Bongo Fury

well the UJ on the front prop is definitely worn. is about £70 for a second hand replacement or £220 for a recon unit + fitting. I wish i knew that it was worth the speculation of 4 new tyres and this prop, I'd get it done in an instant.

Possible change of opinion on my part now you've said the front u/j is worn. Whenever you turn from straight ahead the front propshaft will try to turn at a slightly different speed to the rear (wheels following different tracks - imagine the tyre prints turning in a circle in sand). This will make the worn u/j to knock.
The VC may well be a problem too - try the check I posted.

I want to say thanks for all your help so far. I really don't know where to go with this. Having no MOT on the vehicle, its difficult to get much sorted. I have got prices off Bell Hill Garage, they think maybe viscous coupling too. If i change the prop shaft without changing the VC, will the damaged VC break the prop shaft immediately again?

jaynetheweed wrote:I want to say thanks for all your help so far. I really don't know where to go with this. Having no MOT on the vehicle, its difficult to get much sorted. I have got prices off Bell Hill Garage, they think maybe viscous coupling too. If i change the prop shaft without changing the VC, will the damaged VC break the prop shaft immediately again?

My gut feeling is don't risk a new part by asking it to work with a damaged old one: in other words my reply to your last question would be 'quite possibly'. But I'm not a mechanic so lets see what they have to say on here. I still feel it would be best got to Bellhill as they could then decide what exactly needed replacing and then only charge for those parts + work. that would mean trailering it I guess (more cost!). Alternatively, maybe Madmile could recommend a good (Bongo) garage in S Wales, as he is based there.

Good luck - a very frustrating situation.

If you remove the front prop shaft you should be able to drive it, as long as front diff, CVjoints etc are ok .
If the Viscous Coupling is knackered then it won't actually matter for being rear drive.

If you haven't read about it yet it's easy to remove prop ( if you can get under ),
even easier for a garage to do it and shouldn't cost much because it's a quick job.

Undo 4 front diff bolts, undo 2 middle bolts on U shaped middle bearing support then VC end just slides out ( splined ).
Shouldn't need to remove under-tray.

Mines running like this at the moment and it drives nicely.

Hopefully this would get you mobile while you consider the options.

James.

skater wrote:If you remove the front prop shaft you should be able to drive it, as long as front diff, CVjoints etc are ok .
If the Viscous Coupling is knackered then it won't actually matter for being rear drive.

If you haven't read about it yet it's easy to remove prop ( if you can get under ),
even easier for a garage to do it and shouldn't cost much because it's a quick job.

Undo 4 front diff bolts, undo 2 middle bolts on U shaped middle bearing support then VC end just slides out ( splined ).
Shouldn't need to remove under-tray.

Mines running like this at the moment and it drives nicely.

Hopefully this would get you mobile while you consider the options.

James.

exactly as said above its a 30 min job tops ,with basic tools 14mm spanner/socket and i think 17/18/19 mm ish to remove the rubber mount off the side of tyhe engine passenger side (which could also be at fault ) at least your then eliminating your rear axle

You also mensioned a leak on the rear diff ,if this has ran dry of oil this will also cause your symptoms .

Cheapest way is to eliminate bits and narrow down the causes the best you can

have arranged for someone to remove the front prop tomorrow morning, being that i don't fancy doing it myself - (all females, even good d.i.y. types have their limits!) - do we need to blank anything off or is it really just drop and go?

cheers, Jayne

Just drop and go.
Should be self explanatory when the mechanic looks at it.

While he/she is under there they could grease the rear propshaft- there's a grease port on there.
They should be able to grease-gun some in, take about 30 secs.

This will let the rear prop shaft slide in and out of itself which it needs to be able to do under normal
suspension movement. This may never have been done.

Hope it goes well.

