the bearing he got was the correct type.

Tools handy to have again: 32mm socket, long breaker bar, large philips screwdriver or better a impact driver with philips head .. just in case the security screw on the brake disc is stuck.

So most likely you have a wearing bearing, and you may well make it to Paynesville and back .. and further again, but at some point it will get noisy all the time.
Thanks for the info. I think another poster pointed out that if the RH bearing was on the way out, swinging to the right would put extra load on the LH bearing........but the noise comes from the right. Perhaps the bearings do need replacing but I'm hoping that there will be more warnings before failure. At present they run lovely and cool, even at the end of an eight hour drive. Sounds like a job I could do myself with the purchase of 32mm socket, but not prepared to lash out $500 on a "chase the noise" venture.
Cheers,
Pete

[Tinggu]

Hi Peter,

How is the diagnosis going? If still not sorted, perhaps have a look at the condition of your 'doughnut' - rear prop shaft to diff pinion shaft joint.

Ww've gone through a few of these on the D1A with heavy towing (2.3T ATM). When really stuffed, you can get steel to steel contact and resultant grinding noises. Possible more noticable at low speed around roundabouts when you're putting a lot of torque through it?

Just a thought.

Thanks, I'll have a look. I've found the noise persists even coasting round the roundabouts.

[Leo109]

Thanks, I'll have a look. I've found the noise persists even coasting round the roundabouts.
"Bump"
Any updates Pete?