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Car Bucks / crabs when turning

desertrogue

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Aug 2, 2015
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united_arab_emirates
Hey guys

am hoping this is a stupid question - and hope it's cause my car is full time 4x4


the issue I notice is , when the car is doing a sharpish turn you can hear as if the tyres are being " dragged" it's like a loud droning noise when doing sharp turns

its the same noise you get when the center diff is engaged and try to do a tight turn , but just less of a noise intensity and you can't feel any bucking

is this normal in the LC ? Am Hoping this is just the usual 4x4 full time issue where wheels can't all turn at the same speed


or do I have bigger issues to look at


only thing I have done is drained the rear diff oil and front oil

front - 85w-90 diff oil
rear 75w-140



cheers

ryan
 
Hi Ryan, what tyres are you running?
 
I don't have the car on me right now , as had to drop it to an AC specialist this morning - because the AC is blowing not great chilled air.

But I know they are Grandtrek 275 70 I think - Dunlops. However I need new tyres I am told, as the when driving there is lots of rumbling, and basically making the car seems like all 4 wheel bearings have gone - however we checked the bearings and they are not gone.


The tyres are all uneven and there is a few "dimples and cracks" in the side wall as I believe the old owner offroaded her heavily, ( going by the fact every single bush, and mounting was either falling apart or cracked) .

Can the bad tyres be causing the "crabbing" type noise?

Thanks
 
Possible. Not sure but I'm sure you'll tell us after you fit a new set. [emoji6] I have however seen it on a lawn river where there was a mixture of cross ply and radial tyres on the vehicle.

Also, I presume ALL the suspension bush/mount issues are now renewed?
 
Hmm it will be a few months yet before I change the tyres, since all my budget has gone on making this thing drivable again.
Yes I have just spent a week changing every single bush and mount , so full suspension, tranny , and engine mounts/bushes all changed + shocks

It was just this "crabbing type noise" , I tested this out on sand, but doesn't make the noise, so I was just worried incase this is not normal and the diff's or 4x4 case is messed up ( as this was taken apart to change the output shaft seal which had a leak)


Does anyone elses do this? Star cruiser does your do this?
 
Nope, my 81 is quiet as a church mouse with 4 good road tyres on.

Couple of things you can check. Jack one of the back wheels off the ground, put the main gear lever into neutral and try and turn the wheel that's in the air. If it freely rotates without much noise your transfer box is not locked. Then put the truck in high gear try turning the wheel in one direction then the opposite direction and feel how much turn there is before you feel the same resistance as when going in the other direction. I would say to expect about 45 degrees but not sure how much is normal on a 100.

You can check your UJs for wear while watching them on the above test.
 
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Nope, my 81 is quiet as a church mouse with 4 good road tyres on.

Couple of things you can check. Jack one of the back wheels off the ground, put the main gear lever into neutral and try and turn the wheel that's in the air. If it freely rotates without much noise your transfer box is not locked. Then put the truck in high gear try turning the wheel in one direction then the opposite direction and feel how much turn there is before you feel the same resistance as when going in the other direction. I would say to expect about 45 degrees but not sure how much is normal on a 100.

You can check your UJs for wear while watching them on the above test.

My thoughts as well. Sounds like the center diff is locked. Either that, or a seriously mis-aligned front end.
 
Thanks Guys

When I get the car back from the AC joint - I will prop it up and check.

I can engage the center diff, and then it gets worse as expected, and then hitting the disengage button it goes away and back to the symptoms I have explained.

I will check as you say.
Can you get instances where the center diff unlocks half way? or is it an all or nothing setup?

Are these cars Full time 4x4?
 
It just occurred to me - this might be relavent.

Before the transfer case was taken apart to fix the oil seal.
When you clicked the " center diff engage button" - when the transmission was in neutral you would here a "clunk" and the center diff green dash light would go on, and then you felt it etc

After getting the car back if you done the same, you didn't hear anything - but the green light came on , driving around though you could tell it was engaged due to the difficultly in turning tight corners on tarmac road, and disengaging again you wouldn't hear anything but then you would drive and know its gone off.

