2012 Defender 110 - bad clucking noise

[wannabeexplorer]

Morning

It's been 4 days since I got my brand new defender back from the dealers workshop after replacing the transfer box; and the shudder & bad clucking noise which mainly sounded like coming from the middle has gone; which is a good thing of course.
I again took it onto some gravel roads to play with all the gears & diff lock, and everything is working as expected and drives well, BUT once I've driven more than 20kms (I'm guessing everything gets a change to get to 'operating' temperature) there is a bad clunking noise coming from the rear whenever I slow down...?
I can hear the noise slowing down out of gear; breaking with clutch / out of gear and even rolling very slowly in neutral (as you would having it towed all drive disengaged)

I'm 'mechanically challenged', but my plan is to drive it around until I hear the noise again and then lift the back so I can spin the wheels by hand to see if I can at least pin point where that noise come from

Your thoughts and suggestions are as always much appreciated

[Hoges]

I wouldn't spend any more time mucking around...drive it straight back to the dealer and refuse to accept it until they guarantee they've fixed it.. (one explanation might be universal joints were not properly reinstalled when they replaced the transfer case)... the sooner you take it back the more impact it will have Be brave! and assertive ...not aggressive...keep repeating that you want their guarantee that it's fixed.. you might ask them if they are competent to fix it and make sure that their experienced mechanic does the work...

good luck with it!

[Yorkshire_Jon]

If they have replaced the transfer box on a 2012 model it will be under warranty and the new transfer box will have a "LR Exchange unit" sticker on it.

In the first instance, have a crawl underneath and look for the sticker to make sure it is another box, then as Hodges says, drive it straight back to the garage and give them the car back until they assure you it's fixed.

If they cant, or do and you find soon after you have the same problem return, take it back, leave it with them and demand a replacement car. Three opportunities to fix a problem is more than enough for a dealer.

Sent using Forum Runner

[harro]

Morning

It's been 4 days since I got my brand new defender back from the dealers workshop after replacing the transfer box; and the shudder & bad clucking noise which mainly sounded like coming from the middle has gone; which is a good thing of course.
I again took it onto some gravel roads to play with all the gears & diff lock, and everything is working as expected and drives well, BUT once I've driven more than 20kms (I'm guessing everything gets a change to get to 'operating' temperature) there is a bad clunking noise coming from the rear whenever I slow down...?
I can hear the noise slowing down out of gear; breaking with clutch / out of gear and even rolling very slowly in neutral (as you would having it towed all drive disengaged)

I'm 'mechanically challenged', but my plan is to drive it around until I hear the noise again and then lift the back so I can spin the wheels by hand to see if I can at least pin point where that noise come from

Your thoughts and suggestions are as always much appreciated

Over adjusted transmission brake will do this and is a pretty simple fix.
Some mechanics adjust the drum up so the shoes touch and then just back it off slightly, if not backed off enough dust entering the drum will cause the shoes to drag and this will be evident when backing off and slowing by the clunking or shuddering you describe so hopefully not a major disaster is brewing.
That would be my first option to check (and easiest).
I'm 'mechanically challenged', but my plan is to drive it around until I hear the noise again and then lift the back so I can spin the wheels by hand to see if I can at least pin point where that noise come from.
If the brake is dragging you should hear an on and off again scraping noise coming from the transmission (hand) brake behind the T/case.
Cheers,
Paul.

[spudboy]

Harro - if this is happening, can you feel the handbrake drum get hot after a few KMs?

[harro]

Harro - if this is happening, can you feel the handbrake drum get hot after a few KMs?

I suppose the amount of heat would depend on how badly the shoes were dragging.
The drum also probably gets a bit of heat transferred from the T/case.
So maybe not as good an indicator as noise coming from the drum when the rear driveshaft is turning.

My shuddering as I slowed up first started after a long days driving on dusty roads up in the gulf after a service and was still only intermittent. That was about 5 years ago and I found the solution on this very forum when I got home.
So it is a known potential issue and as I said earlier an easy fix.

Cheers,
Paul.

[JDNSW]

Dragging handbrake is the most likely cause and is easy to check. Drive a few kilometres, crawl under and check the temperature of the brake drum. It should be cooler than the gearbox next to it, if only slightly. If this is the problem, burnt fingers are very likely, so be careful.

In any case - take it back, but if you can tell them it is the handbrake dragging, and why, it should not take long to fix.

John

[flagg]

+1 for the handbrake. Happened to me after I had my tc changed over too, and was a 5 second fix to open the adjusting screw 1/2 a turn.

[wannabeexplorer]

Cheers guys.

Mr Cooper and others have also suggested looking at the handbrake on a previous post; adjusting it didn't get rid of the noise, but it may well still be the cause of the problem...

I took it back to the dealer and they had a look at the front diff to confirm the lag is within acceptable parameters. (not sure why since it sounded the noise is coming from the back). Anyway that seemed to have been fine so they continued to adjust the handbrake and was able to alter the noise. They're currently replacing the whole assembly (drum, pads etc); will find out later today if it's finally been resolved

[BilboBoggles]

Mine Did this when it was new. Took it back many times. They fixed by adjusting the handbrak so loose it had to be pulled nearly vertical to go on.... But from what I've read the Puma handbrake drums are sometimes machined out of round. You can prove this by jsut engaging the handbrake slightly when coasting slowly, you'll feel it make the same sound only louder.

If it's any consolation after 80,000 it no longer clunks on mine.. Worn round now...

I assume since it's very similar to a drum brake you could get it machined - The dealers refused to do that for me - just kept slacking off the handbrake instead.

Oh - The only other time that noise happened was when the splines on the rear diff were loose - and they loctited them.. Ah now I remember... then it happened again when the pin came out of the rear diff internally, that diff was the original and it happened after 500k.. Then the second one did the same thing after 1000k's and the third lunched one of the carrier bearings at the 20,000k service. But the Fourth diff has done 50kK's so far...