Stu's Tdi project

[the landy man]

Good to see your still playing with your lightweight mate.
You seemed to have had issues with your transfer box for years so hope you've finally sorted out your problem.
Your hi ratio transfer gears are still running fine in my lightweight
Hope we see you at a show next year mate

[Bob Fell]

Hi Stu,
Again; to repeat Neil and Rod, really good to hear from you again mate
Glad you are slowly working through it, keep up the good work.
Regards,
Bob

[StuWright]

Hi Neil,
Yeah even an obvious bodge is I had a bracket for the high low gear change touching the chassis which transferred noise.
I drove it back from Dorchester which was an hour and 45 min away and so far so good. I’m taking it out for a 30 mile run today to see how it goes. It’s pretty quick and I was sat at 70 most of the way.
One thing I was really please over is how good the steerjng is and at going around bends. Originally you had to be a brave man cornering because it always felt like it was going to fall over but now feels planted with no leaning.

[StuWright]

Rod, glad my transfer gears are good for you and you haven’t had to use your lifetime warranty.

Bob, glad to see you are still here are giving out good advice. One day I still intend to fit the radio kit to mine and will no doubt call on your expert knowledge.

[StuWright]

Now before I get shot I understand that Lightweights are never going to be quiet so I am still on the quest to get it to as good a condition as possible. When I spoke to David Ashcroft he thinks that some of the noise could be due to harmonics from the prop angle. Apparently you will get some vibration caused due to having UJs which are constantly changing velocity. He went on to say that modern moderns like the Disco 4 have CV joints which get around this issue to being constant velocity and have far less vibration and noise. I guess it is like my RS3 is 4WD and has no prop shaft noise even with over 700hp. I like a challenge and believe everything is possible.

So my project for this Winter will be to drop the box, remove the diff and find a company that can make me a pair of custom props with heavy duty CV joints capable of working at the angles I have. I am also going to rebuild the transfer box if I can get the parts. I will have to have a look at what I have, pretty sure I have 2 old stock new gears. I won't need all the gears because I have the adaptor kit to mount to the R380 gearbox which have only covered 1000 miles.

Regarding the transfer box does anyone know the part numbers for the gears please?

[StuWright]

It’s been a while since I posted because since my last message I managed to damage ligaments in my shoulder doing concrete fence posts and haven’t driven the lLWT for 5 months. I’m on the mend so getting back on it.

Ok I have now tested it with the rear prop off and the noise is no more on FWD only. The noise is definitely not coming from the rear and the rear diff was replaced since the original noise with a new Ashcroft LSD unit with competition half shafts. At least I know the Ashcroft built R380 is nice and quiet.
So I’m left with the 2 obvious culprits being the rear prop and transfer box.
The rear prop was new and made bespoke with greater articulating joints. That being said the greater angle due to being raised on parabolic springs and being shorter due to the R380 box won’t be helping.
I’m not one for shortcuts so here’s my plan:
1. I’m sending my prop to another specialist someone recommended to me to have a look to see if they agree with the.build and if ok to carry out balancing just in case.

2. I’ve seen on another series forum where they lowered the height by installing blocks like the following picture shows. I have to say having read that late last night I need to look at the suspension to get my head around how this works.The intention is to drop it an inch to help the angle.

IMG_5791.jpeg (281.44 KiB) Viewed 4645 times

3. Rebuild the transfer box. I’ve been planning this for a while and once my final parts arrive I will have every single part in the box from oem new old stock, apart from the bearings which I went for the best brand and not the cheap eBay ones. As always I will record the rebuild with as many photos as possible. After more than £25k in parts without the countless hours of labour there is no way I’m finishing this with a recon transfer box that I have no idea of the built quality especially after taking 2 years to source the best parts.

I did read about using wedges to alter the angle of the rear diff but I don’t really have much info of how this is done and where they can be bought from yet. If I could get the prop to be virtually inline it would eliminate that issue so any ideas would be appreciated.

You never know I might actually get to use it properly and meet you guys again on an event.

[AR4412]

Hi Stu,

Sorry to hear you broke yourself, but glad you're on the mend. I feel your pain as I've been suffering with tennis/golfers elbow for a few months now.

Wedges will angle the nose of the diff upwards, (Or downwards if fitted the other way around.), lessening the angle the propshaft joints are having to work through.

Have a search for Land Rover/Series caster correction blocks/shims/wedges and plenty should pop up. I'm pretty sure that they are available in various degrees of correction, but haven't looked myself.

Regards,

[StuWright]

Hi Neil

Yes I have found some wedges on ebay thanks listed as Land Rover Series 2/3 leaf spring castor correction plate pair. They are only £11,49 for some that goes from 0-13mm and classed as small correction.

Do you think these would be better that the blocks? I can't find the blocks but I have somewhere that could make some SS ones for me cheap if I give them the size I need.

My wife had tennis elbow a few years ago and it took her ages to get over it as well. We are not getting any younger. I bought a Lotus Emira before Xmas and have only done 500 miles in it so far.

[AR4412]

The trouble with blocks as I see it are that they lower the overall height of the rear of the vehicle, which can, depending on the springs fitted and height of the blocks fitted, leave it looking low as if the springs have sagged. Not a problem if you have parabolics as most of them make the back end stupidly high anyway. Alongside that, you loose the block's height in clearance between the tyres and the tub, and the axle and the bumpstops, which can be a problem if the vehicle is used off tarmac and needs the articulation. The springs themselves will also be running closer to the ground in relative terms. Whilst moving the axle/diff upwards will lessen the angle the propshaft is running at, it will also shorten the propshaft's overall length. Loosing the free length in the propshaft sliding joint is again a problem over bumps and full compression of the springs, especially with a shorter than standard propshaft where it may bottom out. Only removing the prop from your rear diff and moving it upwards by the height of the blocks you intend to fit whilst still vertically in line with the diff flange will let you know if there will be any issues with the propshaft's new length.

Fitting the correction shims/wedges will leave the axle roughly where it is now as you're only really rotating the axle case to bring the nose of the diff up. Whilst it will move the nose of the diff closer to the transfer box than it was, they will lessen the angles the prop runs at, but it doesn't have quite such an effect on the overall length of the propshaft. Plus, for the cost, it has got to be worth a try before going to the expense of having blocks made.

Regards,

[StuWright]

Hi Neil,

Spot on reply that makes sense to me. I think I will start with fitting the 13mm wedges which are the first basic step and see how it goes. I am hopeful all problems relate to the transfer box and once rebuild it will solve the issue. I am doing the prop as a belt and braces approach now I know there is an improved way of doing this, even though the extra articulated joints nay have been enough.

Thanks again

Stu