Back to work on the cars and immediately hit a road block

"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
07/27/2020 at 11:36 • Filed to: Disco Inferno

Last week saw me taking my first out of town trip since late Feburary, as work has decided we really can’t put off doing work any longer. The trip wasn’t so bad and we did it as safely as we could. Wearing a mask for upwards of 14 hours a day was an really odd thing, but one you most certainly get used to.

But I digress. Yesterday I decided to bang out some TODOs on the Land Rover, since apparently I’m still mad at the Jag about !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

The Land Rover has been developing an odd resonance at certain speeds of the last couple years. It started as barely audible, but now is fully felt in the cabi n. Essentially at certain speeds the (35 and 70 MPH) the car will shake a little. As it has gotten worse, it seems like engine braking also causes this at any speed over about 40 MPH.

The speculated causes are:

Transmission - Changed fluid and filter to no effect

Steering Damper - As the Landy has a solid front axle, a weak or borked damper could cause death wobble... maybe

Driveshaft - Checked and lubed all u-joints, will take to specialist if other solutions don’t produce results

Alignment - Professionally aligned without issue. Shop saw no worrying mechanical problems

Wheel balance - Persisted to new set of tires, will revisit as needed

Parking brake - Maybe? It is located on the rear drive shaft so if my driving with it on (oops) warped the drum that is possible?

So needless to say #2 needed to be looked at. Luckily I’d received one for Christmas last year (thanks poorly organized Amazon wishlist!) so I was good to go on just changing it.

I’ll admit I’ve been putting this off. Back on our 2nd cheap car challenge, George tried to change the damper on his ZJ and managed to break everything but the taper connecting it. I was concered mine would be similarly fused the the vehicle.

After putting the Landy on my cheap, plastic ramps, I need not have worried. No taper, just two large bolts and the stabilizer fell out.

CAPITAL!

It was by no means blown, but certainly easy to manipulate. Also it squeaks .

Alright, I go to the parts bin and grab the new one... which is quite a bit larger than the old one. That seems fine.

Also comes with taper bolts.

Huh.

This isn’t the right part is it?

No it is not.

A little research shows that I ended up with an ARB OMESD24 damper on my wish list but the Disco takes a OMESD02. Not sure how this happened.

Amazon and RockAuto both have the equivalent Bilstein damper, but for $150 and neither can get there quick.

Poop.

Luckily 4WheelParts has the correct OME part in stock and it can be ready for local curbside pickup tomorrow! Hooray!

So... not so much a road block as a minor inconvenience. Also now I guess I have to add the incorrect part to the “shit I really should sell on eBay” pile.

Not my Disco

I also think I’m going to bit the bullet and drop the Landy’s headliner this week so I can fix the leaking roof rails. I might also go ahead and replace them with Rocky Road uprated roof rails to replace the stock useless ones. Apparently aside from leaking, the stock roof rails are also known for not fitting any commercially available crossbars, forcing you to buy the crazy expensive and largely unavailable Land Rover branded ones, and collapsing under load.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut looking on the site it sure does seem to imply the uprated ones only fit the D1, not the D2. Even though they are clickable from the D2 section of their site... Oh and they aren’t answering their phones, likely “due to these unprecedented times.”

Heh.

I love my Landy but man I sure wish people made shit for it....

Well that turned into a weird rant....

DISCUSSION (11)

HammerheadFistpunch > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/27/2020 at 12:20

It could be tires, though thats probably unlikely with how new they are. My hankooks vibe BAD on the GX....I hate them so much. My Duratracs also were brutal. other vibe issues I’ve seen are driveshaft and...wait for it...brakes. my cruiser has badly “warped” rotors up front and if its cold it vibes until they heat up.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > HammerheadFistpunch
07/27/2020 at 12:41

Thanks! Unlikely to be the tires as the problem existed on the old set, though admittedly not as bad. Luckily the sales weasle at Discount talked me into their protection package, so if it does end up being them I should have options.

No vibration when braking (only when engine braking) so not thinking it is the brakes.

Biggest worry right now is the problem is driveline related. Lash in the transmission/diffs/transfer case or a problem with the driveshafts. The latter is especially bad as when the front u-joints let go (mine seem fine) they take the transmission with them as they turn the driveshaft into a large, angry baseball bat.

MM54 > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/27/2020 at 12:41

For the noise thing you may also want to make sure no brakes are dragging and that the noise isn’t from a wheel bearing on its way out

HammerheadFistpunch > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/27/2020 at 12:43

If it was lash, you would know; it causes A G rundle of S hunt (my alt rock band name).

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/27/2020 at 13:06

Did those have the crappy plastic gasket under the rack.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
07/27/2020 at 13:07

It is a foamy gasket on the outside. No idea what is under the head liner. Certainly leaks though. Not the sunroofs.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > MM54
07/27/2020 at 13:12

But what if I don’t want to?

Yeah I was also concerned about the bearings and will check. The alignment guy (likely) checked them and didn’t find anything, but doesn’t hurt to double check.

Fun fact: the bearings on this vehicle aren’t serviceable ! You have to replace the hub entirely.

PartyPooper2012 > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/27/2020 at 13:16

shooting in the dark here, but so are you.. .and two people shooting in the dark is more better than one - have you checked axles for speed bends?

MM54 > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/27/2020 at 15:27

Then don’t!

It’s possible the wheel bearings could be find per the alignment buy (as in no play in them) but still be noisy. I had a friend with a highlander (ew) that made the most awful noise from the rear left, sounded like a jet engine was stuck under the car that switched on at 30mph. No play in the wheel, felt okay when you spun it by hand (because no radial load on the bearing), but if you spun it with your other hand on the spring you felt something grinding. New bearing solved that one.

Unfortunately a lot of things are going to the “replace the hub” thing, which is a bummer since repacking a wheel bearing is pretty easy, and a bare bearing is cheap and can be purchased anywhere, whereas the hub is expensive and specific to the vehicle.

66P1800inpieces > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/27/2020 at 22:01

Does the Disco have a parking brake or something on the driveshaft?

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > 66P1800inpieces
07/27/2020 at 22:15

Yes