Terrano 4wd problem

[davsmith64]

in response to the 1st thread, i have drove this terrano, and believe me, its not normal, i drove it last year when it snowed with no problems at all!
now tho it dont feel safe at all. All the car vibrates, when freewheeling down an hill it will slowly come to an halt as if the brakes are stuck on, it tries to pull the steering wheel out of your hands and pulls to the right, you are fighting the steering all the time,
However in 2wd theres no problems at all, drives faultless, nothing unusual at all, regards to how slippy the snow is here, well it wont pull off my driveway in 2wd.
Its had New Brakes all round, New Upper & Lower ball joints, Fully pollybushed rear suspension / link bars,.
if it was a steering fauly surely it would be the same in 2wd & 4wd,.

we are wondering if one of the hub snap rings has broke or warn causing it to stick on one side hence it pulling to the right and slowing the vehicle down on hills. all of the faults are whilst engaged in 4L & 4H,
In 2WD its perfect & faultless,
hope this helps.. :thumb2

 

[kbekl]

what happens in 2wd when hubs are engaged?

get under the car turn both drive shafts by hand and see if the hubs lock and feel the same when turning by hand ie does 1 take more to lock

if you can jack the front up lock the hubs and rotate the wheels same way they are locked to see if their is any movement out of the ordinary when when rotating

it could be a couple of things, but working in 2wd if the 1 hub was damaged would pull the same as it would still be locked

it could quite possibly be the diff that is the problem.

unless you are disengaging the auto hubs every time you come out of 4wd then i doubt it is them

i have a complete spare hub that had a spring fault, i am out in derby on Sunday i could bring in with me as it has the whole assembly including break rings you can have for free if it helps, also if you get their before we set off we as a group could possibly have a look at it and see what we come up with, i could brin a couple of tools, and will keep me warm when waiting lol

 

[rustic]

I do think you need to check the front drive train, it's as if one of the front drive shafts is locked solid and can't turn, then when you engage 4 wheel drive it tries to turn the working front wheel at twice the speed so it may not be your locking hubs, I would be looking at the front diff and the 2 front shafts.


This would give you all the symptoms that you have. :nenau MAYBE ?????

When you have eliminated all possibilities however improbable what ever is left must be the truth.... Sherlock Holmes... :doh

 

[thor]

does appear that somethis IS going on with the vehicle.....maybe I should come round with my big hammer.:sly

 

[wildbri]

Sounds like the drive shafts, put it into 4h and drive forward till the hubs lock. You will now be in four wheel drive when the problem occurs. Now put it into 2 wheel drive BUT do not reverse. You will now be in 2wheel drive with the hubs locked, the difference now will be that the drive shafts and the hubs will rotate as you drive in 2 wheel drive. You wont get the the drive but if the problem is still there then I suspect there is a faulty shaft or coupling.

regards bri

Is there a UJ on the shafts? if so I guess one as a seized bearing.

 

[kirkyoke]

Hi again all, thanks for all your replies, had the car on a 2 post ramp today with all 4 wheels hanging, engaged 4wd and turned the rear wheels, the front hubs engaged & all 4 wheels then began to turn .... BUT!! ... the more i turn the rear wheels the tighter they become, hence the reason it comes to a halt when going downhill. put it back in 2wd & turn them backwards the hubs disengage, & the rear wheels become free again therefore the problem lies up front somewhere, it's really beginning to p**s me off now! is it possible to remove the front hubs temporarily, engage 4wd & try it? if it still slows down then the problem lies with either the front diff or driveshafts, at least this should eliminate the front hubs shouldn't it?

 

[kbekl]

Hi again all, thanks for all your replies, had the car on a 2 post ramp today with all 4 wheels hanging, engaged 4wd and turned the rear wheels, the front hubs engaged & all 4 wheels then began to turn .... BUT!! ... the more i turn the rear wheels the tighter they become, hence the reason it comes to a halt when going downhill. put it back in 2wd & turn them backwards the hubs disengage, & the rear wheels become free again therefore the problem lies up front somewhere, it's really beginning to p**s me off now! is it possible to remove the front hubs temporarily, engage 4wd & try it? if it still slows down then the problem lies with either the front diff or driveshafts, at least this should eliminate the front hubs shouldn't it?

the rear wheels ??

could that be a transfer box problem ?

yes you can just undo the allen bolts but dont take the circlip off drive shaft

dont think it is any thing to do with hubs as they seem to work fine

did you try to spin just the fronts ?

put the transfer box in netural and try turning the fron prop to eliminate that

 

[rustic]

To test the transfer box you could remove the front propshaft, then engage 4 wheel drive if you get wind up then its the transfer box.

