Thread: Limping home - disconnecting front or rear prop shafts

I was out camping with GCLRO this weekend when a D1 developed a clicking noise from the front axle. A damaged CV was suspected at first so the left CV was removed but the clicking continued and the diff became the prime suspect.

It was decided to remove the right CV and the front prop shaft and drive home with the CDL locked creating a 2WD Disco that could still get home without making an existing problem worse but avoiding a tow truck.

It got my Dad and I wondering what would happen if you had a D3\4\RRS that developed a drive line problem and you where in the middle of nowhere... could you remove the prop-shaft and CVs and drive home in 2WD?

I can see the computer having a major fit because it would need to lock the Centre Diff to stop all the drive escaping out the of the TC but it wouldn't detect any wheel spin from the disabled wheel's ABS sensors.

Maybe it would be smart enough to recognise that something was horribly wrong and go into a Limp Home Mode which would by default lock the Centre Diff? Kind of like when it gets a suspension fault it lowers the car and disables the TR system.

Any thoughts?

Do any of the TR modes permanently lock the Centre Diff?

Does the TC have speed sensors on its output shafts? Do they diffs have any sensors that might help the computer work out whats going on?

Its something I'd like to consider now and not when I'm stuck out back of beyond.

Originally Posted by sniegy

1800181189

Now THAT'S funny!!!!

Even funnier is out with a group once, one bloke broke a CV. Got the car back to a dirt road, phoned RACV. On speakerphone.

Bloke - "Gidday, membership XXX, need a tow please."

RACV girl - "What's the matter? We need to be sure the vehicle cannot be fixed before we organise a tow."

Bloke - "No, it's definitely a tray job."

RACV girl - "Where are you, and what's wrong with the car?"

Bloke - "On XXX, a 2WD dirt road, and the CV's busted."

RACV girl - "Have you been 4WDing?"

Bloke -- "Err, no. No..."

RACV girl -- "Well you don't do a bloody CV on a dirt road do you! OK I'll get you a towie!"

we all fell about laughing. Literally ROFL time.

Nearly as funny as the time another bloke called his missus, on a carphone, at 6am in the morning after we'd accidentally spent the night int the forest. No, take that back. That was funnier. He was banned from associating with us after that. I still remember that classic line, delivered at sub-zero temperature -- "EXACTLY WHERE IN VICTORIA ARE YOU NOW?" and I nearly called out her name's Helen not Victoria.

Having said that RACV Girl was wrong. Last time we went looking for trouble we expected to lose vehicles to grief, but I didn't expect a 4Runner to retire with a bust CV on the dirt road into the forest. Toyota owners uncharacteristically quiet for a while after that.