My rover just died today and I'm wondering what killed her this time. Yesterday she started shaking horribly whenever she was in gear. In about 4th or 5th gear, going about 50mph, the shaking would stop. But in lower gears at lower speeds (especially at high RPMs) she would shake violently. Today i tried driving her home to rest until i could work on her, but she died half way. It sounded like something broke followed by a clunking, thudding, and just all around bad noises. Now she's undrivable. In 4wheel high and low she wont drive. putting her in 1st or 2nd gear just produces knocking sounds that increase when given gas. when i lock the diffential she'll drive, but the sounds are horrible and i think im just doing her more damage. A police officer pushed me off the road and even when the differential and transmission were in nuetral, moving her at any speed created horrible sounds and vibrations: knocking, shaking, banging, etc.

the officer said he my muffler was shaking around something fierce. i dont know if that was just due to the shaking or maybe something htting it.

any suggestions? im thinking maybe transfer case or transmission or both, but i have no idea. any one have any experiences like this.

By the way, she's a 96 Disco I with 130K miles. Also, the transmission was from a Defender.

 

Sounds like you are in trouble. First, never drive any vehicle when something like that is happening, all you are doing is adding many 0000's to the repair bill.
Have you checked both drive shafts, is one broken?
Have you tried driving with the t/case in locked position? If it drives in lock but is still very noisey, you probably blew the rear diff and locking the t/case is allowing the power to go to the front wheels.
What ever it is, you need to get it into a shop and don't forget to take your wallet.
Mike

 

I agree 100% with Disco Mike. DON'T drive it. You may have lost the flex-coupling on the rear driveshaft (a rubber and metal doughnut shaped part that bolts to the rear differential) and the rear shaft is flopping around or just about to start doing so. You also may have a front driveshaft that has a pounded out flange---from where a u-joint seized---and is flopping around in the flange. This can be very dangerous, as the shaft will come loose from the flange sooner or later and "whip" around under the vehicle causing thousand of dollars of damage.

Driveshafts are designed to run "on axis" with angle changes controlled by the u-joints and the flex coupling. Worn parts allow the shaft to run in a eccentric orbit, and vibration levels skyrocket before outright failure of the rotating assembly occurs.

Get it towed on a flat-bed to a shop if these repairs are something outside of your experience.

If you want to tackle it yourself I have all the parts in stock to fix it.

Geoman
www.eurotekapg.com

 

when i locked the differential, i was able to drive it, and i only did so just to see if it would work. i didnt move it more than 2 feet under its own power. when it was pushed it still made the same noises. putting the truck in gear just produced knocking noises. i cant take the truck to the local rover dealership b/c they wont help. i've taken it there 2 times for smaller issues and they've given me nothing but headaches, long waits, and huge bills. I'm calling around looking for used stock transmissions, diffs, and t/cases. any links to any good salvage sites would be appreciated. so far car cannibal has helped me out, but im trying not spend over a grand if at all possible. i just want to fix her and sell her. she's too much of a headache for me.

thanks for the help guys.

Riebs

 

Well this is good and bad. You found the problem, you blew your rear diff, so the drive line will turn but the spider gears and center diff gernaded.
So, Don't drive it any more.
What do you use the truck for, were you running aftermarket gears or lockers, if not, you can buy used diffs for pretty cheap on some of the Rover forum classified sections, Hell I just threw a couple in the dumpster before I moved back to Colo.
So, just to make you feel better, I had a friend that went wheeling on some hard trails one weekend, had the same problem as you, couldn't move. He engaged his CDL thinking he would 2 wheel out of the trails and get it fixed, it was a really hard trail, he then blew his front diff, this wa painful.
So do you have a good Rover shop in your area?
Mike

 

No, i do not have a good rover shop in the area. as a matter of fact, i havent found anywhere in town that will even look at rovers other than the dealership. I'm 20 and i have a 96 disco, and i use it to offroad now and then and it's almost as if my money isnt as green as everone elses. it pisses me off. I've found one person locally who will do electronics, but no good mechanics yet. I might just resign myself to do it myself (with the help of some of my friends). How hard would that be on a scale of 1-10? I was not using aftermarket gears or lockers as far as i know. The only thing unique about the truck was it's Defender transmission that the previous owner installed citing it's more dependable and beefier nature.

So all in all it sounds like the transmission may not be the problem and rather just the rear differential? I just talked to a friend who said if that is the case then i can just jack it up, take off the rear driveshaft and put it in gear while jacked up to check to see if that stops the noises. hopefully that'll show it's just the rear diff that went. does this sounds doable?

thanks,
Riebs

 

Where are you located?. I have a Disco I (1996) that we are parting out ---- with good differentials.

If you are going to check for a rear diff failure by removing the rear driveshaft, make sure the screw is in place that holds on the emergency brake drum. You will see this screw when you remove the shaft from the transfer case end. If that screw is not there, do not put the vehicle in gear with all four wheels off the ground (you know you have to have the vehicle completely off the ground, I assume ---not just one end jacked up). The drum could "walk" its way off the four studs.

Geoman
Northern California

 

All you need to do is drain the rear diff oil, it will come out in all different sizes.
Trust me, if you can drive locked up and not when unlocked, the diff is gone.
Mike

 

i went to the car a little while ago and checked out the driveshaft and it's still intact as are all the u-joints that i could see. car's getting towed to my house tomorrow in the AM. now about those parts geoman, any deals you could let me in on?

thanks,
riebs

 

riebs,

I'm selling the differentials/axle housings for $350 ea.---complete (hub to hub assy. ).

Check out which one is trashed and let me know.

geoman