Once again I need the input of the LR community; some time ago I posted a message of my problem regarding the replacement of the front shaft u-joins. I have a Disco ?01 with ACE and SLS and 83K miles. Please allow me to fully provide the history on this and to explain the problem to the best of my abilities.
As a preventive maintenance I asked my Indy guy to replace the front u-joins and gave them a print out of a write up that circulates the internet with all the information and pictures that you need. Of course they did not bother and decided to replace the u-joins with expensive Ranger Rover ones that have the grease fitting but did not replace the ball centering kit. The same day that I picked the truck and on my way to work I started hearing a grinding noise that soon after became a huge vibration. I barely made back to the shop with a lot of clicking, clanking and vibration, after further investigation it was determined that the ball kit came apart. For the time being, my guy gave me a loaner shaft that I kept for a couple weeks. Later he re-assembled my old shaft with a centering kit from another shaft. The truck seemed fine but since then I have gotten some weird noise and slight vibration that is driving crazy only when you reach approx 50MPH. At the end since I didn?t trust the old shaft that failed my guy gave a different newer shaft but without the greaseable u-joints.
Here is my problem. If I drive the truck all day long below 50MPH never get the sound or any vibration, as I accelerate past 50MPH the sound comes back (like when you put a finger on a moving fan blade) and I get a slight vibration (very hard to describe) As you speed up the noise blends in with all other noises and is hard to detect but as you slow down it comes back closer to 50. I asked my guy in two occasions to look into it; we put the truck on the lift and could not hear or determine the noise. They even drove the truck and could not conclude anything. They did not say it ?but sometimes I think , they must be thinking I am making things up? After you drive the same car for five years, you know it better than anyone else and you learn every single detail about it. Another detail, the truck shifts fine up and down the gears but as soon as I hit 4th at the beginning of the RPM band it seems like it does not have enough power and it feels like it vibrates as gains speed, if I press the gas down and downshifts to 3rd then I gained power back. If you stay closer to the lower RPM taking your time to accelerate then you feel more vibration than if you go from 3rd to 4th and keep on going accelerating. Could it be something with the transmission or the transfer case going bad? Or maybe the rear shaft u-join or the rotoflex piece. I never heard or felt anything like that before we started messing with the driveshaft? Did something get damaged as a result of me driving (limping) back to the shop?
This is all hard to explain in words, I am so frustrated. I love my Disco and never had any intension of getting rid off; I would love to keep it for as long as they are parts available. My Indy guys and his team are honest people; they do a fine job and have a lot of customers. But maybe I need to have a different set of eyes looking into this. At one time I event tried to have a driveshaft shop take a look and once I told them the story they told me to better take it back to my guy that they did not want to get in the middle. It has been almost six months and about 5K mile since the initial incident, if it would be something really bad it will be visible by now! Or not? There are days that I don?t hear anything.
If anyone would like to help me, take a look, drive the truck, Etc. I am willing to drive anywhere in the tri-state area in NYC. I am trying to avoid a bigger mess; meanwhile I am driving on borrowed time.
My apologizes for the very long message; as always your help is greatly appreciated.
Figman
As a preventive maintenance I asked my Indy guy to replace the front u-joins and gave them a print out of a write up that circulates the internet with all the information and pictures that you need. Of course they did not bother and decided to replace the u-joins with expensive Ranger Rover ones that have the grease fitting but did not replace the ball centering kit. The same day that I picked the truck and on my way to work I started hearing a grinding noise that soon after became a huge vibration. I barely made back to the shop with a lot of clicking, clanking and vibration, after further investigation it was determined that the ball kit came apart. For the time being, my guy gave me a loaner shaft that I kept for a couple weeks. Later he re-assembled my old shaft with a centering kit from another shaft. The truck seemed fine but since then I have gotten some weird noise and slight vibration that is driving crazy only when you reach approx 50MPH. At the end since I didn?t trust the old shaft that failed my guy gave a different newer shaft but without the greaseable u-joints.
Here is my problem. If I drive the truck all day long below 50MPH never get the sound or any vibration, as I accelerate past 50MPH the sound comes back (like when you put a finger on a moving fan blade) and I get a slight vibration (very hard to describe) As you speed up the noise blends in with all other noises and is hard to detect but as you slow down it comes back closer to 50. I asked my guy in two occasions to look into it; we put the truck on the lift and could not hear or determine the noise. They even drove the truck and could not conclude anything. They did not say it ?but sometimes I think , they must be thinking I am making things up? After you drive the same car for five years, you know it better than anyone else and you learn every single detail about it. Another detail, the truck shifts fine up and down the gears but as soon as I hit 4th at the beginning of the RPM band it seems like it does not have enough power and it feels like it vibrates as gains speed, if I press the gas down and downshifts to 3rd then I gained power back. If you stay closer to the lower RPM taking your time to accelerate then you feel more vibration than if you go from 3rd to 4th and keep on going accelerating. Could it be something with the transmission or the transfer case going bad? Or maybe the rear shaft u-join or the rotoflex piece. I never heard or felt anything like that before we started messing with the driveshaft? Did something get damaged as a result of me driving (limping) back to the shop?
This is all hard to explain in words, I am so frustrated. I love my Disco and never had any intension of getting rid off; I would love to keep it for as long as they are parts available. My Indy guys and his team are honest people; they do a fine job and have a lot of customers. But maybe I need to have a different set of eyes looking into this. At one time I event tried to have a driveshaft shop take a look and once I told them the story they told me to better take it back to my guy that they did not want to get in the middle. It has been almost six months and about 5K mile since the initial incident, if it would be something really bad it will be visible by now! Or not? There are days that I don?t hear anything.
If anyone would like to help me, take a look, drive the truck, Etc. I am willing to drive anywhere in the tri-state area in NYC. I am trying to avoid a bigger mess; meanwhile I am driving on borrowed time.
My apologizes for the very long message; as always your help is greatly appreciated.
Figman
