Disco 1 Half Shafts ?

[TwoFlower]

Hi,

It's a 4 day weekend coming up and have decided that the knocking noise / vibration from the rear of the car :eek: needs investigating.

I've read the Haynes manual on how to remove the half shafts and it says "...undo the 5 nuts, for the retaining cover, and remove the half shaft...." I can remember doing similar on an MK2 RS2000 :cool: and had to get 2 hammers, my dad and some wood to "help" the half shaft out. Is it easy doing the Disco one's or will some persausion be required ?

Any advise gratefully received.

Cheers, Phil.

[Satancom]

The halshafts should come out easy enough as long as theres plenty of oil in the diff.. Although I would be checking the prop UJ's for play and the rear a-frame ball joint before pulling the halfshafts. Less oily too ;)

[ironarm]

Hi,

It's a 4 day weekend coming up and have decided that the knocking noise / vibration from the rear of the car :eek: needs investigating.

I've read the Haynes manual on how to remove the half shafts and it says "...undo the 5 nuts, for the retaining cover, and remove the half shaft...." I can remember doing similar on an MK2 RS2000 :cool: and had to get 2 hammers, my dad and some wood to "help" the half shaft out. Is it easy doing the Disco one's or will some persausion be required ?

Any advise gratefully received.

Cheers, Phil.

half shafts should come out just by pulling them!! but as said providing oil has been in the diff!!! not sure why they would cause the knocking noise tho?? as long as the nuts are all tight. not sure what engine u have but 1 main cause of vibration is the rubber couplings on the rear propshaft to the diff - thats if u have on!!!

[TwoFlower]

Thanks for the replies. Totally not done anything on the Disco due to wife and I having really bad colds :(. Even worse, they'll be gone ready for work on Tuesday :mad:.

The "knocking" noise was definitely running gear related - when I took it out of gear at 60, the noise continued and accelerating / decelerating changed it accordingly. I was driving along the M4 when it started, from the rear of the Disco - loud enough for me to turn the radio off - but I couldn't tell exactly where it was. I took it easy, thinking it wasn't a good sound :rolleyes: , and would get off the motorway at the earliest opportunity to investigate problem. However, before I got to the next junction, the noise had gone but there was a definite vibration - felt through the seat / lower back area.

I stopped and checked underneath, as best I could in office work clothes, but couldn't see anything that looked loose / had come away / been knocking :confused:. This then lead me to think that something internal had caused the noise, hence me thinking about checking the half shafts - just hoping the diff. does / did have oil and that I do actually have a diff. back there.......

Phil.

[Disco-Ron]

Phil, it sounds to me like you have an issue with the donut on the rear of the prop, if you've not lost drive to the rear wheels, then i would very much doubt it's an axle issue, if shafts/diffs break you lose drive, where-as the coupling will hang together even if it's had it.....

it's on the back end of the rear prop...... and has 3 bolts holding it to the prop, and 3 others holding it to the axle......

[TwoFlower]

Disco-Ron,

I had a quick look at the doghnut and it "appears" to be ok. I'll get some pictures of it and give it a look over when I get a dry evening - last night was a bit too wet and thundery for me :(. The sound was definitely metallic though ? Could it still be doughnut related ?

Is there an easy way to check drive to the rear wheels ? I've only worked on 2 wheel drive, not 4 wheel drive, in the past when you could simply jack the rear axle and spin wheels / put engine in gear.

Cheers,

Phil.