Thread: D1 300tdi - heard a "snap" from front driver's wheel and now the wheel clicks!

So, lockdown eased a little and my wife and I just moved to the Bellarine which is lovely, so since it was such a nice weekend we went for a quick drive through Anglesea Heath which was really nice.

My D1 has seen much harder tracks than this but something may have been waiting to break. I was in low range, going through a rutty bit, nothing out of the ordinary, and the front driver's wheel went into the rut and was just going to come out the other side (it wasn't that deep) and as soon as the weight went on that wheel I heard a very loud "snap" like a loud branch breaking...but there were no branches...it then drive normally still forwards but when I took a slow corner turning left and was on near full lock but not quite, I heard a very obvious clicking sound coming from the front driver's wheel as it went around the corner. It was a pretty loud click and just kept going as I turned the corner. I could make the car repeat this noise when we turned left. I don't think it did it when we turned right and every now and then when the car would go over bumps and the suspension would flex I heard a few clicks again. No other real symptoms and it drove fine for the most part but the track wasn't exactly tricky. We did drive a lot more on the track though because we were halfway through and needed to get out, so it still drove, just clicked a bunch and that's a new noise.

Any ideas on that one?

Oh also my car sounds like a lawnmower but I think that might be an exhaust issue, yet to look into that one

Originally Posted by Young Angus

I still drove it for a good hour on a medium 4wd track with CDL engaged and it drove fine, couldn't tell if I had drive to all four wheels but it was driving well enough for a not very challenging track.

Then I drove it home for about 45 minutes with the CDL disengaged as normal.

Yeah, you had drive.
May be fragile, in that any hard acceleration or turning and accelerating may break it even more so, but if it's totally broken and CDL is not engaged you won't get drive.

You probably have most of the tools you need, maybe a pair of good circlip pliers(that open outwards) for the circlip.
Also you need the 52mm socket for the hub nut. Medium sized old chisels, although a very strong screwdriver could also work.
For the D1, the tin type 52mm box spanner, as opposed to the more expensive impact sockets is enough to do the work easy for 'ya.
I think my box spanner cost about $10.

So you should be able enough to do it ya'self in the driveway.