Lube those U-joints....and a couple of questions.

[T Disco]

Long time lurker, first time poster. My fiance has an 02 Disco2 with 68K miles on it. Today the front drive shaft was sheared out of the car by what I am assuming was u-joint failure (the offending shaft is decorating a freeway somewhere.) I had no idea this was a more common thing until I was reading thru past posts for transmission trouble and related items (I thought the tranny was blown or the similar before I saw the car). So keep those u-joints lubed, no fun when all propulsion just stops (if youre lucky and nothing else happens).

Now on to my questions.. quite a few since I am not that familiar with these and some things don't make sense. I replaced the drive shaft with one I had picked up from a wrecker (labeled as an 03 shaft). The guy swore up and down that it would "pop" right in (they are a land rover wrecker talked to a mechanic he knows, etc). It did. However, in reading the shop manual, it states that the 03 shaft is 15mm longer then the 02 shaft. He did give me the option of returning it and there were no 02's anywhere to be had (from multiple places..."they sell like hotcakes") Desperation took over, I went with it.
I've taken it for a test drive and it seems fine at speeds below 35mph. Above 35 it starts to vibrate, but only if you are on the throttle, off throttle all is smooth. At freeway speeds, it is a bit scary, again on the throttle only. It was doing this prior to the failure just not as bad. It also had a screeching fan belt, which has now stopped (I was suspecting a soon to fail powersteering pump). The fan belt would only screech under load, so I was never able to diagnose it properly. I suspect that the vibration, screeching belt, have to do with something else, but I'm not sure. Any suggestions and recommendations are a welcome.

And thanks to all who post here, it's one of the best sources of information regarding you vehicle out there (I have lots of "toys"). You folks seem to know your stuff better than most!

 

[joey]

Welcome to the forum..

First the D2 driveshaft has none greaseable U-Joints, so you can't grease/lube them.

Not sure about the 15mm difference, but if it is the case that could be your vibration issue, or the U-joints on this one are bad.

Squealing could just be a need for a new belt or they tentioner is going bad.

 

[rovermech]

The stock driveshafts are garbage from the factory. If your still having badf vibes the replacement driveshaft is probably bad...You can get a re-manned front shaft with greasable fittings form Great Basin Rovers. 1-801-486-5049.

 

[T Disco]

Thank you for the recommendation. I replaced the stock shaft with one from Great Basin Rovers. Much better now that it can be serviced. I'm happy with the product and service.

However, this hasn't solved all the problems? A vibration thru the steering wheel still occurs. It starts at about 30 mph gets worst at 40, then goes away at 50. It restarts around 75mph with a considerable amount of road roar (much more than before). This only occurs under power, if I roll off the gas the vibration stops immediately. I'm trully baffled. I'm suspecting either the steering box or the power steering pump. Not sure of where to start. I also checked the tires to make sure all the weights were still attached to the rims.

As a side note. The squeeling fan belt sound, has not made a re-appearance since the shaft broke. I'm doubtful it was actually the belt and not something else (my Audi made a similar sound when the powersteering pump went south).

 

[T Disco]

An update for the 02 Disco II. The vibration in the car continued to get worse. After researching this forum and all over the net, I devised a plan of attack to fix the issue. I fortunately didn't have to look very far.

I inspected the front driveshaft, differential mount and front transfer box flange. I noticed a bunch of oil sprayed around the front transfer box area. Removed the new front propeller shaft and noticed oil inside of the mounting flange, leaking from the transfer box (this was previously dry). Upon further inspection, I discovered that the oil was leaking out of the front output shaft and the propeller shaft flange wasn't torqued down sufficiently. So, at the very least, it needed a new oil seal for the front transfer box, new transfer box oil, assorted washers and nut. I opted to purchase the kit sold at the dealer. The kit contains a new front flange, oil seal, felt washer, and nut. While ordering the parts at the dealer I talked to one of the mechanics and he highly recommended buying the kit because some of the flange components wear out and this can cause vibration issues (I still don't understand exactly how, but I figured the extra money was worth it.) While waiting for the parts to arrive I also replaced the transmission oil and filter with Mobil 1 atf.

Once the parts arrived, I drained the transfer box oil (which was highly viscous, nothing like the gear oil I'm familiar with, more on that later). pulled the old oil seal using a pair of large needlenose pliars opened up to clear the shaft and gently forcing it out of the housing (use a pice of cloth under the pliars to make sure you don't mar the mounting surface. The new oil seal has to be fit dry, so make sure the whole area inside of the transferbox is clean and dry (I also inspected the output shaft for play and checked the front bearings to make sure they weren't damaged).

At this point things become more shade tree mechanic . I didn't have a socket big enough to drive in the new seal (being dry, there is a siginificant amount of reluctance for it to go in). While looking for suitable drivers, I discovered that your average aerosol can is the right diameter, a shorter can works best. So I used a can of canned air, cut a whole in the bottom to fit the shaft, ground it smooth, attached a piece of wood to the end and I had my seal driver. After some hammering I measured around the seal and the mounting surface to make sure it was seated square all the way around using a depth gauge. I then installed the new flange, felt washer, metal spacer/washer and new nut. Reattached the drive shaft, filled the transfer box with mobil one gear oil. All done.

I was shocked when I drove the car. It was smooth. Super smooth. The transmission shifted smoother than ever before. No hard kicks when rolling off the throttle and back on. No vibrations, the truck drove better than ever before. Here are some of my suspicions. I think the transfer box may have been filled with the wrong type of oil. Even though oil does go through changes by use, nothing else can explain the huge difference in viscosity. And there was obviously additional damage done when the original drive shaft failed.

The lessons are: if you have vibration, there is definately an underlying cause. Left untreated, it can have catastrophic consequences. Finally, you'll be much happier with your vehicle if you take care of those problems. Hope this will end up helping someone.

 

[joey]

It is possible that someone that doesn't know any better thought it was a Range Rover and put transmission fluid in the transfer case, I know the 02 at least RR takes Tranny fluid in the transfer case, where the Disco is 75/90 gear oil.

 

[antichrist]

The stock driveshafts are garbage from the factory..

The stock DII driveshafts aren't garbage. The only thing wrong with them, and it's because of their location, not their design, is that the u-joints don't have grease fittings. A properly maintained stock driveshaft with zerk fittings is fine for 95% of the DII's on the road.

 

[rovermech]

The stock DII driveshafts aren't garbage. The only thing wrong with them, and it's because of their location, not their design, is that the u-joints don't have grease fittings. A properly maintained stock driveshaft with zerk fittings is fine for 95% of the DII's on the road.

Ok I can agree with that....if the stock drive shaft had grease fittings and was serviced like its supposed to be it would be ok.