Range goes clunk & will only drive with diff locked

[Dave88]

Hi All, I was going around a round-a-bout (lots of them in Canberra) in my 88 Rangie and something went CLUNK and I lost drive. I can now only get drive with the center diff locked. I have recently had some noise and feedback through the steering which a new steering damper has almost fixed.

So any thoughts on what is going on? Transfer case or front diff maybe?

How far/long can I drive with the center diff locked?

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers

Dave

[mike 90 RR]

Hi Dave

Stop driving her (when you say center diff locked // do you mean rear diff??)

Diff lock means both axels are locked tight and you are about to snap axels

You have lost / broken your spider gears or hemisphere
Bucket loads of metal are now chewing at the whole diff

Time to pull out diff centers and stick in new

Regards Mike

[Frenchie]

You have broken something in either the front or rear axle, halfshaft, diff or CV.

[Dave88]

Thanks Guys - sounds ominous (and expensive) and too risky to drive so will get a tow.

Cheers

Dave

[rovercare]

If it was a CLUNK then silence, its most likely an axle and safe to continue to drive with CDL in, but if it was a clunk grind crunch or clunk.......................clunk, type sound, its probably a diff centre, which may well lock whilst driving, so limping home at a sedate pace is the option;)

[rovercare]

Hi Dave

Stop driving her (when you say center diff locked // do you mean rear diff??)

Diff lock means both axels are locked tight and you are about to snap axels

You have lost / broken your spider gears or hemisphere
Bucket loads of metal are now chewing at the whole diff

Time to pull out diff centers and stick in new

Regards Mike

He means centre diff lock, which means both front and rear diffs are solidly linked, but if something has let go in one of them (which obviously has) there is nothing to produce windup

[George130]

Will be an axel or diff.
Are you handy with the spanners?
If so I have a diff centre that might fit.

[vnx205]

If it was a CLUNK then silence, its most likely an axle and safe to continue to drive with CDL in, but if it was a clunk grind crunch or clunk.......................clunk, type sound, its probably a diff centre, which may well lock whilst driving, so limping home at a sedate pace is the option;)
How are us laymen supposed to cope if you mechanics keep using technical language we don't understand?:p

[rovercare]

How are us laymen supposed to cope if you mechanics keep using technical language we don't understand?:p

I'm not a mechanic:mad:;)

[softdashclassic]

check the front end sounds like a cv joint to me
possible but unlikely to be axles
more likely to be cv joint, probably no oil in swivel housing
check both sides

[mike 90 RR]

He means centre diff lock, which means both front and rear diffs are solidly linked, but if something has let go in one of them (which obviously has) there is nothing to produce windup

I thought about axles only .. but went for worse case ..

What your saying is the 88 has a manual lock at transfer? and he doesn't have a rear diff lock? ... (guessing he has a 1988 RR)

[rovercare]

I thought about axles only .. but went for worse case ..

What your saying is the 88 has a manual lock at transfer? and he doesn't have a rear diff lock? ... (guessing he has a 1988 RR)

Yes 88 has centre diff lock;)

[Dave88]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Yep, definately center diff lock not rear, and from reading my manual and other assorted Rangie stuff it is best not to do any road driving with it locked. Will get a professional diagnosis and if it is prohibitively expensive :mad: and something I can possibly do myself I will no doubt post with lots of "how to" questions. :confused:

thanks again (and I think I've figured out the smileys...) :)

Dave

[rovercare]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Yep, definately center diff lock not rear, and from reading my manual and other assorted Rangie stuff it is best not to do any road driving with it locked. Will get a professional diagnosis and if it is prohibitively expensive :mad: and something I can possibly do myself I will no doubt post with lots of "how to" questions. :confused:

thanks again (and I think I've figured out the smileys...) :)

Dave

Its going to cost you a bomb via a business:eek:

Surely there is someone in canberra, that can help out?

I'd offer, but might be a little far:twisted:

[CraigE]

I had exactly the same with my RRC and thought it was the centre diff or trans case and pulled that all out before checking the CV. It was in the end a CV joint had chewed out. It is fairly easy to check, remove the outer half shaft axle and have a look. Also drop your diff oil and look for metal. Drop your transfer case oil and look for metal. May give you some idea. It is not that hard to pull out the gearbox, trans case and centre diff just time consuming and if you can do this will save you a heap in mechanics fees.

[George130]

Do you have access to the manuals?
PM me if you want some help for DIY.

[cal415]

try leaving the centre diff unlocked and put it in gear and have look at which taill shaft spins, that will give you an idea of which end to start on.

[Dave88]

Kudos to all who correctly diagnosed a CV joint. I can't claim to have done the work myself as the Rangie had already been towed to a professional but thankfully it was a reasonably priced job. Thanks to all for the input.

Dave

[CraigE]

Dave,
Great news. Glad thats all it was. As often said check the easy things first.
You may want to consider looking at the other side some time as well. May be good practice on how to do them. Not very hard at all to do. A bit time consuming though. Allow half a day to a day for inexperience. The hardest bit was setting the shims.
Cheers
CraigE

[mitch]

first time i pulled out a CV was 9pm in a cold muddy swamp in the rain being EATEN by mosquitos.






Sure was fun though :D