My disco 1995 300tdi went in for a front axel pinion seal fitted yesterday, but when I came back from garage I noticed a very noticeable juddering when accelerating, thought it was just me but today its worse:\

Could it be something thats been done when there or just co-incidence? I will ring them tomorrow but tonight I wanted to see if you guys had any ideas?

thanks in advance

P.S. I fixed the sunroofs so no longer leaks yipee!

 

UV drive shaft joints could be bad.grab the drive shaft and wiggle, or lift the truck up, wiggle the wheels to see if you can feel movement, if so wheel bearings, or upper or lower ball joints, or uv axle joints.or you need to get a front alignment.

 

Is it constant on acceleration, or only when engaging the clutch?

 

i think ajmille pretty much has it covered, go over the rear end too and check u joints, ball joints and bushings. Check the ball joint on the top of the axle, that connects the top links of the 4 link, that joint could be blown and causing the axle to wrap, thus causing your work angles on the rear drive shaft to be out of phase. Same goes for the front, the shop could have messed up the operation and thrown off those angles. Do the vibrations smooth out at cruising or highway speed?

 

my guess is they removed the front drive shaft, thought the shaft was out of phase and corrected it!! have a look at front shaft and see if the uj are in line

pedro

 

hiya yes vibration stops after the initial acceleration, its an auto, once it settles into 4th it goes away if that makes sense, it also doesnt do it if im just rolling along stuck in traffic or any slow speeds either

ETA took it out today for a good long drive, its happening between 30-35mph when accelerating and gets worse on a steep incline, it settles after this to normals , if I accelerate slowley doesnt seem to happen at all.

 

it sounds like a pinion angle issue after hearing whats going on. 4th gear, being overdrive, produces so little torque, the axle wont wrap and the cardan joints aren't binding. When you accel hard, its causing the axle to tilt and mess up those angles. When replacing the seal, the mechanics could have done a number of things wrong. The bearing that supports the pinion shaft could be the wrong size, they may not have set the right angle on that shaft, needs to be between .5 and 3 degrees. If its less that .5 it wont spin the bearing that supports the shaft, and if its more than 3 it will damage the bearing and cause all sorts of vibrations. Also, the angle of the pinion shaft must be equal and parallel to the output shaft up top.
Check your ball joints, front and back, look for busted boots. easiest way to check ball joints is to lift the truck by the frame and get as much weight of the tires as possible but dont get them all the way off the ground, and push up and down on the pinion shaft housing to see if the axle housing rotates. If you can make the axle move then you have bad joints.

 

Ask them if they did anything other than replace the pinion seal. You'd have to be a complete duffer to bugger something up replacing a pinion seal.

• Disconnect the propshaft
• Remove pinion nut
• Pull input flange
• Pull seal
• Install seal
• Install input flange
• Install new nut and torque (maybe they didn't torque it right?)
• Reattach propshaft

 

thanks guys, its going back in monday morning, chap says he doesnt think it could be anything hes done but from what youve said and the fact it only happened once it came away from there it must be

 

You were right! its sorted garage did it free of charge, the prop shaft ? needed a 1/4 turn and it no longer feels like a cattle grid , so pleased it was an easy fix and nothing else lol