noise

My G getting a bit noisier as it approaches 25 years and 200k, so asked Gaz for where to start.

His experiences detailed below;

 have finally cured my g wagon noise

I have rebuilt transfer box which needed doing anyway so i can forget about it for many miles

I said transfer boxes need a rebuild but perhaps not a full rebuild just the roller output bearings and shim to spec

The bearings were in good condition on both my transfer boxes to be fair

You know i may seem to do things easy but i just had to do it all for piece of mind

A farmer friend said to me

You are like me and wont be happy and always be listening for that noise and thats why i bring all my jobs to you as you dont skimp and have to do it again later

How nice was that

Back to the g

Drove g and had a friend listen to t box and gearbox and we both thought noise was from transfer box but i was not sure as it sounded at front right hand side too

I had rebuilt axle as you know and thought if i had made an error. We are all human and cock up sometimes

Transfer box had a weep of oil and slight play so i thought start there first

Rebuilt the bugger   £430 in bearings and parts

All went well bar 2 issues

Warmed casings and warmed bearings whichever was needed to fit easy

First error. There is a long shaft and anyone who knows how to fit bearings by gentle heat will know. There is a long shaft and the bearing will drop on but if it contacts the cooler part it will go tight immediately

The long shaft it did and dropped halfway down and stopped tight. No issues i will tap it down. Got sleeve and tapped down easy

Put all box together and all went well and also spending an hour making some tools to check pre load and fit seals perfectly level was well worth the time

2nd issue. The shims i had and what was needed were not exact so i set one of the shafts a bit tight. I am sure it will be ok but time will tell. It will harm the bearing within 50 miles but luckily its all ok at 400 miles,I thought it would be as if you can turn it by hand smoothly but a bit tight it will be just fine

If it dies i will let you know but im confident `,   shims would be at least a week to get to me and i could not be bothered to cut one myself as it was only slightly tighter than spec. Seen aluminium housed boxes run tighter tolerances than this so happy days

Had to fit box  but i thought i will do it on the drive myself. Got box in easily and bolted the troublesome prop on and ledged bolts to hold it in place. Happy days. Shut shop and went to work happy

Drove car and noise was getting no better. Proper loud but had been like this since we went to Wales off roading. Not loud as  i am the only person who hears it unless i point it out to people 

I thought what the hell can it be and have heard the noise in my rallying days and messing with rear wheel drive fast road cars

Some not so fast lol but good in the day

I had the door open rolling down a drive and it was from rear axle. I knew straight away pinion preload. How can a noise travel so much from rear to front

You know i took the risk and made some bushes for rear diff and i thought all sorts of things

Like the transfer box i never checked planet gears on my low geared t box but i was on the right lines so i checked the latest one and it was as new in all checks i performed

Props were the first thing i ever posted i think and rear axle the second. It would have done any warranty offered and more. It was years ago and also with the risk of bushes that are still fine. Zero play at wheels

When doing axle years ago and many thousands of miles later i forgot to say i could not get a collapsable diff bearing pinion spacer

I can now 24/7 but i am not stripping diff to fit one

When i did rear axle i just machined spacer down a bit as it was asking a lot to crush it the amount needed. Very little but i could of made a shim for behind bearing??? which is done but crownwheel and pinion were set perfect and i even used engineers blue for tooth contact pattern and i was not going to upset it as it was spot on happy. Better than new looking at gears

So i machined spacer.Bodge maybe but in actual precision terms not at all

Set the preload on bearings. I could not tighten it anymore

1st it was in a difficult position

2nd my snap on breaker bar had too much flex

3rd i wanted it together and had no time left to make a tool for drive flange

4th i got it to zero play with the correct torque at low end of limit to be in spec

I thought about my old school ways and had heard this noise before but not often as most cars are all or nothing so would never hear this

I have spare axles as you know so i thought i would check The diff pre load. Got home removed prop and got a dti gauge on diff flange and gave it a lever for some movement. None and the only slight movement was the flange distorting a bit and with much load

Gutted so i rocked the flange by hand and its difficult as diff oil seal, called grease seal made it seem a bit tight

Got new impact gun and gave it a quick burst. It moved nut a bit easily. About 0.5 mm from where it was and the diff flange went a bit stiffer to turn. Got a torque dial and checked. Difficult as had to rock it a little bit as wheels and halfshafts were still in place which would give a totally inaccurate reading

Re tabbed old nut. Why people must uy new nuts once used i will never know. Yes its perfect but if the un tabbed nut lands soewhere away from old tab why worry. Yes new is ace but its just money. If thread is perfect and tab is in a new place just re use old nut. Not pretty as its dented but it will lock just fine

Went for a drive thinking this will never cure the noise as it did sound at front of vehicle to everyone who heard it

I even made some rollers to run it on and listened and so did my good mechanic friend who is an expert on axles and gearboxes

We both thought front diff. Not so it was the rear. How acoustically odd the noise could travel so much. Even put tubes from gearbox transfer box and axles to listen with stethoscope and it still sounded like front axle

Drove g wagon and its like a new car

All noise has gone totally. Its  ace like new and all is rebuilt bar gearbox. I will wait to see if it dies with torque from om606 but im gentle so i think it will be fine. I see bearing wear but if it fails i think it will snap not wear too much. I have a new back up plan either way

So on the nut of the diff i measured 0.5 to 0.75 roughly and that was the difference form noisey to perfect

So if there is no play diff will be fine even if chatters at 30 mph to zero but to stop noise the pinion shaft needs pre load more than you think to put a bit of drag on it and stop it being to free moving so the crownwheel can roll along and the pinion is braked in a fashion to stop noise

I knew all that but it never sounded at rear axle

Bonus is no rush to fix as it was not heard by people and has covered 5000 miles or more like this not getting any worse over say 3 years or more