Thread: What happened to your Discovery 2 today?

Had an ignition key blank cut to replace the ignition key I broke. $12.95 at Minit Man.

It has had a thorough clean inside and out! Ready for our next adventure! Goes in for hand controls to be fitted next week

Installed a remote head UHF and didn't need to drill one single hole in the car. This is truly a first for me!

Looks good with those flash LEDs.

Originally Posted by RRT

THought came to mind, could it be the rear rubber ring which is one thing we didn't replace on the drivetrain? How does this react in relation to speed?


EDIT

Just did a whole lot of research and am going to replace the rotoflex, seemingly the most probable cause

Yeah, can happen.
I did my D1 a few months back.
under there for a quick inspect whilst servicing, and found the front uni on the rear shaft had a couple mil play. Took shaft off to fix AND only then I found many hairline cracks in the rotoflex.

Had a spare rotoflex and had uni so job was started. Uni's are a total PITA to remove refit compared to a donut .. never had thought to convert too. I just think of 'em as a service item .. $100 every 5 or so years isn't a life threatening threat!
So new uni up front and a new rotoflex only down back .. and vibes went into the red zone ... whoa! I pulled the shaft out again(PITA job itself .. need to get a better socket tool) .. unit was perfectly smooth .. rotoflex was still new.
All I could muster as a thought was "what th'a".
Anyhow, even tho old one was cracked badly(not borken, just lots of small cracks .. so one day will break! .. put it back on. Vibes now lessened, but not the silky smooth I had before I touched the rear prop at all. I thought maybe a bit of crud between flanges or something .. but the lower vibes with the older donut made me sus about the bit I put in .. new for sure, but zero markings on it .. I was given by a member off here(changed brands, he did) nice guy.

So anyhow, I read a bit about installing them, and many folks recommend to do it all and right. that is, not just the rubber, change the locating pin and the blood pressure raising cup bearing inside the rear of the prop(for the locating pin).
Got a bearmach kit from my local guy, and thankfully the donut inside was a GKN. If it ain't stamped as such, forget it.
I don't believe that the stamp is proof of genuine GKN, but from a reputable supplier a higher probability.
Anyhow a couple days later with all new rubber, bolts(at the least renew all nuts, they are ... cup bearing(PITA that it was) .. and those lesser vibes went back into lockdown too.
All nice and silky smooth again .. as smooth as Tdi can be anyhow.

I think I learned two things(maybe 3) .. don't use unbranded stuff on important locations around the car, unless you run clapped out superswamper type tyres where the increase in NVH won't make any difference anyhow.
Listen to when the folks that do it regularly say .. do it proper(ie. in this matter .. don't just do the donut. The pin and bearing don't add a lot more to the total price and you can get good kits out there.

I kept my old donut as a spare(in the back) .. and chucked the new non name out. They're easy to change out in the scrub if ever needed, and it's one of those items folks tend to forget about.
We've all heard horror stories of unis breaking up at speed .. so I don't buy the rotoflex is less durable argument. Mine lasted 100K klms. It hasn't done the hardest of hard lives, but it hasn't been easy either. if lockdown wasn't killing us, I'd say mine has had a bit more than an averagely hard life .. not a road only D1, but I'm not a hard core superflexy type either. I reckon mine would have done another minimum 20K klms if gently driven. ie. knowing it was in not perfect condition, I'd have driven accordingly.

Originally Posted by AK83

Yeah, can happen.
I did my D1 a few months back.
under there for a quick inspect whilst servicing, and found the front uni on the rear shaft had a couple mil play. Took shaft off to fix AND only then I found many hairline cracks in the rotoflex.

Had a spare rotoflex and had uni so job was started. Uni's are a total PITA to remove refit compared to a donut .. never had thought to convert too. I just think of 'em as a service item .. $100 every 5 or so years isn't a life threatening threat!
So new uni up front and a new rotoflex only down back .. and vibes went into the red zone ... whoa! I pulled the shaft out again(PITA job itself .. need to get a better socket tool) .. unit was perfectly smooth .. rotoflex was still new.
All I could muster as a thought was "what th'a".
Anyhow, even tho old one was cracked badly(not borken, just lots of small cracks .. so one day will break! .. put it back on. Vibes now lessened, but not the silky smooth I had before I touched the rear prop at all. I thought maybe a bit of crud between flanges or something .. but the lower vibes with the older donut made me sus about the bit I put in .. new for sure, but zero markings on it .. I was given by a member off here(changed brands, he did) nice guy.

So anyhow, I read a bit about installing them, and many folks recommend to do it all and right. that is, not just the rubber, change the locating pin and the blood pressure raising cup bearing inside the rear of the prop(for the locating pin).
Got a bearmach kit from my local guy, and thankfully the donut inside was a GKN. If it ain't stamped as such, forget it.
I don't believe that the stamp is proof of genuine GKN, but from a reputable supplier a higher probability.
Anyhow a couple days later with all new rubber, bolts(at the least renew all nuts, they are ... cup bearing(PITA that it was) .. and those lesser vibes went back into lockdown too.
All nice and silky smooth again .. as smooth as Tdi can be anyhow.

I think I learned two things(maybe 3) .. don't use unbranded stuff on important locations around the car, unless you run clapped out superswamper type tyres where the increase in NVH won't make any difference anyhow.
Listen to when the folks that do it regularly say .. do it proper(ie. in this matter .. don't just do the donut. The pin and bearing don't add a lot more to the total price and you can get good kits out there.

I kept my old donut as a spare(in the back) .. and chucked the new non name out. They're easy to change out in the scrub if ever needed, and it's one of those items folks tend to forget about.
We've all heard horror stories of unis breaking up at speed .. so I don't buy the rotoflex is less durable argument. Mine lasted 100K klms. It hasn't done the hardest of hard lives, but it hasn't been easy either. if lockdown wasn't killing us, I'd say mine has had a bit more than an averagely hard life .. not a road only D1, but I'm not a hard core superflexy type either. I reckon mine would have done another minimum 20K klms if gently driven. ie. knowing it was in not perfect condition, I'd have driven accordingly.

Thanks Arthur, in the research seemed the Bearmach one was one of those recommended and does come with the centre bearing in the kit with bolts so did go this way just waiting on the delivery. The centre pin cant be harder than the rear differential flange can it? Although have read many a horror story now!

I am a big believer in treatment of rubber with protectants, in particular 303 which I tend to give a good soak of all rubbers initially and then treat regularly, airbags are one which I intend to do at least every 6 months along with regular washing of course. The easiest vindication of the value is on windscreen rubbers! That said rubber is a service item and does have a finite life.

Being where they are Bags and Donut aren’t subject to much UV.

The factory donut is still on my D2 with 33s and 4” lift and has been like that for 20 years.

During this build it will get replaced, only because it’s all apart at the moment.

Driving home from work this morning and start to hear a whistling sound. It gets louder and higher pitched. I pulled over to see if I could see anything and the whistling stopped. I was about 10km from home so I thought I'll go easy on the old girl. The whistling returned with acceleration but I kept the acceleration to a minimum. Got home and let her cool down a bit before I had a look. The exhaust manifold has warped and busted the bottom stud on the 5th cylinder. Ah well what do you do? Lucky it's nearly the weekend and I've got plenty of time to take it off and check the damage. Hopefully I can get it machined and not have to replace.

Edit: 1/2 hour later and I've got a machined de-webbed replacement on the way with new gasket, studs and nuts for $250 delivered including sending mine back to them for machining. I've ordered 10 new studs in case any others need replacing besides the busted one. If not it's always handy to have a few spares around anyway.