Recently, I got my 99 Disco 2 sunk in a deep water hole. The water was sandy/muddy and I was in there for a fair amount of time before getting yanked out. Once I got it back running and on the road, I noticed that I had a cyclic (almost pulsing) squeak coming from somewhere on the undercarriage. Checked the bearings, heat/debris shield on brakes, brake pads, etc. trying to find the source. Eventually I came down to two potential culprits. Either the driveshaft(s) or the emergency brake drum. All the info I found on this forum said "if it squeaking from the drivetrain, its the shafts. change them or they will blow up and reap havoc". The only problem I had with that is that not only did I have no vibrations while driving, but I knew that the front drive shaft had been replaced with a custom one less than 3 years ago and the rear shaft had been rebuilt and had only about 20k miles put on it since then. So... I didn't want to believe it was one of the shafts. I went after the E-brake drum thinking while in the sandy water some sand had gotten in there and was grinding in a certain spot causing the squeak. Took a garden hose and sprayed water in it.... still squeaked. Did it a second time... still squeaked. Did it a final third time and gave it a lot of water then let it dry over night. When I pulled out of the driveway the next day... it squeaked at first and I was ready to pull the shafts, but then... I got up to road speed and slowed back down and the Squeak was GONE! Hasn't come back since. I'm thinking there was just a little sand left and it righted itself once I got the drum spinning.

For anyone who has rebuilt/replaced their shafts and gets a squeak after off-road use or even winter sand and salt. Check the emergency brake drum first! Better to rule out the simple fix before pulling and replacing the shafts that might not be causing the issue. If the E-brake cleaning doesn't work then it is likely the shaft and you ABSOLUTELY should get it fixed before it blows up. Food for thought!

Thanks to all the threads contributors on this forum! It is like having an army of mechanics at my finger-tips!

 

Nice tip

 

Update:
I was wrong. Very very wrong. I should have listened to the great minds of the forum who told me it was a front drive shaft. Turns out the center link of the DCJ hadn't been greased by the previous owner. It was about to let go when i got it to the shop.

Don't take any chances folkss. I would've been in a world of hurt if that thing let go. Gonna trust the forum minds from now on!

 

Once the front drive shaft has been replaced with upgraded version (greasable)...it needs to be greased every 2/3 thousand miles...or sooner if off roading is involved. It is not a "install and leave it be" version. Grease my joints and splined shaft every 1000 miles and drop the front shaft down to grease the double cardan joint every 2000 miles.

Brian.

 

That is on my regular maintenance schedule now. I am a new Disco owner and didn't know it had greasable shaft. I drove it up from Florida and the shaft went within about 4000 miles of owning the thing. Baptism by fire as a rover owner...

 

Ya live, ya learn...

 

 

Or this could have been your trans...



Brian.