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My 3.0L, manual gearbox, Surf is fitted with a fairly new set of 31" Runway Enduro A/T tyres and a pair of Warn manual hubs. The operation of the hubs was checked with the wheels off the ground and I am happy that they are working correctly. Both front driveshafts have recently been removed to replace the rubber boots and one of the CV joints was replaced due to wear. The other CV joint was cleaned, inspected and re-greased. I have also recently fitted a solid flywheel conversion.
I travelled from Cornwall to Oxford last weekend and noticed that there was a 'rumbling' type sound that only became audible as 50MPH was exceeded. The 'rumbling' seamed to be road speed related and not engine speed related. The noise was not evident at speeds below 50MPH.
As the manual hubs were both in the 'Free' position, neither of the front drive shafts nor the front axle should be working. Whilst travelling at 60MPH I also dipped the clutch and selected neutral, for a brief period, to try to isolate the gearbox. The noise/rumbling did not die away, or decrease, whilst in neutral.
The pitch of the noise did seam to vary slightly with the roughness or smoothness of the road surface.
My thoughts are that it could be:
a) Tyre noise
b) Front or rear bearing/s
c) Rear axle
What I need to know is how to establish which of these possiblities is the reason for the noise/rumble, without replacing one item at a time as a matter of elimination.
Has any one experienced this sort of problem?
Many thanks in advance for any input you can give.
I travelled from Cornwall to Oxford last weekend and noticed that there was a 'rumbling' type sound that only became audible as 50MPH was exceeded. The 'rumbling' seamed to be road speed related and not engine speed related. The noise was not evident at speeds below 50MPH.
As the manual hubs were both in the 'Free' position, neither of the front drive shafts nor the front axle should be working. Whilst travelling at 60MPH I also dipped the clutch and selected neutral, for a brief period, to try to isolate the gearbox. The noise/rumbling did not die away, or decrease, whilst in neutral.
The pitch of the noise did seam to vary slightly with the roughness or smoothness of the road surface.
My thoughts are that it could be:
a) Tyre noise
b) Front or rear bearing/s
c) Rear axle
What I need to know is how to establish which of these possiblities is the reason for the noise/rumble, without replacing one item at a time as a matter of elimination.
Has any one experienced this sort of problem?
Many thanks in advance for any input you can give.
:embarressed: 
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