Not sure if that is relevant - or if splitting the case etc improved the motors ability to lock the diff
 
Possibly the previous unsympathetic owner visited the same problem due to worn bushes and had the wheels aligned . Now you have renewed the bushes i would expect all 4 wheels to be going in different directions if alignment wasn't reset .
 
if you have a viscous coupler in the centre diff they fail and lock up causing similar symptoms to driving with centre diff on. not sure beside 80 which have these. in the 80's you can pull it and bin it.
 
starting to wish I never bought this car now

now been told the AC condenser, evaporator and expansion valve all needs replaced :(
 
Thats sounds expensive. if you dont want the aircon you could just leave it as it. If you do want it working does Karl have any second hand bits that would work for you?
 
starting to wish I never bought this car now

now been told the AC condenser, evaporator and expansion valve all needs replaced :(

I've been in this phase of Landcruiser ownership more than once.

But each time I solved the problem, it stayed solved, and I returned to LC owner happiness.
 
starting to wish I never bought this car now

now been told the AC condenser, evaporator and expansion valve all needs replaced :(

Errm…why?
Edit… why all the air con bits?
 
Last edited:
And here is me having sneaky Looks on Ebay at 100 series.

Gra
 
Unfortunately as I live in the UAE the AC is on 24/7 as its 56 degrees Celsius so a little toasty .

The guys said the condenser is leaking /blocked and the evaporator is leaking and the expansion valve is just best practice to change it
Total cost for parts was
condenser :- 188 GBP
Evaporator :- 134 GBP
Expansion Valve :- 25 GBP
Labor :- 129 GBP

Total :- 476 GBP

Already spent 1,100 GBP fixing all the major issues on the suspension and leaks.
Definatley hope I caught everything now and nothing else left.



Going back to the original reason for this post -

I done some more checking of the "bucking / crabbing noise" , here are my findings, and hoping someone can now point me in the right direction

- When engaging the center diff button, the crabbing noise is the same just more amplified - so tells me its the 4x4 not unlocking fully
- when the car is idling , I put the shiftier ( auto) into N and hit the center diff button , normally this would make a small noise and then a clunk , now all I hear is what sounds like a relay clicking once and thats it ( the green dash light comes on)
- rolling slowly forward while in "D" and hitting the center lock button used to clunk as the gears where engaged, again no noise, the crabbing just enhances and then when the button is hit the crabbing noise just gets a little less
- I do not get any whining / whirring or vibrations when underway so I assume the differential is ok?
- The issue is prominent at low speeds under 20km/h , give it some gas and it tends to stop making the noise ( I assume cause you are forcing the tyres to slip)


So my conclusion is of the following

- The T-case when i got the car had new looking orange gasket sealant , and so it looks like at some point in its life time it was split apart for a repair?
- The mechanic split part of the gearbox to fix a new rear output shaft seal, the breather tube molding, and one of the sensor plugs was cracked, so instead of replacing he used epoxy to repair it


So my question is this

- Is it possible that the 4x4 is partially disengaging ? can it work that way , and so I would get less "crabbing"
- Is there a way to unlock it manually , ie removing the actuator motor and manually seeing if the gears can be disengaged ? if so how?
- Is there a way to check the motor is working? Ie taking the motor off, hitting the center diff lock button and seeing if it functions ?

and lastly I have been driving the car while I think the center diff is partially engaged for 200 KM now , is it possible now I have damaged the T-case ?


Hoping I am on the right track..

Thank you again for your help so far
 
My money would be on the previous repair being either a botch job to sell the car and not put back together properly or the viscous coupling is giving trouble. It sounds like things are disengaging but also that it may be tight or otherwise experiencing resistance.
 
Thanks starcruiser ,

I had a look on the FMS and I can not see a vicous coupler in the diagram

could be a dodgey repair. I guess to have this one fixed it would be a trip to the dealer :(

unless as you have any quick ideas on how to find what the issue is ?


Thanks
 
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