Thread: Driveline Woes

Did it bend the housing when you landed resulting in the breaking of the axle??
Its not uncommon to break a short axle in the front of a Land Rover but I think to break a Maxi would be very unusual.

Do a search on this site about backlash Im not sure that there is a sensible answer to your question.
The transfer should last fine with the CDL engaged provided the front axle isnt driving resulting in transmission windup. I would be inclined to remove the broken bits the last thing you need is something to sieze or lock the steering on you. Speedlimit? I wouldnt of thought so.
I know Telstra accidently drove a 130 (Bigjohn may need to correct me) with the CDL engaged with a good front from Katherine to Alice Springs this completely buggered the transfer but that is quite understandable as it generated enormous heat due to windup.
If the transfer is getting noisier with every k you do then there is quite likely something wrong.

Originally Posted by Horace18

Questions:

Has anybody heard of these axles snapping like this before? My original ones went through hell (including the CSR) without any issues.Yes but only when the front stub axle was out of alignment with the swivel pins or when a swivel pin failed, same goes for the normal axles IME they normally snap somewhere between the mid point and the diff

How much play should exist between the driveshafts with the centre diff locked? In a perfect world none, Id accept a little, maybe 1/8th of a turn max for a field ball park

How long will my transfer case last locked up, given it isn't driving the front wheels?providing its not already dying from something else in theory forever but practically you will be putting all the drive loading on just one section of the center diffs internal gears as they are not rotating and they will suffer for it (ditto their supports and bearings)

Is there a speed limit with the transfer case locked up (even if it isn't driving the front)? Nope so long as youve got some slip in the driveline you can in theory drive as fast as the vehicle is capable of achieving, but I dont recomend it...

I need to do one more trip to Darwin next weekend before I can park her up for repairs. I plan on dumping the transfer case fluid and replacing it this weekend, in case? I have cooked anything there.

Any ideas, suggestions or contributions are welcome.

Answers: in blue in the quotes

If youve got 90 degrees of free play between the front and rear propshafts with the CDL in the locked position and the main gearbox/tcase in nuetral(as opposed to 90 degrees of rotation of the rear shaft untill all driveline slop to the front wheels is eliminated and the rear shaft stops turning)your center diff is all but knackered.

with no further information Id suggest start saving for a Tcase rebuild your 3 clunks while changing gears ( if your lucky) might just be the broken axle loading and unloading with each part of the shift, however given the worst case for the 90 degree thing between the shafts I want to blame the tcase for it.

The CDL spline is very loose so the springs have a chance to engage/disengage the sliding spline without load. Lots of backlash is normal when driving with one prop shaft removed and the diff lock engaged.

I can see that when driving but when slowly turning by hand?

It's possible there is more wrong, but as I said the spline is very loose to give it a chance to disengauge by spring pressure alone. I drove my 1st 110 with one shaft removed then the other to locate a diff noise and it was as sloppy/clunky as hell. This was just after I had the LT85 and transfer case rebuilt, (new cross shafts and reshimmed centre diff) all back to normal when both diffs driven.

Originally Posted by Horace18

...Maxi-Drive would only sell me the locker if I bought the cv's too...

The later cv's are smaller (I assume from when rover introduced ABS) and the inner axle has to step down, inturn weakening the axle considerably. AFAIK maxi-drive don't make axles to suit the later cv's.

Originally Posted by Horace18

...the short stub axle coming out of the new heavy duty cv on the front right snapped in two...

The early county cv's are not heavy duty, just stronger than the later ones.

Genuine early cv's are more difficult to find. There are after market ones that are easier to find and cheaper - the problem with these is they tend to break the stub shaft.

The heat treatment used for cv's is intended to produce high hardness to resist wear. The problem is that it makes the material brittle. Which is why different materials are used in ashcroft and longfield cv's.

The short side axle can't twist as much as the long side axle. Therefore it can't absorb as much impact energy. This makes the short side fail first when shock loads are applied.

While airborne, the wheels would have been spinning faster. If you landed left wheel first, the differential would have tried to increase the speed of the right wheel. When the the right wheel hit the ground (short side axle), there would have been considerable shock load to suddenly decelerate the spinning wheel.

Originally Posted by Horace18

...I hadn't noticed the driveline slop before this, probably as the road was turning the front drive shaft in time with the rear. Now that it isn't I get three loud clunks each gear change. One when I push the clutch in, one when I shift and one when I let the clutch out. It is worse in the lower gears...

That is normally what happens in situations like this.

Originally Posted by Horace18

...My local ARB guy took a look and showed me how much play I had between the front and rear driveshafts with the centre diff locked. It appears more than 90 degrees rotation of the rear before the front responds...

There is a good deal of backlash in the system, particularly in the dog clutch for the diff lock. Possibly yous has more than normal.

Originally Posted by Horace18

...Last weekend, on my return from Darwin, the gearbox/transfer case was making more and more whining noises...

That doesn't sound so good.

Good luck.

i'm sure i read somewhere on this forum not maxi's but someone else selling upgraded cv's that they dont do them for abs models as it significantly weakens the cv

think it might if been in the verander or somewhere like that

has yours got abs???

Thanks all for your responses/assistance.

I've had a closer look today. With it parked on the ground, the centre diff locked and the handbrake on (in neutral), I cannot turn the rear driveshaft (as expected). I can turn the front driveshaft about 45 degrees before it stops, so that doesn't sound too bad considering what has been posted above.

I have also found a leak in one of my rear tyres, so it has less pressure than the other, which wouldn't be helping.

I removed the broken piece of axle/cv whatever it's called after the incident. I have axle/cv/shaft or whatever from the diff right up to the wheel bearing, but that's it, that's where it snapped off, inside the splined hub thing bolted outboard of the wheel. It looks to me that that is where the wheel gets it's drive, so it is currently free-wheeling, with the axle still spinning inside the bearing, driven by the driveshaft. I'm wondering whether I should remove the front driveshaft.

From what has happened, it would appear the front left is not driven as the power follows the path of least resistance, which is the broken axle. So I'm guessing that this is still okay to drive with the CDL locked.

I went to check the transfer case fluid to see if there is any solids in it, is the level hole the 1/2" square drive plug at the rear of the case, facing the handbrake drum? Not sure, there is also a large bolt above this that doesn't appear to be holding anything on, so it might be a fill hole or something as well. Which is it?

Thanks again