My rear diff

[Series 3 Brad]

Hi im new to this land rover stuff and was wondering if anyone can help me. My car is a 1972 Series 3 short wheelbase

The other day i pulled off from my friends house and i heard this huge clunk and now the rear wheels wont work at all, im running it on the front wheels at the moment. I was just wondering if it may be the gears within the rear diff that have gone or both of the half shafts have broken.

Thank you
Brad

[stevethedent]

Hello Brad,
The source of your problem does (from what you have described) point to a broken half shaft. You only have to break one halfshaft to stop the drive to both wheels. It is quite a simple task to check these by sliding the shafts out for inspection (the fronts are a bit more complex) If it is the shaft, count the splines on both ends before looking for a replacement as there are two types. If you drop the clutch a bit on the harsh side in first gear on tarmac this does tend to happen. Don't drive around in 4 wheel drive you could be causing more damage.
Hope this helps,  :-k

[Series 3 Brad]

Thanks for that :) I will check them later on today and see if I can get a replacement.

Cheers again Steve =)

From Brad

[Lucy1978]

It seems it's usually the long one that breaks and just to make life difficult they always seem to break at the diff end too, so chances are you'll need to pull both shafts and drop the diff to get the bits out.  It's all fun and games, but not a difficult job.

[graham]

I've just replaced the long one on my lightweight, I did try a telescopic magnet to try to get the broken bit out of the diff, but it was well stuck.
Pulled the other half shaft clear and dropped the diff, the broken bit had shattered into pieces and wedged.
Fitted a second hand half shaft today and all seems well.

[Amma]

Another thing that could cause this problem is worn splines.

This happened to me. Gives all the symptoms of a broken halfshaft or diff and can cause lots of stripping down of bits that don't really need it.

Guess how I know!

 :roll: :doh:

[Series 3 Brad]

The problem was a broken half shaft, but it was the short one and it had broken right at the hub end, bit lucky really because i didnt have the amount of props to drop the rear diff

alls well that ends well =)

[stevethedent]

Glad you managed to sort it without too much hassle. Always good when a plan comes together.  :clap:

[clairedave]

well done, have changed alot in my time and never had a easy one to change

[Range Rover Blues]

Funny, I'd have guessed at he short one too, but Chris knows a hell of a lot more about series than I do.

[NiteMare]

my uncle used to run series 2/2a station wagons, he told me when i first got my 88 that it would usually be the short halfshaft that snapped, and it usually happened to him as he drove off the pavement....

this pretty much makes sense as he probably got a tiny wheelspin as it dropped off the kerb and then bit again as it hit the road surface...

due to him telling me this i'm pretty gentle pulling away from outside friends houses and similar parking spots

[Range Rover Blues]

On the permemntant 4wd (coil sprung) LRs it's often the shorter one and conventional wisdom is that it's because the shorter one has less twist to absorb shock loading, caused as you say by one wheel gathering speed whilst off the ground then suddenly coming into contsact withthe ground again.  Avoid wheelspinning ;)

Funny though, I had a 1600 sport Escort when I was younger and after a fair bit of wheelspinning and driving like a hooligan I snapped an engine mount clean off.

[bogie]

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