Im in the process of getting the rover ready for a 1500 mile round trip to the beach. In the process of fixing a bad vibration which ended up being loose bolts on the back drive shaft, I notice some very slight movement in the front driveshaft. when I grab the front shaft near transfer case side and push up and down I get a very slight up and down movement of the shaft that comes out of the transfer case. I mean very slight maybe a 1/16 or so. I tried the same thing to both my toyota truck and my pathfinder for comparisons, the truck had a whole boatload more movement, the pathfinder had none at all. Does this mean my transfer case is failing? Is it going to explode on the interstate and launch me and my family into the sky? Thanks for any input on this!
-Paranoid Rover owner.

 

I had a client who had a noticeable vibration for several years. Try as we might, could never find the source.

At 165K, the front driveshaft finally started to go and I replaced it. Fixed the violent vibration but still had one at 45 MPH.

Removed the front output flange and found the splines were badly worn. Replaced with new output flange (that was supposed to go on MY truck dammit!). No vibes.

In your case, given the mileage, if the driveshaft hasn't had new joints/centering ball, start there, but it might also be a worn output flange.

 

Thanks Pt. All the joints in the front shaft where replaced about 12k ago, I do have a bit of movement in the front u-joint by diff, which surprises me with only 12k on it. I might just throw a tom woods shaft on and be done with it. My concern was the slight up and down movement in the transfer case I was worried that a bearing might be going, So this movement could be from worn splines on out put? Can it fail all at once or will it just continue to wear? Just want to get it as reliable as possible before leaving on this trip.

 

Vibrations have a nasty habit of going along for a while until BANG!!!

Were the vibrations completely resolved by tightening the bolts? Loose driveshaft bolts don't just happen by themselves.

 

Almost completely gone the vibe was really bad from 75-80mph. Now I only get a very faint vibe at 80+mph. Smooth as silk below this speed. While I was working on it I removed the shaft and installed a new u-joint, the old one was really floppy. Its such a high speed minor vibe I suspect the front shaft is slightly out of balance. Just really wondering if I should get any shaft movement at all when I push up on shaft. I looked in the rave manuel and I had not realized that there is a splined flange, so I dont see that part flying apart, just wearing and vibrating.