2002 with 120k miles on the clock
I continue to run through the 02 Borego here and knock off the various minor issues.
The last thing I am chasing is a rhythmic rotational growling noise that manifests between 30 and 50 mph. I think its always there, It is just loudest between those speeds
I have replaced the Ujoints as a matter of policy on any P38 I get, and confirm those are good. I seriously suspected a bad tire or 2 as the sound is exactly
what you would get from a bad tread. Tires are new Yokohama Geolandars, which I have always used and never got a noisy one. I eliminated that by taking
all 4 tires and wheels off of Bolt and swapping them to the Borego. New tires from Borego smooth as silk on Bolt and the vibration is still there on Borego.
Wheel bearings feel very good when jacked up and twisted and torqued in all directions with a breaker bar. No play and smooth rotation.
Diff fluid was changed on both when I got it, and it came out crystal clear with no shavings on the drain plug magnet.
This leaves me with CV joints, but again, no noise and smooth when rotated .
As I was under there this evening checking the Ujoints again, I noticed a bit of slop in the transfer case forward output shaft bearing......
I think this may be the source of the noise. Anyone have other suggestions, I am glad to hear them.
So, looking at it, it appears that it can be removed from the transfer case without dropping the whole thing?
Has anyone done this to replace bearing or shaft seal? I have done a transfer case R&R in the past, so not intimidated, but I am now older and lazier, so
if it can be avoided, that would be great!
Front bearing & seal can be done without removing the whole transfer box. Prop & flange off. support the gearbox & remove crossmember. Then you can unbolt the VCU housing & do the bearing change on the bench.
It's covered in RAVE TC Overhaul section.
Long time ago so I don't remember the exact symptoms, but ended up as being wheel bearing, and was not found until the car was pushed in neutral on workshop floor. The bearing felt fine when jacked up, but gave a 'click' sound when the car was pushed on the floor.
th.
Pete12345 wrote:
Front bearing & seal can be done without removing the whole transfer box. Prop & flange off. support the gearbox & remove crossmember. Then you can unbolt the VCU housing & do the bearing change on the bench.
It's covered in RAVE TC Overhaul section.
Thanks for the confirmation Pete.
I am still sorting out my 3 old Windoze 7 machines here which I finally caved in and installed Linux on
I nearly have Rave running again.... Nearly, so I can't check it myself at the moment.
IT mate coming by tho, so maybe today!
Wheel bearing is still on the list, but since this sounds like a bad u joint where the sound doesn't change from
Full power to coasting down hill, I am still thinking bearing.
Will try attaching small tube in a strategic place underneath and have a listen today.
I had a rhythmic noise most noticeable at around the same speed you mention but was worse on left hand bends and much quieter on right hand ones which suggested a right side wheel bearing. Both bearings appeared OK when checked on the car but we were convinced. I thought it was coming from the rear and so did a mate who sat in the car to have a listen. I had a complete hub, bearing and half shaft in my stock of spares so changed that. The one I took off was noticeably noisy once it was off the car, don't forget that with the half shaft attached, then the bearing has to be really bad for any play to be noticed, compared with the one I was fitting which was completely smooth and quiet. Having changed that found that if I listened closely, I could still hear the same noise so decided to change the front bearing too. Once that was off, again, there was slight roughness to it, so a new bearing was fitted. Just the bearing and hub though, not the complete bearing, hub and half shaft assembly, and that cured it completely.
If you decide to attack the transfer case bearing, it can be done without removing the crossmember. You can get at all the bolts and pull everything forward with it still in place.
Well, I went to a large very smooth car park and really gave it a listen.
Noise does increase when swerving lightly. Curiously, it was much worse with the 18 inch alloys than the
16 inch steel wheels from Bolt. Same type of Yoko tyres.......
I concluded that it is most likely a wheel bearing.
Found a left and right set for a very good price from "Bear Bones" parts in UK.
They show them to be Allmakes boxed.
With freight and customs they were less than half the price of a single one here.
We shall see what comes out of the box......
Since hubs are so easy to swap, I figured it could not hurt to do a hand grenade style repair.
At 120k miles, they should not be knackered, but you never know.
Still going to attack the transfer case bearing as soon as it gets here.
Thanks for the confirmation that it can be done in situ.
Well, I have successfully replaced the bearing and seal on the transfer case. Not a bad job, but removing the cross member and then pulling the 4 bolts out of the bracket bolted to the underside of the transfer case made it nearly a pleasure!
Tragically, it has made no difference at all to the noise.......
I had ordered the new hubs from Bear Bones 4x4 in the UK, and eventually they arrived.....with a few important qualifications......First off, they were put in a single thin, flimsy cardboard box and then had wads of shredded
cardboard stuffed around them. They were Virtually destroyed! Due to this criminally inadequate packing method,
The hubs were able to repeatedly and violently smash into each other! The result was one totally unusable, and one
suspect, but not too badly mangled. The second issue was the fact that they sent me TWO left hubs and no Right hub!!!
Being a thoroughly modern business, they blamed Ebay, and customs for the packing issues, even though the parcel was
not opened by either.
They have steadfastly refused to respond in any way to my queries about the 2 of one kind and zero of the other
rather than one of each as advertised!!!!
They advised me that I should file a claim with Ebay for a refund!!??
Oh, and the hubs were un branded, and had no markings as to country of origin, thus I suspect Chinesium pattern parts
were sent. Beware the Bear!!
I did have a good used Left hub, which I installed however that was not the issue either.....
So, I serviced the Diffs again in case there was some change. All clean and nice oil drained out. New lube installed.
No change.
I am now thinking it could be a warn Transfer case chain as there is a bit more backlash when the brake drum is
flexed back and forth (with a rear wheel off the ground) If I use my imagination, I can believe the rattly sound I hear
could turn into the whine at speed.
TC is also suspect as the noise seems to be neither front or rear but generally everywhere evenly. Kinda central....
Anyone ever experience this? TC has never machine gun slipped under hard acceleration, so chain may be worn,
but not skipping as of yet.
I'm thinking I will do the 2000 mile R/T to California and see what develops. What could possibly go wrong??
Oh man! Thanks for the info on the seller. I hope you get it sorted soon.
Definitely report them to eBay, and include any communication from the seller.
If you used PayPal raise a ticket with them as well.
Front hubs are interchangeable. If the shield that goes around the CV joint can be pulled out (it is just a push fit), it can be rotated so the hole for the ABS sensor is on the opposite side, then it will fit on the other side of the car. Alternatively, ignore the hole that is in there and drill one opposite it.