Mudsurfer's 3.0l 2nd gen surf new owner needs advice

[angelonawire]

As the proud new owner of Mudsurfer's pride and joy, I need some advice on manual hubs (superwinch). Andy drove from his place to Birmingham with the hubs selected to 4x4 and transmission obviously in 2wd and had no issues. When I left Brum I was going back up to Aberdeenshire via a quick visit to my mate in London so andy selected the hubs to 2x4 as I had a long motorway drive. However upon arrival in Scotland I thought I'd have a play with hubs to get an idea of how they engage etc. I had stopped in a service station with about 6" snow in one of the car parks so I selected the hubs back to 4x4 and engaged the transmission, all worked just fine and dandy, I then disengaged the 4wd transmission and went for a drive around the cleared section of car park, the truck developed a loud grinding noise from the o/s front and was pulling right, (only with power on, fine with power off), as it didn't sound good I reselected 4wd on the transmission and all was well, no noise and drove fine. I got out and cycled through 4x2 / 4x4 a number of times on the hubs as i thought maybe I hadn't fully selected them. I still had the same problem, considering I had covered approx 560 motorway miles in heavy salt spay by this time, would it be the hub that has salt/water ingress and just requires re-packing with grease? or does anyone have any other ideas.........??

Truck drives no pobs with the hubs in 4x2 in 2wd and in 4x4 with 4wd selected

Angel

[Surfer Ross]

I had this on my second gen KZN130. It turned out to be the outer CV joint on the drivers side. Its probably lost a load of ball bearings. Mine never made any noise in 4WD but clicked and rattled like a good-un in 2WD. You'll eventually lose drive to that wheel. Replace the o/s driveshaft and all will be well.

[angelonawire]

surfer ross, thanks for your reply, surely the drive shaft c/v joint would be grinding etc when 4wd drive was engaged if the c/v joint was knacked?

Angel

[Surfer Ross]

surfer ross, thanks for your reply, surely the drive shaft c/v joint would be grinding etc when 4wd drive was engaged if the c/v joint was knacked?

You'd think so. Mine didn't, it was fine when it was in 4WD and under load, it only made the noise in 2WD. Your symptoms are exactly the same as mine were.

[Albannach]

If you need a drive shaft, I have one all boxed up and ready to post

[BUSHWHACKER]

Sounds like an A.D.D. and/or transfercase issue to me.

When you mentioned pulling to the right when giving it throttle, it suggests that the front diff is still engaged but the n/s driveshaft isn't connected. (it free-wheels when in 2wd)
When you say you 'disengaged the 4wd transmission', what did you do exactly?

[angelonawire]

I have an ln130 1994 donor surf

I still have my 2.4 sat on the farm that has a seized big end, (I couldn't be arsed changing the engine) all the transmission etc is in good nick, are all of the transmission components interchangable with Ln130 and the kzn130?, also would it be worth trying the auto hubs from the 2.4 on the 3.0 if they fit? just to eliminate the hub??

Also is it a royal pain in the arse to change the drive shaft or c/v joint, both c/v boots appear intact no rips/tears or grease

Surfer Ross, not that I am doubting your advice, but I'd just like to try the easier/cheaper options first!!

Bushwhacker, with the manual hubs selected to 4x4 then I select 4wd button on the 4wd lever the 4wd engages fine and drives normally as you would expect in 4wd, it is when I deselect the button on the lever the 4wd disengages ok, the light goes out on the dash, it is when I apply throttle after a couple of seconds I get the grinding noise and slight pull to the right.
if I change manual hubs to 4x2 there is no grinding when 2wd selected on transmission as the hubs are disengaged from the shafts

Angel

[BUSHWHACKER]

Ah, seems like the o/s hub isn't working properly then.
Could be that it just needs taking apart and cleaning/lubricating.

[Surfer Ross]

Vince is right, it could be a hub issue. A pull to the right is generated when you have a braking effect on the right but not on the left or vis a vis, an acceleration on the left and not on the right. I wouldn't rule out an o/s cv problem.

The ONLY thing that manual hubs are good for is reversing when off-road. Other than that, they are far more trouble than they are worth.

[angelonawire]

Auto hubs from my 2.4

S/Ross, do you reckon the auto hubs from my 2.4 will fit on the 3.0?

Angel

[BUSHWHACKER]

Yes. Apart from the engines, everything is the same.

[angelonawire]

Sorted!!!

Well I decided to have a look at the manual hubs today, I had a job getting into them as there was a bit of corrosion on the little torx head bolts that hold the outer casing on the hub and subsequently snapped two torx bits!!, after a bit of persuasion with a medium sized persuader the little suckers relented!!
I took both N/side and O/side hubs off and compared the two, at first I couldn't see any problem with them, both had ample clean grease in them and appeared to function correctly, it was only once I decided to clean off the old grease and re-pack them that I discovered the O/side hub's clutch had become detatched from the large retraction spring that runs one turn inside a groove in the clutch (It would appear this spring holds the clutch away from the splined shaft when 4x2 selected). After a good clean in parrafin I managed to re-seat the spring and gave both hubs a thorough greasing with molyslip graphite based grease, I applied instant gasket to the outer casing where it seats on the body of the hub and whacked them back together......went for a test drive and the 4wd works a treat, the grinding has gone and the hubs are working as they should.....not only that but as an added bonus, when I bought the truck from Andy the other day he mentioned that it had a constant pull to the right and had done for ages, he reckoned it may have had something to do with the suspension lift, well the pull to the right has gone aswell

I reckon this may have been caused by the O/side drive shaft always being connected to the front diff as Bushwhacker mentions in his mod of the ADD in the modification thread..........Happy days

[Surfer Ross]

Good work, well done and well done to Vince for barking up the right tree straight away. Looks like I was totally wrong on this one, not the first time either