Thread: Vibration mystery partly solved.

Check your front shaft unis, I had a similar case recently, and that was all it was.

Andy

You just might be onto something there Andrew, it does feel like it could be the case.
How did you check your unis?
Cheers, Pete.

Couple of things:

re. DIY shock absorber test: whether it's airbags or coils ...doesn't matter. If you get continuing rebound the shocks are likely to be past use-by date..

Bilsteins vs OEM oil (only) originals: The Bs are a quality product and probably come into their own in reducing fade on sustained stretches of corrugated road . For normal use however, the OEM Boges are very good and retain the true RR ride characteristics.

Tyres: have you checked the tyres for "out-of-round" ? i.e. "runout"
Set a ruler across the face of the tread...just touching, rotate wheel and measure the runout...it only takes a couple of mm to cause problems.

some specialist tyre dealers have a machine which will remove the excess tread and restore virtually perfect "circularity"

Front UJs: drop out the front shaft and take for a spin... if replacement needed, go for the upgraded heavy duty Hardy Spicer UJs which are also common to the Defender (about $50 each...ouch)...

Part # TVC 100010 or TVC10010G (metal caps)

if you do, make sure you "purge" them with grease when fitted.. they are greased minimally to protect them in storage. They are meant to be greased so that when full, the grease weeps out ALL of the 4 rubber seals. The seals are designed for this purpose... there are lots of misconceptions about this!

Good luck...am watching with interest! Mine still vibrates (less so) but am now about to check for out of round tyres (Cooper H/T)

Thanks for the great post Hoges, I'll be checking all those things, will keep you posted on my findings. I'm fairly new to P38's, so still finding my way around as far as repairs go, so this info is invaluable to me.
Cheers, Pete.

Originally Posted by PeterH

You just might be onto something there Andrew, it does feel like it could be the case.
How did you check your unis?
Cheers, Pete.

chock the car, put it in neutral, handbreak off. Lay under and lift the center part of the shaft up and down. there should be no movement at all. Sometimes there is movement in the unis and sometimes there is some in the bearings on the transfer or diff. Any movement is bad and causes vibration. Takes 5 minuts to see.

Andy

Well what do you know, I finally got a chance to get under the car and check the front shaft today, I found the very front uni had a good 1cm play on one axis (when pushed up and down). I just may have found the culprit.
The uni on the rear of the front shaft has no movement at all.
Is it ok to replace just the suspect uni or do I need to do both at once?
I'm very happy I found that, thanks again andrew e.

Originally Posted by PeterH

Is it ok to replace just the suspect uni or do I need to do both at once?

They are cheap and, as you have the tail shaft out, replace both.

Originally Posted by PeterH

I found the very front uni had a good 1cm play on one axis (when pushed up and down).

1cm !! That's a lucky catch.

I'd be buying a lottery ticket along with the unis .