Hello and thanks- U joint problem solved

[chris02disco]

Hello,
I am new to the forum and just wanted to thank all the members for sharing their knowledge.
I had a bad vibration at 30mph while accelerating on my (new to me) 01disco2. After reading some post and finding the owners and service manuals online,i decided to change front u joints. After inspecting i found the center u joint was bad. The replacement job was not as easy as i expected, some broken needle bearings in the i think called double cardan connector caused u joint alignment problem. i actually broke a cap. Anyway the job got done and now my disco is running smoother than ever.
I find it hard to believe that after only 68k miles that such a failure can occur. I bought this vehicle partly for safey (wife drives to work and the kids around town) and i am little unsure about keeping it now. I wanted to keep it until it was older then get to use it for offroading, but if there are other issues like this i may have to sell.
Does anyone know of any other common issues with the discovery 2s??
Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[Deadhead86]

First of all, Id like to say welcome to the forum and the Landy community. To be completely honest with you Chris, in my experience as Im sure is true for alot of others, these things do what they wanna do sometimes. They can be wierd and random things pop up. I baby mine, clean and inspect her every weekend, run nothing but BP 93, and stay on top of the preventive stuff. Still.... I run into problems. Most times is nothing very serious and half the time they just go away on thier own. Truth is, these are expensive vehicles... Even if what you bought it for wasnt. On top of that they are foreign so the parts are sometimes hard to come by (well unless you have money to burn). Nonetheless, I love owning a Land Rover and will continue to own one for as long as I can. If youre gonna sell yours, Id do it quickly because this is an addiction. lol.

 

[joey]

Chris, keep in mind the U-joints that came on the D2 are not grease-able, I hope you replaced them with greasable ones? Since the can't be greased and they are so close to the exhaust it melts the grease out of them.

Normally most items on a Land Rover can be fixed fairly easily, but there are a few items that can be expensive or require more knowledge to repair.

I will say if you tackled your own U-joints you are probably better off then most and shouldn't have many issues with your Rover you can't fix.

 

[greg409]

What joey said.


welcome

luck,greg

 

[chris02disco]

Joshua,

Please dont get me wrong, i fell in love with my rover after one test drive. I would really, really hate to have to sell. The question is more a matter of time. The have time for regular maintenance, but added repairs could be very difficult. The wife likes dinner and a movie sometimes and little league season is starting, not mention golfing with the boys.
Aside from the u joint problem i also had a sticky rear brake caliper which ate up the rotor, but found replacement part prices and availibilty not to bad: rotor $42, pads $18, loaded brake caliper $95 and all either in stock or within 4 days. I know these parts are not high performance, but they came with either 2 year or lifetime warranty.
Anyway i guess i was just getting a little paraniod or overwhelmed with all the things to know about these vehicles. i am no mechanic and i have only read about half of the 1529 page service manual!! That is why this forum is so great for everyone to share experiences.

 

[chris02disco]

Joey,
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I am no mechanic, but it is reassurring that you think that i wont have any problems that i cant handle. Times are tough and i dont have the spare cash to pay the dealership. And yes i did replace u joints with grease-able ones. You were correct the bad one was the one closest to the exhaust.
Thanks for the input!

 

[chris02disco]

Greg,
Do i owe you $5??
Thanks for the advice!

 

[antichrist]

And yes i did replace u joints with grease-able ones. You were correct the bad one was the one closest to the exhaust.

Welcome. Glad you got it sorted before it got worse.
Now that you have u-joints with zerk fittings make sure they get greased properly. If they don't, you're better off with sealed u-joints.
1. Every oil change
2. Make sure new grease comes out from around all 4 seals on each u-joint.

 

[Deadhead86]

Chris,

Please dont get me wrong. Im not by any means saying get rid of the Disco. I love having mine, and I hope you stay apart of the community. Land Rovers are just like any other Vehicles, treat em right and theyll treat you right. I guess my idea of proper treatment was lesser when I came into the Landy community due to the fact that I was used to working with a 91 4Runner and a 92 Pathfinder. Theres just something about those things, that you can run them into the ground and they with still work as well as when you got it. I have discovered that Discos can be a bit more temperamental. Hey, if you can do the work youve done so far, you should be good. Just stay on top of the basics and you should be good. Like you said... you have this forum. From my experience, you can find the answer to just about any question that you have on here.

Good luck with the season

 

[antichrist]

Truth is, these are expensive vehicles... Even if what you bought it for wasnt. On top of that they are foreign so the parts are sometimes hard to come by (well unless you have money to burn).

Yes and no. After 35 years of owning, driving and repairing Land Rovers I find the are often no more expensive to maintain than many others, even domestic.
Of course, if you go to the dealer for your parts, then generally, yes, they are going to be more expensive to maintain. You can save a lot by dealing with the numerous Rover specialty shops that have online ordering. You can save even more buy getting parts at your local autoparts store. Why would I buy a propshaft u-joint from RN for $50 plus shipping, when I can go up the road a mile and get a quality u-joint for $13? Or $25 for a hub bearing when I can get it for $12 locally?

Chris, if you search the various online forums before buying parts, you will be able to save a lot. There are a lot of locally available parts that work fine, and are, in fact, often OEM for Land Rover.