James

I would say you need someone to look at the drivetrain that actually knows what they are doing.
Any worn dodgy joints need to be changed first, if UJs are bad, change them and then test.
If you are replacing uj, testdrive the van when the prop is off and see if problem has gone.
If prob has gone, put new/repaired/recon prop back on and test again.
Do this before buying anything else.
Depending on results, you go 2wd or look further into the problem

gmaczbongo wrote:I would say you need someone to look at the drivetrain that actually knows what they are doing.
Any worn dodgy joints need to be changed first, if UJs are bad, change them and then test.
If you are replacing uj, testdrive the van when the prop is off and see if problem has gone.
If prob has gone, put new/repaired/recon prop back on and test again.
Do this before buying anything else.
Depending on results, you go 2wd or look further into the problem

My course of action is exactly that....

Thanks guys....at least I have a clearer picture of what to do now, and with your knowledge I have been able to persuade my partner not to scrap/sell the vehicle as it is.....

Does anybody actually recommend a decent bongo mechanic in my area? Pontypool, Torfaen, South Wales - Within a 10 -15 mile radius? I have had just about enough of the mechanics in this area who don't know what they're doing, or take advantage of the fact that I don't know either.....

Can't help with a specific garage but I take mine to a Landrover specialist ( not main dealer ), just local
independent. ( they do other vehicles too if they want ).

Although they are my closest garage my initial decision was based on them having 4wd drivetrain
experience.

They hadn't worked on a Bongo before but I already knew that Freelanders have/had a reputation for
drivetrain probs the same as 4wd Bongo ( but opposite way round- their rear goes wierd when VC
has probs).

Anyway, see if you can find someone like that.
Are you mechanically minded coz I could explain how the drivetrain works in a bit of detail?
There are diagrams and everything

I myself understand some things regarding how the 4wd works - mostly from information gained after searching the archives and forums and other google sites. I do however, have a very good friend to explain things for me - he's always worked on his own cars and has gone beyond the average roadside tinker - changing transfer boxes and such on other 4wd vehicles. He isn't familiar with the bongo though - so any extra information you have will be greatfully received - especially diagrams relating to the bongo. If anything, it helps me to explain to mechanics what's wrong - since they don't speak in terms of "that long bit over there with the thing sticking out of it!".....no, seriously, i'm not that bad, but your info will help.

Dig deep enough through THIS & every part number & diagram of what does what is there.

Thanks mister munkey, those would be the diagrams I don't know how to link to.

Jayne, look at the " steering, brakes and suspension" menu.
"propshaft 4wd " is the front one.

In some ways makes it look more complicated but if you can/want to look under the Bongo ( if you haven't
already ) it should make sense.

Your friend with 4wd knowledge will be able to work it out , there's nothing fancy under there.

Compared to a standard 2wd what they've done is put a transfer mechanism between the end of the gear box and the rear prop.
This is the flattish , ovalish (?) metal casing positioned from centre line of Bongo towards sliding door.
Inside, at rear prop end, is basically a cog. Inside at front prop side is the viscous coupling and another cog. A chain connects the two.
Look at " engine and transmission, diesel" on diagram link then look at " transfer case ,4wd " and " transfer gears".
Rear prop connection at top of pics, front prop connection at bottom. Click on diag numbers to know names.

What should happen, to make Bongo 4wd, is the rear wheels will start to slip ( on snow let's say ) and this will cause the the VC to lock and transfer drive to front ( coz connected by the chain ).

The VC is a liquid based device and should only lock due to a big enough speed difference between front and back so when driving normally in a straight line you would technically have only 2wd.

This is where different tyre sizes front/rear comes in and opens up another can of worms.

So, not to get too bogged down with extra tyre info too, I reckon that once your front prop is removed you'll get a much clearer picture of what problems you may have.

Tyre sizes won't matter once it's 2wd.

Hope that made sense.
Restoring full 4wd capability could easily get expensive so unless you think it's essential you can easily run as 2wd as I have been doing for quite a while ( for various reasons I won't bore you with ).

James

How do you keep dirt out of the transfer box when the front propshaft is removed?