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Yesterday I was driving along track and suddenly hit the main entrance/hole of a badger set. Not particularly fast but the offside front wheel dug right in and came to a sudden stop. I managed to reverse out without calling on farm assistance but it was a heavy stop.
It drove ok after but on occasion on the way home a loud grinding, off balance noise came from the front off side. Once home I noticed the FOS ball joint was leaking oil as per king pin baring problem. No other issues obvious underneath.
Today I replaced the king pin bearings and seal etc which to be fair needed doing in the hope that was the problem..... unfortunately not.
The only thing that caused concern when doing the baring replacement was the cv joint on the half shaft seemed a bit stiff. Nothing obvious as I cleaned the cv joint barings and re greased them. I no longer have an oil leak but the noise continues. The noise is only apparent in 2x drive, and when driving along the way to stop the noise is to put it in 4x drive. The noise occurs sometimes in 2x drive, but not every time and only happens in 2x drive and like I say the way to stop it is to select 4x drive
I suppose my next step is to replace the cv joint.
When you had it apart did the wheel bearing feel ok? Also were the brakes rotating freely? When you examine the actual axle tube do the welds between the tubes and the diff pumpkin appear sound, no obvious cracks or weeping oil? When in 2x4 drive
the front drive line should be at rest and therefore not able to make a noise, unless you are running manual hubs constantly engaged and only switching between 2x and 4x at the transfer box? Other than the stiffness you mention are there any witness marks on the cv and half shaft to indicate it running out of true?
Temeraire (2018 quasar grey automatic)
One of the last 200ish of the gen3s, probably.
Bellerophon (2024 grello van daily
ADOS Attention Deficit Ooooh Shiny!
All the stuff you mention seem fine. I checked the wheel baring when it first happened with no obvious indications/play in the wheel when jacked up. The half shaft appears true and as you say it shouldn’t make any difference as its not engaged in 2x drive. Its a standard 2007 Jimny with serviceable 2/4x drive.
The noise starts to happen at about 25/30 mph and instantly disappears when I engage 4x drive and as mentioned its not every time in 2x drive.
Hmmm. That kinda implies that the shock of the wheel suddenly stopping was transferred further into the transmission. Either that or something odd is happening to the suspension like a bush or damper but that would be a clunk noise.
Temeraire (2018 quasar grey automatic)
One of the last 200ish of the gen3s, probably.
Bellerophon (2024 grello van daily
ADOS Attention Deficit Ooooh Shiny!
Check to see if your hubs are stuck on, I get a vibration from the front (at the same speed) when I forget the hubs and the front drivetrain is rotating in 2wd.
I checked the hub by removing the cap when I had the noise and found the hub was as it should be. I tend to agree the shock of stopping has transferred into the 4x4 but Im scratching my head because when in 4x drive the noise stops. Perplexing
bryn
