Please help! I think I've tried everything. I've read everything on the internet and forums. However, I think I may be about to zero in on the culprit. Got an '02 Discovery SE7 with just over 114,000 miles with no lift. This is my "drive to work" vehicle and I drive the interstate everyday. I use to hear and feel a vibration under my feet at around 60 mph, then it would clear up and come back at 75-80+ mph (I know, I shouldn't be driving that fast). I don't have the vibration at 60 mph anymore, but still have it at 75-80+ mph (and its definitely in the front under my feet). I always worried something was going to break off and leave me stranded, but it hasn't in over a year and half I've been trying to solve this. Here's what I've done over that time period:

- put on new front drive shaft...no change
- put on new rubber coupling on rear driveshaft...no change
- took off t-case to fix leaks with new gaskets and seals, everything looked fine, also put on new output shaft from transmission to t-case while t-case was off...no change
- had tires trued and balance...no change

Not too long ago my front differential began leaking. I took it to an independant Rover shop and they put on a new flange kit. In a couple of days I noticed the front diff was leaking again. However, it appeared the vibration was MAYBE somewhat more quiet and not as noticeable. I stress "maybe" in the previous sentence. So I went back today for the shop to put on another flange kit. The tech and I went for a test drive afterward and I could barely hear/feal the vibration. He hardly noticed anything. I'm sure he thinks I'm crazy. After I dropped him off and having less wind noise I could slightly hear/feel the vibration. It was definitely much more quiet. My question is if the flange kit lessened the vibration, but it didn't make it go away completely then what else could it be? Obviously something is going on with my front diff. Do I have a deeper diff issue that's just going to cause another leak? Has anyone ever encountered this? The tech wasn't sure, but mentioned something about a pinion bearing? I did a post a few months ago thinking it was my tires, but have since found out otherwise. Thanks to anyone that can offer some insight into my bizarre vibration issue.

 

The new drive shaft you installed, was it balanced correctly? And has the rear prop shaft been balanced as well?

 

This might help...

Questions/checklist:

1. What kind/size tires are you running?
2. Is that a LR front shaft or after market? Can you tell us more about the shaft's history? I am asking because you say "no cost".
3. Has/is it balanced?
4. Has it been properly greased lately?
5. Does this shaft have a center ball that is grease-able? If so you would have to pull the t-case side of the shaft off and rotate it to get to the zurk. And you would need the needle type fitting to grease it.

I could be wrong but I believe it is for sure your front shaft with the vibration being that high in speed only. I just can't believe that you have been driving it for a year on the interstate if the shaft is bad (in some way or another).


I hope I may have helped and I will subscribe to this thread so that we can both learn from this experience. Good Luck man-

 

Thanks guys for your responses. By answering rj95lss' checklist it will answer Scott's question on the driveshafts.

1. Tires - I have the 18" Hurricane wheels so I run 255/55-18 Michelin Synchrones. They have been trued and balance. They have never ran so smooth. I would suggest having your tires trued to anyone.
2. I bought the front driveshaft off of Ebay. It was new and advertised as genuine. It looked like a genuine driveshaft and it didn't have grease fittings on the u-joints. And when I put it on it didn't change the vibration.
3. I haven't had either driveshaft balanced. I asked the tech that question the other day and he didn't seem to think that was the problem. He inspected the driveshaft while he was doing the front diff flange and said everything looked good. He said he paid most attention to the ball, but everything looked good. He said he's had bad luck having driveshafts balanced and they end up being worse than they started with.
4. Tech said he greased it when he was inspecting it.
5. See number 3. Not sure if the ball has a grease fitting or not, but it was inspected thoroughly.

I would love to be able to put another front driveshaft on just to see what it would do. I don't want to buy one not knowing if it would fix it or not. But if I knew that would fix my problem then I would buy one. Thanks again and I look forward to more responses.

Ryan

 

Have you tried locking the CDL? Your '02 has the ability to lock you just don't have the switch in the truck. You will need a 10mm wrench and have to get under the truck on the passenger side of the t-case to do this. I would maybe take the front shaft off and lock the t-case, then drive around the block to see if the vibration is still there. If it is gone then we know that it is at least the something from the front shaft up.

Also, ask the mechanic about the Transfer Case Output Flange, which is the opposite flange as the one on your diff. If this somehow was warped or something it wouldn't matter what else you replaced and would still vibrate.

I have to say at this point I am stumped and really can't think of anything else. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will step in and help you out.

Good Luck to you-

 

Hey Ryan, I am not sure if you are having the vibration problem with your D2. I have the same problem with my 2001 D2.

I wonder if you have found anything out yet? I just replaced my front drive shaft and I still have a vibration starting at 55 or so and going away at 70.

One point I can make is that when I let off the gas all the way and coast the vibration goes away completely. As soon as I push on the gas again and the drivetrain takes the load of the engine the vibration starts back up.

Also is is not as severe when it is cold as in, in the winter time. It is not as bad cold until I drive it for a while and then it starts to get worse again.

Does yours do this? Vibration go away when you let of the gas and coast? Not as bad when you first start driving?

I am going to replace my rear U-joint today and see what that does.

 

Well I finally bit the bullet and took my Disco into Land Rover to see if they could find my vibration problem. I went on a test drive with the service manager and he knew very quickly that it was something that probably wasn't going to be able to be fixed. He said he's seen a few Discos come in that have had the same problem and they can't fix it. He said mine was a mild case. I left it with them for the day for them to check everything out underneath to make sure the front driveshaft, etc looked ok. The service manager told me they've discussed this a few time with engineers from Land Rover and the only thing they can suggest is loosening the mounting bolts for the transmission and transfer box to allow things to give, test drive it, and then re-tighten the bolts. The dealership tried this and nothing changed the vibration. So according to the delaership there is currently not a fix for my vibration. They said my front driveshaft and everything underneath looked good. The dealership calls this a droning noise in the driveline caused by driveline harmonics at higher speeds why driving on the highway. I just wanted to report back to let people know what the dealership told me and to see if anyone out there has any other ideas. I feel like I've tried it all.

Ryan

 

Not that I'm saying your dealership doesn't know what they're doing, but get a second opinion before you give up on this. My independant shop goes the extra mile on hard to track down problems, maybe you have a place like that near you.

 

Could be wrong but I think the locking CDL stopped at 2001 1/2.



Also, I had this same problem until I got NEW tires. The michelins I had on it before had a busted belt in one of them. For some reason that didn't come out in the balancing.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ApU9UtPOBM


sorry, had to be done.