I would chalk a line on the shafts and drive flanges, just in case they are balanced with each other, probably won't matter, but just in case.

This is a really strange case, :doh

 

[kirkyoke]

ok thanks, i'll take the hubs off first & see what happens, if it's still same i'll remove the front prop at the weekend and see what happens then. will keep you all posted, cheers!

 

[4wheel]

4wd

Definitely not normal.I am in 4H most of the time at the moment here in Ireland.The minor roads are untreated and like glass so seldom get above 30mph in 3rd gear.Without 4wd I would be up a tree.No jerks or pulling at all.Just the usual pull if you make a tight turn or reverse.Do you have manual free wheel hubs?If so make sure that they are engaged.It does sound however that you are somehow in 4L.Could be a selector problem as a result of not being used.Move the 4wd lever about whilst stationary and then select 4H - also whilst stationary.Worth a try.

 

[kbekl]

chucked the symtoms past a few lads and they recon it is transfer box wind up

 

[kirkyoke]

thanks karl, will find out this weekend when i remove the front prop, it's definately not in 4L, what's the cure if it is tranfer box wind up? replacement box??
Dave.

 

[kbekl]

thanks karl, will find out this weekend when i remove the front prop, it's definately not in 4L, what's the cure if it is tranfer box wind up? replacement box??
Dave.

in all honesty i dont fully know as i havnt had this problem befor

but from quick reading it seems that if the transfer box is damaged then it is a new one needed unless you can recondition it
its probably a cheap part and i dont know if it is an easy fit or not as you may have to remove the gearbox


i hope this is just the front diff playing up as that is a simple job

try just turning the front wheels with the locks engaged see what happens as that would tell you if it was the front diff

can you turn the front prop when you have it in 4wd n, just wear rubber gloves for that

 

[kirkyoke]

karl, when it is on the ramp with the wheels hanging i can engage 4wd, turn the front prop by hand, this in turn then turns the front diff & driveshafts, the auto hubs lock in & all appears normal, it's certainly a head scratcher this thing! i can start the engine, put it in gear, release the clutch & everything is turning as normal (e.g all 4 wheels are driving) it's only when you try driving the damn thing on the road (under load) that all the pulling/braking occurs, i'm beginning to think it could be a seized cv joint or similar on the front driveshafts. what exactly is "wind up?"
cheers, dave.

 

[kbekl]

from what you said yesterday up in the air turning rear wheels its gets tighter so somthing was winding up is this not the case then as cv joint wouldnt cause that

right stick it in nueteral in the transfer box

turn the front prop see if it get harder to turn if so it is wond up in the diff

turn the steering in 4wd and turn the prop see if it gets harder then you will know if the cv joint is seized

 

[rustic]

I have to ask this question...:doh

Have you replaced either the front or rear diff at all in the past, if so they may be different ratios?

Sorry to ask it, it has got us all stumped :doh

 

[kbekl]

when was the last time you used 4wd ?

was it slippery or not ? mud tarmac ?

 

[kirkyoke]

nope, everything on the car is the same as it was last year,. Only new brakes / ball joints.
Its got us stumped too. :doh
just a quick question, is there a special way to align / put the hubs on?

 

[brynjdavies]

Hi,
You seem to have access to ramps, so put it on the ramp with wheels hanging down, in 4 wheel drive, rotate the propshaft to engage auto hubs, put a chalk mark on the bottom of each wheel, rotate wheels say 10 times or more if you want by means of the propshaft, the chalk marks may not all be on the bottom due to the diffs but if you move the wheels so that three chalk marks are on the bottom the fourth should also be on the bottom, if not you have a ratio difference between the diffs. The only other thing to check is the rolling radius of the tyres. Final answer sell the beast.
Bryn

 

[kirkyoke]

hi bryn, it can't be a diff ratio problem or it would have been like it last year & the year before that etc. i tried it first thing this morning in the snow and surprisingly it seemed ok, an hour ago my son used it to go to the shop and it was acting up again, i seem to think it may be due to something seized or tight due to lack of use, when the front diff filler plug is removed it looks like there are signs of rust on the casings inside, i'll try draining & refilling with fresh oil, after all it's an old car and don't think it's worth spending loads of money on, will keep you posted after trying some of the suggestions raised by some of the people on this site, thanks again to everyone for the help ..... watch this space when the fault finally decides to raise it's head :clap